The 2^nd member of the Arisia founding “Gang of Five”, Mary Robison, just died.

It was at her New Years Day party where I made the joke that started the con.

I did not mean it seriously, honest. It was a John Swift-like (I wish) essay called, “A Modest Proposal on NESFA and Boskone.”

I never expected anyone to take it seriously.

Tom Fish died last year, so it’s just Chris Shuldiner, Brian Cooper, and me who are left.

I always figured that I would go first, even though I was the youngest (by only a LITTLE).

BTW, I just realized that the essay is not visible on “The Google”, so I am posting it here, where it will be indexed. (After the break)

I printed it out on a dot matrix printer, and seeing as how I do not have a dot matrix font on my blog, it is in Courier.

If you don’t get the context, which dates back to 1988 fandom bullsh%$ or so, count yourself lucky, and do not Google it.

A Modest Proposal

Concerning the Problems

with NESFA and Boskone

Matthew Saroff

Over the past few years, the character of Boskone has changed considerably. Some philistines have even suggested that the quality of the convention has declined. The official response on the part of NESFA has been to tell people who differ with them that they have the option of going elsewhere.

I would never consider it my place to disagree with an organization with the long and illustrious history of NESFA about the exclusive nature of their once preeminent science fiction convention, Boskone. They believe, and who are we to disagree, that it is their conven­tion, and that they have the right to redirect the focus of their convention.

We should be eager and happy to help this august group in their attempts to redefine their convention. For those who feel that they would prefer a conven­tion more similar to the old Boskone, an effort should be made to present these people with an alternative. This will get these unappreciative ruffians out of NESFA‘s hair.

We are obligated to NESFA for the service provided to the SF community by putting on Boskone all these years, and we should provide an alternative to all those ungrateful brutes who forget everything that NESFA has done for us.

Now comes the time to repay the favor. We should provide an alternative closer to what these ungrateful people want. A convention in Boston on Presi­dent’s Day, 16-19 February 1990, weekend with a focus closer to the focus of earlier Boskones. To stay in the proper E. E. “Doc” Smith spirit, we’ll call it Arisia.

We owe it to NESFA. They have their hands full trying to run Boskone, and having all those pesky fans are a problem. They harass the guests with ques­tions and autograph requests, crowd the events, eat the con suite food, drink the booze at the Boxboro Fandom party, and create a potential security problem are a problem for convention staff. We have a moral obligation to help them get rid of this problem. As shown by the Boskone XXV, NESFA is making a game effort to do this, but they need our help. Let’s help them get those fans out of Boskone and into Arisia. It’s the least that we can do to help them.

Notice:

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