[Clarion West 2k1, week 6: the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train...]

Thursday. Went to class and turned in my last story for Clarion West, as did three others. Did I feel relief? Not at the time. Didn't feel momentous at all. Kind of like one's 22nd birthday. Did you feel particularly older or excited on your 22nd birthday? Or, was it just another birthday?

During class, Jack talked to us about extrapolation both of societies and of character. He noted that authors often look at macro changes but fail to capture micro changes... and it's the micro changes that make the new landscape interesting. For example, authors of speculative fiction, even as far back as the late 19th century, had projected the widespread us of automobiles... but had never forecast the idea of drive-in movies.

There's also a tendency to go off on a "if this continues", but the future is more often going to look the exact opposite of what would happen if "this" continued. For example, if you were to forecast the future of New York City in the mid 1970's, it would be easy to envision a kind of nightmare landscape like in *Escape From New York*. (My example, not his.) But, in fact, NYC has become the opposite. It's cleaned up so much as to have become unrecognizable as the heir to the 1970's New York.

After class, we mostly fended for ourselves for lunch. Kiini talked about the possibility of putting together a little awards ceremony for the class -- for us, by us -- and Carla agreed to help put them together. I volunteered to help out as well, starting with trying to find the materials to actually put certificates together.

The t-shirt printer called a few hours earlier than expected to say that the shirts were ready. So, I headed out to pick them up, and then picked up some certificate paper while I was in the neighborhood of my favorite stationery store.

A note about the t-shirts: the folks at Alita Design did an excellent job; they filled the order exactly as specified (which, given all of the variations we asked for, is just short of a minor miracle), and did a wonderful job on the printing, itself. If you're ever in Seattle and need t-shirts done quickly and inexpensively, I highly recommend these guys.

Anyway, when I got back, I grouped the shirts so that they could be easily handed out to the individuals in our class, and then helped out with the certificates. Kiini and Carla did a great job of coming up with material that was both funny and appropriate. I typed them in and printed them up (and helped with the wording on a few, where asked :) and we were ready to go. At seven o'clock, we began a pot-luck dinner which was essentially a left-overs party wherein we cooked what remained of our food stores in the pantry (which would have to be cleaned out on Friday) and shared one last, big meal together.

Two of our classmates were unable to join us for dinner, but one would be returning at 9pm, so we decided to present the awards and the shirts at 9pm. To kill time between dinner and the ceremony, most of us sat in the lounge and took turns reading tawdry scenes from the two Connie Mason books in our class' library. Each person offered a very different style of dramatic presentation. We were also treated to an impromptu storytelling by ibi, one of our classmates who is particularly attuned to the tradition of oral storytelling.

At around 9pm, classmate number 16 returned. Number 17 was going to be out all night, unfortunately, so we got on with the show. We read the awards for each person and then handed them their t-shirts. Afterward, we all dressed up in our new t-shirts and sarongs, and enjoyed some photo-op time. (I'll post a group shot in the next entry.)

Late that evening, several of us got together for our final "critique party", and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow would be the last day of Clarion West 2001.