zeekayart

Is to be changed

I personally went into dashcon 2 with zero expectations. I was already impressed with the communication and efforts that the dashcon 2 team had made before the day of to be as accommodating and productive as possible, so I had a good feeling about it but of course the looming specter of the original dashcon sets my expectations low. These people blew everything out of the park. This was one of the most well organized cons I've been to. All the artists had awesome stuff on display (and for sale, and you bet my ass I spent too much money). You couldn't go 10 feet without finding a volunteer that would always do their best to help you or answer a question. The community events that were organized- the crow exchange, the cosplay contest, the famous Duel; all were done really well. Aside from some of the panel rooms being too small to fit everyone that wanted to go, I think this whole thing was a really big success.

The thing I want to talk about the most was the general vibe of the whole event. Everyone here was SO excited for it, and absolutely brought that energy into everything. Nobody thought this was just another convention. I think there was this expectation, this group desire for everything to go well, for everyone to enjoy themselves, that actually influenced how people acted and behaved. Everyone was so nice. People wore so many fun outfits. A lot of people gave away little trinkets (I did as well- I'll post it below this wall of text) This was Dashcon, and if we were going to try to do this shit again we were going to make the absolute most of it.

After the event, I was talking with a friend that I went with and they mentioned that this entire day has felt like such a relief for them. This world is so fucked up and shitty, especially right now, for a lot of people. It's hard to feel good about things right now, and I especially feel a sense of guilt and shame as an american. Even when I type this now I'm a bit scared of crossing the border back into New York tomorrow. If I'm being entirely honest, I know I'll be fine because I'm a white guy, but that doesn't make me feel any better about what might happen to those that don't have that privilege, and even while knowing I have that privilege, I still feel uneasy. There's a somber feeling about being an american in a foreign country nowadays and realizing how much people hate where you're from, and knowing that they're not wrong for feeling that way.

I didn't see that here nearly as much as I expected. I ran into plenty of other americans there who also saw this as just a breath of fresh air, and that's exactly what it was. The world sucks, sure, but we have a small opportunity, just a speck of time to do something that makes us and the people around us happy. Sure, it might be a little lame to some, and I may be cringe for being sentimental and truthful, but I am free.

That in and of itself makes me cautious though; I was mortified at the idea that someone would come into this event with the intent to ruin it. Like some redditor or lame ass loser would come in just to rain on the parade in some way, and that absolutely didn't happen. Again, everyone was so nice, so considerate, that the possibility of someone intentionally fucking shit up left my mind almost instantly upon entering.

I had prepared a line for those people who came just to ruin the fun, and I hope you'll forgive me for adding to the list of raw as fuck tumblr lines, but here it is: Death will come too for you, and when you face your god, the emptiness of your joyless soul will be laid bare.

My soul is far from empty tonight friends, thank you. Special thanks goes to the organizers, everyone that had a spot in the vendor hall, all the volunteers, and the wonderful Dashcon 2 Intern Emily. Y'all are beautiful.

Here is my trinket, I gave out pictures of my cats. Congratulations if you got one of these, I printed less than 100 and I think I only gave out like 2/3rds of what I had. Enjoy my nuts.

this con did what the original dashcon tried to do: gave a place to belong to the 2014 tumblr kids who didn’t have anywhere else to fit in. seeing everyone come together at the royal ball at the end of the day, listening to the music all of us grew up with, was so heartwarming.