Back in October I had gone to Pecha Kucha Night 6 on bike. Last week Don, Dexter and I went to PKN6 on the train. It was downtown this time, not on campus, and it was cold!
I like having Don around when we're out with the stroller. Don prefers to just lift the stroller up the stairs when we have to surface on the other end. When I'm alone I always aim for the handicap elevator. Often it takes more time. Having a kid and a stroller has made me realize how frustrating it must be for people with mobility issues. Over the summer it took me a long time to figure out where all the stroller friendly exits were on the LRT system. And I used to take sidewalks for granted. With the stroller I'll be walking around and all of a sudden discover there is no slope to cross the street, etc. And I've got the best in pedestrian strollers!
There are going to be all those people who tell me I should just wear the baby. And I have. He never liked it much in the summer. Too hot.
I was disappointed in this round of PKN. Last time there was a quirky variety of presentations. Even if some of them were sort of educational or informational about somebody's organization or charity... it didn't come off as a recruitment thing. And it certainly didn't smell of "Come do good stuff... because we do... good stuff!" I don't mind information. I don't like evangelism.
Honestly, I think part of it was the cold and the fact that it was in one of the darkest times of the year. The energy in the room was stale, even though it was in the very atmospheric McDougall chuch. There was only one presentation I really liked. Some others were okay, but I was so far into my coma I wasn't the most captive audience member. There was a very good review of the evening here, and some talk in the comments section about themes for the evening. I don't really want to weigh in there. I do think themes are good, but it's up to the presenters to make it fit. And at the end of the day there are just other variables that nobody has control over. I'm still planning on attending the next one. Conflicted about whether I will submit a presentation or not.
The theme for this round was "Pssst, It's a Secret." Okay. I understand if the point is to talk about Edmonton's hidden gems. You know. Those cool and unique things that make the city fun and interesting? But this is what followed as an elaboration on the theme, as quoted from the website:
"Edmonton’s Next Gen can’t keep a secret and wants Edmonton’s young creatives to spill their beans! PSST… IT’S A SECRET – PECHA KUCHA NIGHT 6 explores our City’s best and worst kept secrets, furtive futures, ancient enigmas, cosmic quandaries, unsolved mysteries and how-to-guides for pressing problems."
Uh... I'm not sure who put the final stamp of approval on this, but if I ever submitted a piece of writing like this to a professor of mine I'd be told to go do it again. So you want to know about Edmonton's best AND worst kept secrets? Isn't that sort of like saying you just want to know something about something? Vague. Contradictory. Not clear. I felt this was reflected in the presentations.
And this is just the picky side of me coming out, but alliteration is best when it's not really noticeable. If one endeavors to come across as intelligent via writing, less is really more (in my opinion). Furtive futures, ancient enigmas, cosmic quandaries... geez. Coupling words together for the sake of it appearing different or creative isn't bold and modern. In this case it was just weird. I found the description and the brief awkward and obscure. At one point an organizer came up to me and asked me what I thought. At the time I was seriously at a loss for what to say. I asked him to clarify about what he wanted my opinion on. He said in general. I noted the one presentation I thought was good and said the rest of the evening was "nice" or something generic like that. I had trouble formulating how I felt about it on the spot. Hence why this post is over a week late.
I do understanding that pulling off any event is a really big deal, and they did get over 400 people out on a very cold night. I think PKN is a great thing that happens in our city, and even though this one had it's shortcomings, I'm excited to see what is in store for the next round.
At the very least it was a fun opportunity to see some friends and take Dexter out on the town.
Snack time.
After intermission the baby was expiring. Don went home with the little dude and I stayed behind to see the 2nd half. I was absolutely starving and was crazy for food. Afterwards we raced to get some Chinese food that my friend Dan was craving. The place wasn't seating anymore, so we ordered takeout and noticed that we were all playing on our phones while waiting.
Perhaps somebody needs to do a presentation on the iPhone and how it mitigates the passing of time while altering the manner in which we interact with real human beings.
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