By Tara Madison Avery (@taramavery)
The third annual Politicon was held in Pasadena, CA this past weekend. It is a non-partisan convention of journalists, activists, third-party representatives, booksellers, makers of political merchandise, and good old fashioned political junkies.
I spent Saturday on the floor assisting cartoonist, illustrator, and sex worker Sonya Saturday in her effort to promote her politically savvy coloring books and prints, particularly her upcoming Socially Conscious White Ladies Coloring and Activity Book. As things began to get moving on the convention floor, a tide of “Make America Great Again” hats and Bernie t-shirts rolled in, and we two bi trans women got to see how people all across the political spectrum would react to us.
Sonya Saturday (L) and Tara Avery at Politicon!
There were a surprising number of Trumpers of color, but where else would you expect to find them? Perhaps every last one was there. An African-American gentleman in a cowboy hat lectured us on liberal brainwashing before rejoining his friends, one of whom was a sullen white male decked out in the height of contemporary white supremacist fashion, including a Fred Perry polo shirt, suspenders, cuffed high-water black jeans, and Doc Martens. I wondered how this bunch decided where to go out for dinner after the show closed.
Later, a Bernie supporter who seemed to be very confused about issues of sexuality and gender, especially his own, attempted to explain to Sonya at great length what counted as gender transition and why the supporter’s predilections for crossdressing, fantasies of fellatio, and attraction to gay bars—for the good 80’s music—didn’t make him queer. Not to leave creepy enough alone, he also explained at great length his fetish for Asian women and attributed it to his possession of a genetic mutation.
Like conventions devoted to comics and popular culture, Politicon could boast its own cosplayers. A trio of attendees walked the hall dressed as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Abraham Lincoln. A drag queen stalked the con in a reproduction of Kellyanne Conway’s red, white, and blue Inauguration Day outfit, and wore it better to boot. Also, much as actors and artists can be found at pop culture conventions, a host of the political media’s own celebrity talking heads could be seen on the show floor. Fully visible from head to toe at long last were former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and MSNBC security expert Malcolm Nance among many others.
Politicon cosplayers! (Photo: Tara Avery)
Aside from the sheer anthropological value, the show floor at Politicon offered a variety of fascinating politically themed merchandise. The Contender, the card game of presidential debate, had a booth with actual game play on offer. It plays similarly to Cards Against Humanity with actual historical debate quotes chosen for rhetorical or comedic effect as responses to a typical political topic such as taxes, foreign policy, or the economy. At another table, Election Day: The Game employed classic board game tropes to capture the struggle to attain public office. Designed by a longtime campaign insider to explain the political process to his children, this game drew off of features found in Monopoly and similar games such as draw piles for Scandal and Conventional Wisdom cards and play money to simulate campaign financing.
For those of you who have already moved on from pink pussy hats, the intersection of knitting and activism lives on with the Welcome Blanket. Knitters are asked to knit blankets and write welcome letters for newly arrived refugees to the United States. If you’d like to contribute, you can find out more at welcomeblanket.org. It’s a nice way to welcome people to America and representative of what we would like to hold up as our ideals. Also, it will piss off those would-be revolutionary bros who think chicks with yarn and basic human kindness are just dupes of the Establishment.
Several “third” parties were also represented at the show. (There’s got to be a better name for them.) The Libertarian party was there to promote their message of personal freedom through laissez faire economics and zero social responsibility. Founded in 2011, the newly emergent Justice Party is another left-of-center third party which has no time for the sellout business of actually winning elections and doing the work of governance. And the California National Party was on hand to sell a product (namely California secession) that no one really wants if they think about it for more than 30 seconds.
Sonya’s 2016 Republican Candidates Coloring and Activity Book was not the only indication at Politicon that print is not yet dead. Beloved Southern California bookseller Vroman’s boasted a table replete with the latest hot political reads to reinforce the ideological views of liberal and conservative alike. Comics writer Jonathan Hennessey displayed his selection of graphic American history selections on topics such as the United States Constitution and the oh-so-chic Alexander Hamilton.
If I may set snark aside for a moment, there were also some important organizations there promoting diversity and civil rights. Muslims for Progressive Values, The Latino Vote, and the more indispensable than ever ACLU showed up to remind us how the United States can work at its best. On the streets outside the convention center a pro-Trump rally met with a formidable counter-protest, which underscores the value of not allowing advocates of hate and intolerance to shout us down.
I’m not sure whether I’ll make this show a part of my annual convention schedule. My brand of political nerdiness is nourished enough by my daily news diet. As a snapshot of the controversies, policy struggles, and oddities of our current Trumpian epoch, Politicon 2017 didn’t disappoint.