SO, I have already blogged about Penguicon and the awesome geekiness of it, but now I want to talk about another amazing aspect. Charity. Penguicon’s charity this year is Enabling the Future and they 3-D print free prosthetic limbs for children amputees. They are an absolutely fantastic organization which you should donate to. Penguicon has not only set up collection points all over the con for them, but will be donating 3-D limbs made at Penguicon this weekend. Hearing them talk about their work really made all my worries about promoting my books at Penguicon this year seem extremely petty and self-centered. Now I am asking myself how could my work do something good for others? And that is a much more important question.
Also, another important aspect of Penguicon that struck me at the opening ceremonies was acceptance. Almost all of these types of Cons have policies on harassment to protect an individual’s right to express themselves (i.e. cosplay). However, Penguicon goes even further to help make people feel not just welcome, but celebrated here. Their latest action in this quest has been to set up non-gendered bathrooms for those who may not identify with a specific gender or may just be more comfortable in a non-gendered bathroom. I truly hope that this makes people feel happier and more comfortable at the Con.
Just thought I’d share.
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