   Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
Tomorrow, April 1st 2025, we have a massively important State Supreme Court election here in the state of Wisconsin. It will decide the balance of the state supreme court, and it's vitally important that we get Susan Crawford elected. Elon Musk has literally poured millions of dollars into Brad Schimel's campaign, and we are fighting for our lives here. I've already voted, and if you haven't yet and you live here... make sure you do.
But no matter what happens tomorrow, no matter what the result is, the fight is far from over. ICE agents are grabbing people off the streets, our public institutions are being systematically destroyed, and our international and diplomatic relations with historically close allies are just, honestly, fucked right now. Today is Trans Day of Visibility, and trans and queer rights have been under steady attack by the right. As a nonbinary person and member of the trans community, I'm genuinely scared for a lot of my friends right now.
But we fight. We stand up. We survive.
If we accept defeat, we are handing victory to those who want us dead. By living and fighting, we carry on to the next day and then the day after that. I know I posted it right after the election last November, but there's a pretty famous Joe Hill quote everyone should keep in mind: "Don't waste any time mourning. Organize!"
Go out, hug your friends. Build a local community if you can, and get involved in your local politics. Make sure you call your Reps and Senators every day if you can, and for pete's sake fucking vote.
We can make it as long as we don't stop fighting.
Remember that on April 5th at 11AM Eastern/10AM Central you can join me for the Critical Thinking Witches' Collective's April Brew virtual event! Attendance is free, and you can register here!
![Nerd & Tie[dot]Social Forums](https://www.nerdandtie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/natsocial-nicepreview-square-300x300.png)
I like room parties, myself. I’ve run one room party, and it was the most fun I had during that con (the rest of it was kinda “meh”). It’s a chance to just chill with people, chat a bit, and maybe play video games or watch movies.
This is more of a “Wisconsin Con” issue — none of the hotels hosting cons are really conducive to room parties (a few are outright hostile) so the parties that do happen tend to be sort of lame (which is why things like con hosted raves now go pretty late to pick up the slack). Con sponsored parties don’t do a lot to promote events at these cons, and so (from a promotions perspective) are a waste of funds if Ambassador tables are available.
Room parties in the Twin Cities are a totally different situation, and ain’t no party floor like the MarsCon party floor.
Room parties were Awesome and then as the years gone by they started to disappoint. So yea the Ambassador tables are more practical and you can shut them down.
I meant to say shut then down at night
Personally, I’ve always been concerned when we haven’t had a room party.
Although, and I think others may agree with me, a lot of us like using said rooms for ‘sleep’ more than ‘party times’ anyway. I’m not a huge fan of the party block, unless I’m in a really good mood, which means Drunken Schneider stories follow.
Wow, room parties being expected, let alone run by conventions, really must be a regional thing. My area doesn’t allow room parties (at least at major and/or decent conventions), as per hotel policies.
Room parties run by other cons and clubs are pretty normal in Wisconsin and Minnesota. But these are the same places that didn’t start exchanging ambassador tables until five or six years ago, so running a party was the easiest way to cross promote for a long time
Varies by convention, too. Locally you see everything from “party floor” where anybody throwing an open party takes a room on that floor, prearranged with the hotel, to no open parties at all. Sometimes using the same hotel (though of course not at the same time).
I staff a couple of cons on the east coast, and I’ve never heard of any con out here doing a room party. I always find it odd when you mention them in the comic.
I never realized this was a regional thing. Around here, at least half the parties (if not more so) are being run by visiting cons. This is boggling my mind that this doesn’t happen other places.
What cons on the east coast? I am a participant at about 8 of them on the east coast (most in the northeast)and they all have room parties. I have been to a few others outside that area and they all have room parties too. It would be weird to me to be at a hotel con and NOT have room parties.
Calling fan tables ‘ambassador’ tables is whats weird to me 🙂