The Ytterbium Eastercon Convention Easter Sunday 21st April 2019 Beyond Studio Ghibli Conflict Without Violence And Poetry

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I am still obliged to job search daily in keeping with my Universal Credit clain through the DWP. My book launch activity help, though no money from that reaches me until early 2020. Even on my travels and bank holidays I am till expected to search for work, so I had my laptop with me for job searching before and between events all weekend. The first event I attended was Beyond Studio Ghibli, a celebration of Japanese Anime, presented by Ruth El Booth, Mad Elf, Jessica Meats, Sarah Ash & Zoe Burgess-Foreman. For many people in the West anime amounts to the Studio Ghibli output plus Akira and Ghost In The Shell (recently receiving a badly made live-action treatment). The panel discussed these anime classics and recommended further viewings too. My favourite movie ever remains the Ghibli movie My Neighbour Totoro. The Youtube here is the movie’s joyous opening credit sequence. After The Moomins panel, (covered separately) I went to ‘Conflict Without Violence’, presented by Caroline Mersey, Aliette De Bodard, John Scalzi, Juliet Kemp And Brian Attebery. This panel looked at stories centred on pacifism, and resolving a crisis without resort to aggression, violence, revenge or warfare. In some cases there was not even a conflict involved in the narration. My Neighbor Totoro received its second recommendation of the day for being a movie devoid of violence (though it was a companion movie to the very anti-war riven Grave Of The Fireflies from the same studio). The work of Ursula LeGuin was singled out for particular praise. Her political (anarchism) studies in The Dispossessed are well known. There is also The Wizard Of Earthsea who finds that he cannot fight the perceived threat of the story because it is a manifestation of himself. Doctor Who was presented as a non-violent character though he / she is not averse to allowing others to utilize violence to help take down even overtly violent antagonists like The Daleks. For stories with a hero who rarely uses weapons, Dr Who often has a very high body count. I wanted to mention the whole season of Xena Warrior Princess where the companion Gabrielle embraces pacifism despite traveling with the hard fighting lead hero, an experiment that ultimately fails when Gabrielle is too sickened by the violence not to give in to her own aggression any more. There is a sub-genre of Quaker SF, and it was great to see a celebration of science fiction that does not need violence or bloodshed to be compelling reading or viewing. This wa the night of the wedding of two convention guests, Robin & Kylie, who invited everyone to their ceremony and disco. There was cake too. I saw a little of the lovely ceremony as I was keen to participate in a programme item that coincided with it too. Huge congratulations to the happy couple who both looked fabulous. The last active event I attended and participated in today was the Poetry Open Mic event admirably hosted by Richard Stephenson. This was well attended and the 9- minute event involved the poets participating getting three minutes each to read poems, as Richard chose us from the order we were sitting in. There was time for everyone to go twice. Other poets attending included Dawn Abigail and Roz Kaveney. There was an exceptionally moving piece by a young lady written when she was just fourteen, addressing head on the effects of bullying and self-harm, a poem that came straight from the heart. Drinks, a quick bite to eat, and the last bus back to my hostel drew the penultimate day of the convention to a close. Arthur Chappell