Snapefest and Portus

[gina_r_snape]

Greetings flist. It seems people are busy busy busy posting their pictures. Good for me, I can give you links! Bad for me, because I did not have my own camera and I am in very few of the photos out there.

In reflecting upon my time in Dallas, I find I was more of an observer than interactor. I'm not sure why. I mostly hung out with my fellow snapecasters and thought about things. I realize that it brought me great joy simply to BE in a space filled with people dressed up in wizarding wear. That there were loads of grown women (and a few men) in community and shared fantasy made me smile. And that many of them were, like me, zaftig and wearing house colors with extremely short pleated skirts not generally acceptable in muggle fashion for women over a size 4 made me feel somehow like I belonged.

The best part of it all was meeting people. I finally got to see msavi, lampblack, perosha, white_munin, scatteredlogic, pumagrrl and droxy in person. I also met new people to me such as bekki, stupid_drawings, dickgloucester, subvers, blackeyedlily, saberbabe and venturous1. There were others, but morning coffee hasn't fully kicked in yet and I am terrible with names. Luckily pennswoods has a friending meme going and I'm trying to keep track of that. You can find it here.

Highlights of formal programming included Ed Kern (I'll post a more engaging essay about that later) and watching the fan films "The Marauders Worst Memory" and "The Potter Prophesy." I guess I have a soft spot for independent short films, but I felt genuinely absorbed and transported by them. The HP fandom is so unendingly creative. Speaking of creativity, both Snapefest and Portus featured fan art and there are some wonderful snapshots of them out there. Snapecast Live was a genuine thrill as well. Though I didn't COSplay at the level of many many others, I do enjoy performing. And getting up on that stage and sharing an hour with our listeners, friends and others was really immensely gratifying. There was a synergistic effect going on (or maybe it was all the elf made wine we drank on stage?), but if anything would get me wanting to record again, that hour on stage was it.

The hotel was massively huge. And although there were some major f*ups, I rather enjoyed the pool with the swim up bar. Warm water + alcohol + friends = true vacation mode. I could've done that every day and felt content.

This may not be much of a report, more of a personal impression. But it's what I feel I need to share. I'm not so entrenched in the fandom these days; my days and hours are not occupied with emotional and intellectual intensity over all things Snape like it used to be. But a distinct part of me always has one foot in the wizarding world. It's like I've gained a new world perspective from travelling. My travels were at once literary, cinematic, electronic and literal. And I don't think that will ever leave me.

Here are some links I've found of other people's pictures. Do enjoy. And thanks for sticking around. :-)

http://venturous1.livejournal.com/32068.html#cutid1

http://flickr.com/photos/11992659@N07/sets/72157606196540467/

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/Good_Witch/Snapefest%20WOOT/

http://pics.livejournal.com/alabastard/gallery/0001hkza

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tapestrymlp/sets/72157604001678738/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/somisguided/sets/72157606104568454/

http://flickr.com/groups/portus2008/

http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c350/Dixiebell12/Portus/