Counting the hours

Two days from now and I'll be at Wiscon! I am so damned excited. Except for a few days tacked on to business trips here and there, and a quick jaunt to LA for my Mom's birthday last July, I just realized I haven't been on vacation since I was in Israel a year ago. It's only a long weekend, but I'll take what I can get.

I need to rest up and get some sleep before I leave, since I have a feeling I'll be burning the candle at both ends this weekend. A very pregnant candle in the shape of the Venus of Willendorf.

The problem with conferences and conventions is that there are some time slots where there are four or five programs I don't want to miss and other slots where there is only one which sounds mildly interesting. Perhaps I'll take an opportunity to nap during those times or go for a walk along Lake Mendota. Or Lake Monona. A peninsular city is a beautiful thing for the flanneur. (Am I a flanneuse?) There is a seminar Saturday afternoon called Feminism and Bellydance: Breaking Preconceptions which I will attend for sure.

Bellydance is an ancient dance form that has gradually become associated in the Western world with stripping, exhibitionism, and subservience to the sexual desires of men. The general public, including parts of the feminist community, often think the dance is nothing more than "shaking your ass," when nothing could be further from the truth. This program item will include discussions of the history of bellydance, how the dance's reputation has evolved in the west, and how bellydancers can break the preconceptions others have of them and communicate their feminist views. This panel will also include a short bellydancing workshop.

These preconceptions, and the crappy slutty "dancers" in some restaurants, are why I usually tell people I do "classical Middle Eastern dance" and not belly dance. Perhaps I'll come up with some good retorts. I'm just not sure whether I should bring my hipscarf or not.