by Rhed Morgan | Oct 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
This fall has seen two powerful hurricanes hit the United States and affect communities 300 miles inland in the mountains, as well as much of the state of Florida.
Fred Rogers was told as a child, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Now is our chance to be the helpers, JordanCon fam. Obviously not all of us can physically go to Asheville, NC, or other affected areas and help that way; but we can provide $5, $50, or $500 toward relief efforts.
Hurricane Helene
On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall and proceeded to devastate and destroy a wide swath across the southeastern United States. Western North Carolina and South Carolina were particularly hard hit, though the damage went as far east as Savannah, Georgia, and down to the southernmost tip of Florida. The situation is truly catastrophic, as we in safer places have watched the waters rise to 1000-year heights and whole villages and towns washed away or decimated.
Helene Relief Efforts
One way to help is to prepurchase Charlotte-based Falstaff Books’s Appalachian Strong, an anthology with a line up of amazing authors including Jonathan Maberry, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Matt Denniman, and Nicole Given Kurtz, all of whom will contribute a story to the anthology. The book is $50 in Falstaff’s shop, and delivery will be in December 2024.
I had the opportunity to speak with John Hartness, Publisher at Falstaff. He was inspired to create this fundraising anthology because his niece, a business owner in Asheville, NC, and her family were rescued from the roof of their home by kayak. “That kind of devastation hits hard,” said Hartness, “as did the horror of spending hours not knowing if they were safe, or alive.” This anthology, he continued, “was my best way of helping my family and their neighbors recover.”
Hartness’s current plan is to divide the proceeds between his niece’s family and a pair of Asheville bookstores, Malaprops and Sassafras on Sutton. “Bookstores seem like the logical place to give money raised from an anthology,” he said. “If I hear from those businesses that there are areas of greater need, I will pivot my efforts there. I plan to take guidance from people on the ground, who actually know where the money will do the most good.”
The weekend Helene hit, Hartness was at a conference in Washington, D.C. “I sat down Saturday morning in my hotel room and thought of the biggest names that I had email addresses for, and I sent them an ask. I got responses to my phone before I’d even made it down the elevator to my booth.”
Hartness concluded, “We all want to help people in times of tragedy, so I gave people a chance to lend a hand and stave off the feelings of helplessness a lot of us were experiencing…I couldn’t be more thankful for my friends in this time of need.”
Horror podcast Old Gods of Appalachia’s Facebook page is a great source for local ways to support. Some of the cast members, including Steve Shell (Narrator) and DJ Rogers (Tobias Underwood and Young Doc Underwood), are offering up Cameo recordings, providing personalized messages for birthdays, anniversaries, or, in poet Rogers’s case, reading your favorite poem. All Cameo proceeds will be donated to relief funds.
Hurricane Milton
Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, a second unprecedented hurricane, Milton, made landfall in Florida. Though the predicted 9-12 feet storm surge didn’t directly hit Tampa, dozens of tornadoes spun off the hurricane proper and wreaked havoc in their paths. Millions of people were—and still are—without power across the state.
General Relief Efforts
Outside of the literary community at JordanCon, we have a strong maker and artist community. The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) has a grant for $3000 to craft artists who have experienced a recent and disruptive emergency or disaster. You can see if you qualify and can apply for the grant here if you’ve been impacted by Helene, or you can donate to help provide these grants to craft artists here.
Charity Navigator has a list of organizations helping with Helene efforts, as well as those assisting with Milton aid. If you have any favorite relief efforts, please leave a comment below to share.
Now, in all cases, fam, please do your research and ensure you’re donating to a trusted source. Charity Watch is a great place to vet organizations you’re considering donating to. The ones listed above are a few I know and trust, but you may have other qualifications when it comes to donating.
by Programming | Apr 8, 2023 | Programming, Uncategorized
This year we’re doing something a bit different for Friday night at JordanCon. We know many of you love karaoke, and we do too! But this year is our 15th anniversary, and we wanted to do something special. In the Wheel of Time series our very own JordanCon founders, Jennifer & Jimmy Liang, were written into the books as innkeepers at “The Yearly Brawl.” In honor of that we are hosting a pub/tavern night on Friday. Marc Gunn is joining us again and will kick us off playing music. If you’re not yet familiar with Marc, he is a traditional Celtic musician with a science fiction and fantasy twist. You can check out his website here.
In addition to music from Marc, we’re going to open up the mic! Some of you may have a song you were practicing all year in anticipation of karaoke, some of you like to play and sing with your friends or are part of the filking community, maybe you’re a poet and want to showcase some new work. We’re making time for this too. You can sign up for an open mic slot at this link. We’ll have a keyboard on the stage if you play or you can bring your own instrument. Back up tracks will need to be provided by you! Time allowing, we’ll also have some traditional pub sing-alongs throughout the night.
What’s a pub night without games? We’ll be providing cards, dice, “coins,” and a variety of printed game rules for each table. Rumor has it, there will be some dominoes sets as well if you want to kick back and “throw some bones” with your table.
Our JordanCon family has always enjoyed spending time together and making connections. We’re hoping that our pub night this year will continue to foster those opportunities. We’re very excited to host you for this night and hope you enjoy it.
See you in a few weeks!
Welcome Home to JordanCon. <3
The JordanCon Programming team
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 9, 2023 | Charity Auction, Uncategorized
JordanConners!
It is my pleasure to announce that the 2023 JordanCon Charity Auction is live online. As we have in years before, we’re using 32Auction.com. The direct link is here. We will be adding additional items to the Auction as we receive donation submissions.
If you were already curious and went looking at the Auction page, you might notice we already have a number of items there for you to check out. Not a lot, but we’re hoping that will change in the very near future. “But Hopper,” you ask, “if I want to donate something to the Auction to help out, how would I go about doing that?” Well, my dear friends, we have a Google Form all set up so that you can tell us all about yourself and the items you’d like for us to have. For anyone who has donated in the past, you might notice the form only allows one item per submission. We had to do that to cut down on the back-of-house processing that was required to bring items from our submissions spreadsheet to the online auction.
I know there are a number of you who have already indicated you have some amazing items you’re planning to donate. If you’re ready to submit them, I’m sure we have people out there who are ready to start dreaming about budgeting and outbidding their best friends to own them.
If you do have something you’re donating that you’d rather not have to deal with packing in your luggage, please let me know and I’ll share a shipping address so that it gets here on time.
You may have also heard the Charities Division of JordanCon has been boosted to the Officer Level and now reports directly to our amazing Chair, Jennifer Liang. This is true, and as part of that change we’ve hired a new Charity Auctions Director, Larry Daniels. I am NOT just walking away from the Charity Auction. Larry, however, will give me the time and space to work on other events too.
I can’t wait to see you all in April.
-Hopper
by Programming | Apr 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
Daes Dae’mar!
This year’s convention game incorporates two of our favorite things at JordanCon – poker like the one on w88 for pc, and The Wheel of Time. The game play is open to all members and is a fun addition to your regular convention shenanigans. You must seek out new allies and conduct delicate negotiations to obtain just the right cards to achieve a winning hand. Anyone can play, few will win, but you cannot win alone.
Make new friends, or bitter enemies, by simply trading playing cards to obtain a straight flush. Lots of possibilities, so many potential allies, only two days to find the right five cards. To the victors, a copy of The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time!
Rules for the Game
- Each player receives a hand of five randomized red and blue playing cards and can have no more or less than five cards at any time.
- Write your name legibly on each card in some conspicuous blank space, edges, etc.
- Find other players to trade with, you might ask conspiratorially “Do you play the game?”
- You may trade one card with each new player you ally with, trading a card with your name, perhaps others, for a card with their name, and perhaps others.
- The goal is to make any straight flush of all one-color deck, either red or blue, such as Ace-2-3-4-5 clubs, 4-5-6-7-8 spades, or 10-J-Q-K-Ace hearts, etc.
- You may trade each card up to four times, with each previous player’s name on the card along with yours, with a maximum of five names on each card.
- If a card is traded four times, there should be a total of five names on the card, including your own. Now, the card is locked and cannot be traded any further.
- You do not need to trade all of your starting cards, nor must you trade each card four times. It is encouraged for collaboration, however, and improves everyone’s chances of winning as your name appears on more cards along with your network of allies.
- When you have a straight flush of all red or all blue cards, turn them in, have them marked for confirmation, and drop them in to our drawing to win a copy of the World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time! There may be some additional secret prizes as well, you’ll have to play to find out.
- So, choose your trades carefully, negotiate, make allies, form a house, a clan, or guild of collaborators seeking just the right trades. But most of all, seek out new players of the Game and make new friends.
Our Onsite Events Coordinator will be set up near the Registration desk for supplies and questions regarding game play. Stop by and see Daniel, join the fun, and try for your chance at the prize.
by pandrewfloyd | Apr 18, 2022 | Uncategorized
For the first time in JordanCon’s storied history, we have sold out!
While our experienced staff is prepared for hosting this many people, there will inevitably be some challenges. We want this to be a great experience for everyone involved. That said, this post is going to focus on a few things we want everyone (new AND returning members) to keep in mind when you are on site.
Volunteering
Volunteering has always been important to the success of JordanCon, but in 2022 it will be even more crucial. With so many people in attendance, our regular staff (who are also volunteers) are going to be faced with additional challenges and we need all the help we can get.
Volunteering is an excellent way to meet people and to help you feel more at home at the convention. The great thing about volunteering is you have control over when and where you can volunteer. While the volunteer sign-ups have been occurring online, you can still sign up to help out onsite by visiting the Volunteer Room in Maplewood A. There are roles available to fit nearly everyone across all aspects of the convention and at times that allow you the flexibility of schedule so you don’t miss out on the things that are important to you.
Crowds
There are going to be a lot of us and we are all excited to see and do the same things. That means there will likely be some queues and waiting. This year patience will not only be a virtue, it will be a requirement. Expect some wait times for Registration, the elevators, the hotel restaurant, and ConSuite. There will also be more people participating in panels and workshops and the rooms are only so large. We have capacity limits for our track rooms that are set by fire and safety codes, so even though we would like to get everyone into the panels they want to see, it may not be possible to accommodate everyone.
Movement through the Dealers’ Hall, the Art Show, the Authors Alley, and the convention space in general is going to require higher situational awareness and plain old good manners. With all this in mind, here are some tips that should make your experience at JordanCon 2022 the best yet:
1. Plan ahead
If there is a panel or Workshop you want to attend, plan to get there early. Many of the Workshops have sign-ups, so keep an eye out for those notices to make sure you don’t miss out. Also, make sure you take a little time to look over the hotel map. If you are queueing, please be mindful of the flow of traffic and do not block doorways or emergency exits.
2. Be Prepared to Wait
At the elevators, at the restaurant, when checking in, at the ConSuite, at Registration, in the Gaming Track… just everywhere, y’all. If you come in with the attitude that there is going to be a bit of a wait, you will be pleasantly surprised when the wait isn’t so bad. The reality is there are going to be quite a few people and we are all just going to have to be in “Chill Mode.” Channel your inner Zen Rand. Please be considerate to those who may have difficulty waiting in line due to Accessibility concerns.
3. Situational Awareness
With so many people coming together to enjoy the weekend, make sure to be aware of the space you are in and consider how you are interacting with others in that space. And we know for some of you it’s been a couple years since you’ve seen your besties – and con is a time to celebrate! – but please continue to keep others in mind if downing any Horneater White.
We all have the common goal of having a great time this weekend and we are all going to have to put in some level of effort to make it happen.
But don’t worry! We plan on keeping that same homey family feeling that JordanCon has always had. Our family has just grown.
Welcome home!
#It’sApril!
by pandrewfloyd | Apr 17, 2022 | Uncategorized
And now, a special message from our Director of Charity Events, Jeff “Hopper” Bernard:
♫♪Something’s happening here. What it is, is actually clear. There’s a lady with some ink over there. Sayin’ she’ll do henna tattoos (for charity!) this year.♪♫
Our resident henna master Kalyani Poluri has offered to donate her time and skills to help support our Charity Events fundraising this year. Some of you may remember Kalyani from the before times. She is absolutely amazing, and we’re thrilled that she wants to help us again.
She will have henna designs with set prices that you can choose from. If you have your own design that you’d like her to do, the price will be $1 per minute for the duration of the tattoo. Charity Events will accept the payments (we get the easy part) and Kalyani will put the art on you. Kalyani has absolute authority on deciding whether she’ll use your designs and where on your body she won’t work.
If you would like to get a fantastic henna tattoo, please come to the Charity Auction and we’ll contact her. She expects to be spending her time in the Charity Auction/Dealer Hall/Art Show for most of the weekend, so it’s likely she’ll be able come over pretty quickly. If she’s not immediately available, such as actively working with someone else, we’ll work out a time for you to come back, if possible. Please remember that she is one person who may like to enjoy other parts of JordanCon and is under no obligation to spend her entire weekend doing henna. We appreciate any time she’s willing to donate.
We all really look forward to seeing her art walking around JordanCon.
