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I have reached the "Politics" section of Duolingo and it is difficult for reasons entirely unrelated to linguistics.
Jun. 22nd, 2019
Loooooong day
Jun. 22nd, 2019 09:18 pmThis afternoon was rough. I'm on the "day off" of three days working, one day off, three more days working of my current work schedule, and it really doesn't itself count as a "day off" to me because I had to drive two hours to go to a convention meeting where I would be A) Testing out a game of "Infection Tag" that we're running at the con, and B) Giving a presentation on disabilities our attendees might have and accommodations they might need. With both of those items being introduced to me at very short notice (as in, maybe ten days for the presentation, and within the past week for the test run), and having worked extra hours the past few days, I felt as prepared as was reasonable under the circumstances when I arrived at the meeting place.
Then the meeting was about to start, and I learned that, since the staff Senior Officers needed to have a private talk for a while, I got to introduce the staff to the rules for the game's test run right away!
Well, no big deal; my partner-in-crime for the activity had warned me that he'd arranged for the two of us to talk about it first thing in the meeting, so this wasn't too bad. I got through the basics with some help from him, fielded a bunch of questions and suggestions about how the game was going to work both today and at the con itself, and was ready to sit back down again.
...Only the Senior Officers needed more time. Socchan, rather than the topic coming up later in the meeting and you having a bit of time to sit down and rest/regroup, you should do your accessibility presentation Right Now!
I did my presentation Right Then, and did a pretty decent job, all things considered. I wasn't always great at repeating the questions people asked into the mic, but I did my best to remember or at least make the question clear enough from the answer. I talked about some of the disabilities our attendees might have, why they might need to skip to the front of lines and the consequences if they don't, why they might not have a wheelchair even if they really do need one, how some complete jerks in the world would harass our disabled attendees and accuse them of being fakers (and there were several people in the audience who got visibly furious at the idea that people do this, I'm gratified to report), talking about service animals and how to interact with them ("Please don't, they are medical equipment, but if you absolutely cannot resist, ALWAYS ask the handler first, and RESPECT THEIR ANSWER if they say no"), the difference between service animals and emotional support animals, my opinion that we don't need to do anything particular about ESA's unless they're either in danger themselves or causing problems for other attendees, basic microphone use ("Hold it right about at chin level, so the mic picks up the words but people can still read your lips if they need to"), and everything else I could think of. There were sooooo many questions and comments, too. It went on long enough that the Senior Officers had time to finish their meeting and re-entered the room for the end of it. When I'd finally covered everything I could think of and answered all the questions people had, I got to sit down again.
I spent the rest of the meeting actively daydreaming about a small, quiet, dark place I could crawl into to hide and regroup for a while. I ended up with three different people who wanted to talk to me about accessibility and/or game related stuff during our general meeting break (when we get a chance to specifically talk about things with each other), and had to rush to finish that in about ten minutes so I could go help the rest of the Environmental Enhancement Team plan further for the Infection Tag game and other events we're planning for the con for a good forty-five minutes.
It was a very productive meeting, overall, and I got some fantastic stuff done, I think, but I'm still emotionally exhausted and not exactly looking forward to working the next three days.
(Highlight of the meeting: I explained our Accessibility Passes, which allow holders (disabled attendees) to skip lines controlled by the convention and get into panels and the dealer's room early; I also mentioned how the passes covered one additional person of the holder's choosing. I said it was so the attendee could have an advocate who could look out for them and back them up when they need it, and that's definitely true, but the reason I'm not planning to share with the con staff at large is because I don't want any disabled folks who need the passes to be entirely separated from their friends. Anyway, when we were doing the EE Team meeting, one of my teammates basically said, "If anyone with one of those Accessibility Passes doesn't have a particular person in mind to be their advocate, and want someone big and scary to stand up for them, I volunteer my services." Gosh but things like that give me hope for my convention sometimes ♥)
Oh! Final detail! We're doing something different for picking next year's charities: The staff voted on their top three from a list, and the attendees are going to pick their favorite for our official charity next year! My suggestion, which I've been plugging for probably five years now, got into the finals! Anyway, despite the awkward fact that their acronym sounds like the Japanese word for "fool" when not pronounced letter-by-letter, there's a good chance that our charity for next year will be Bikers Against Child Abuse ♥
Then the meeting was about to start, and I learned that, since the staff Senior Officers needed to have a private talk for a while, I got to introduce the staff to the rules for the game's test run right away!
Well, no big deal; my partner-in-crime for the activity had warned me that he'd arranged for the two of us to talk about it first thing in the meeting, so this wasn't too bad. I got through the basics with some help from him, fielded a bunch of questions and suggestions about how the game was going to work both today and at the con itself, and was ready to sit back down again.
...Only the Senior Officers needed more time. Socchan, rather than the topic coming up later in the meeting and you having a bit of time to sit down and rest/regroup, you should do your accessibility presentation Right Now!
I did my presentation Right Then, and did a pretty decent job, all things considered. I wasn't always great at repeating the questions people asked into the mic, but I did my best to remember or at least make the question clear enough from the answer. I talked about some of the disabilities our attendees might have, why they might need to skip to the front of lines and the consequences if they don't, why they might not have a wheelchair even if they really do need one, how some complete jerks in the world would harass our disabled attendees and accuse them of being fakers (and there were several people in the audience who got visibly furious at the idea that people do this, I'm gratified to report), talking about service animals and how to interact with them ("Please don't, they are medical equipment, but if you absolutely cannot resist, ALWAYS ask the handler first, and RESPECT THEIR ANSWER if they say no"), the difference between service animals and emotional support animals, my opinion that we don't need to do anything particular about ESA's unless they're either in danger themselves or causing problems for other attendees, basic microphone use ("Hold it right about at chin level, so the mic picks up the words but people can still read your lips if they need to"), and everything else I could think of. There were sooooo many questions and comments, too. It went on long enough that the Senior Officers had time to finish their meeting and re-entered the room for the end of it. When I'd finally covered everything I could think of and answered all the questions people had, I got to sit down again.
I spent the rest of the meeting actively daydreaming about a small, quiet, dark place I could crawl into to hide and regroup for a while. I ended up with three different people who wanted to talk to me about accessibility and/or game related stuff during our general meeting break (when we get a chance to specifically talk about things with each other), and had to rush to finish that in about ten minutes so I could go help the rest of the Environmental Enhancement Team plan further for the Infection Tag game and other events we're planning for the con for a good forty-five minutes.
It was a very productive meeting, overall, and I got some fantastic stuff done, I think, but I'm still emotionally exhausted and not exactly looking forward to working the next three days.
(Highlight of the meeting: I explained our Accessibility Passes, which allow holders (disabled attendees) to skip lines controlled by the convention and get into panels and the dealer's room early; I also mentioned how the passes covered one additional person of the holder's choosing. I said it was so the attendee could have an advocate who could look out for them and back them up when they need it, and that's definitely true, but the reason I'm not planning to share with the con staff at large is because I don't want any disabled folks who need the passes to be entirely separated from their friends. Anyway, when we were doing the EE Team meeting, one of my teammates basically said, "If anyone with one of those Accessibility Passes doesn't have a particular person in mind to be their advocate, and want someone big and scary to stand up for them, I volunteer my services." Gosh but things like that give me hope for my convention sometimes ♥)
Oh! Final detail! We're doing something different for picking next year's charities: The staff voted on their top three from a list, and the attendees are going to pick their favorite for our official charity next year! My suggestion, which I've been plugging for probably five years now, got into the finals! Anyway, despite the awkward fact that their acronym sounds like the Japanese word for "fool" when not pronounced letter-by-letter, there's a good chance that our charity for next year will be Bikers Against Child Abuse ♥
The thing about Ladrien is:
It can show Adrien that there are good things about being himself, it can be worth it to be him without needing to be CN, he can start building a good life for himself even as he is; and it can show Ladybug how much she’s still Marinette when she’s transformed, how she still feels the same way about herself and Adrien and wanting Paris and her loved ones to be safe and that the major difference is when she’s LB is that she has more power to make it happen.
It's the idea of finding yourself where you already are, but didn't think you really were, and I think there's something really special and quietly beautiful about that.
It can show Adrien that there are good things about being himself, it can be worth it to be him without needing to be CN, he can start building a good life for himself even as he is; and it can show Ladybug how much she’s still Marinette when she’s transformed, how she still feels the same way about herself and Adrien and wanting Paris and her loved ones to be safe and that the major difference is when she’s LB is that she has more power to make it happen.
It's the idea of finding yourself where you already are, but didn't think you really were, and I think there's something really special and quietly beautiful about that.