Sumana

I'm running a fundraiser for the Election Protection Hotline, 1-866-OUR-VOTE. No matter your position on the 2024 US election, I'm guessing you want the votes counted fairly. So I'm trying to raise USD $25,000 for Election Protection.

Not a US resident or US citizen? Hate all the major parties? No problem! You'd be donating to The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan US nonprofit founded in 1963, which houses the Election Protection Coalition. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can donate.

Then, on Saturday Oct. 26th, expect 8 minutes of nerd jokes about open source software and how programming skews your brain, and none about politics. (Only 8 minutes because that's as long as a stand-up meeting should be.)

Please donate, and spread the word!

(Mastodon/Fediverse, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Twitter. Here's a square image for groupchats/Instagram.)

You have till 8pm ET tonight -- so, about 6.3 hours from me publishing this -- to register for this year's WisCon if you want to attend the auction I'm hosting on Saturday night (watching via YouTube livestream). You can register for USD$0 if affordability matters to you.

The auction is a comedy show where you don't need to spend any money, but you can donate to support some worthy causes.

This Otherwise blog post about the auction includes a one-minute video trailer/preview, and a list of auction items.

A very kind recommendation from jesse_the_k in case you haven't visited the auction before!

I'll also speak on Sunday within a panel on the recent renaming of the Otherwise Award (blog post).

(Crossposted to Cogito, Ergo Sumana)

Tonight (Saturday night, May 25th), 7:30pm to about 9pm, is the Tiptree Auction at WisCon, where I auction off 15+ items live from the stage, you can bid on 50+ items quietly via the Silent Auction, and you can buy any of about a hundred things right away at Direct Sale. And I will probably do a stunt or two, and there will be costume changes and special guests.

It's completely fine to stop by for two minutes or to stay for the whole show. It's completely fine to bid or not bid, to combine into teams so you and your friends can collectively bid on something, to use cash or a credit card.

Photos of stuff you'll get to bid on, such as silly lampshades, a shawl, a battle-axe (labrys), and candles:

This bi-pride colored shawl will be in the #WisCon43 Tiptree auction! Hand knit by me! With my own hands!!! pic.twitter.com/73KfWsnBHr

— Razorblade Snowflake (Keffy R.M. Kehrli) (@Keffy) May 25, 2019

The Tiptree Auction Preview is PRETTY COOL. Opens at 1pm! #WisCon #WisCon43 pic.twitter.com/ZjXcKHesJV

— WisCon (@WisConSF3) May 24, 2019

Also like LOOK AT THESE! #tiptreeauction #wiscon #WisCon43 pic.twitter.com/wFKUjbUmGD

— WisCon (@WisConSF3) May 24, 2019

Hello, #WisCon43! Regular human @AlexandraErin here with a very normal item for the Tiptree Auction!#Blessed #WellMaybeNotBlessedPerSe #ButProbablyNotActuallyCursedAsSuch #Probably pic.twitter.com/WpIM4bjUbc

— Alexandra Erin @ WisCon (@AlexandraErin) May 24, 2019

Should you not relish an avocation in impractical demonkeeping, I also am separately offering the auction a 13x18 print of the BEAUTIFUL cover painting by @amandathegreat for my book First Dates, Last Calls, inscribed by the artist.

(Sorry about the glare.) pic.twitter.com/nJs17qfe6B

— Alexandra Erin @ WisCon (@AlexandraErin) May 24, 2019

(That USB stick with a participatory/interactive story by Alexandra Erin is SO EXCITING and I'm really curious to see what the winner chooses to do with it!)

Also up for auction: advance reader's copies of Rebecca Solnit's debut children’s book, ani difranco's memoir No Walls And The Recurring Dream, and two Welcome to Night Vale collections, all of which were just published this month. A first edition of Velveteen vs. The Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire. A copper chainmaille bracelet, Byzantine weave, with Czech glass beads, and a set of two copper chainmaille earrings with 6-sided dice pendants. An uncorrected proof of The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin. Star Trek communicator insignia. Ursula K. Le Guin & Vonda N. McIntyre's A Winter Solstice Ritual from the Pacific Northwest (signed by both). A knitted triceratops hat. Some tech industry freebies I will make acerbic remarks about. And more.

And Direct Sale includes a lot of books, art, and some MYSTERY ITEMS where you pay a few bucks to get a brown paper package! Might be a gem! Might be a dud! One of them is labelled "Do Not Shake" so please do not shake it!

And there will be free stuff I give away, plus a stunt where if the crowd puts at least, say, $250 in the hat then I'll call my mom live on stage to ask her about something weird she told me when I was a kid. (I've checked ahead of time and she's fine with the concept.)

So if you're at WisCon, consider swinging by! I aim to wrap up by 9pm or a little after, so people have time to pay up at the cashier while volunteers and hotel staff re-set the room for The Floomp dance party.