The Astral Log

One way the conference organizers strove to make everyone comfortable was to establish gender-neutral washrooms. The hotel actually accomplished this by covering over the urinals and allowing everyone the privacy of a toilet stall; whether cis or trans; male, female, or nonbinary in gender.

Skepticon 8 extended its accommodations to people with hearing loss disabilities by providing an on-stage sign language interpreter, and captioning on the fly.

Tables were set up in the corridor surrounding the workshop rooms, and various organizations and vendors were there. One of the more unusual sights was the Satanic Temple: I don't believe in devils any more than I believe in gods, but the Temple could best be thought of as a parody religion that "poisons the well" by waging "religious freedom" challenges against Christian-nationalist lawmakers on their own terms.

There was a Pinto in the parking lot...a 1975 Runabout, to be exact. No one would tell me who drove it, though.

Oh...and there was a dinosaur loose in the hall. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Me on Twitter: "How much of your conference happens on Friday? I'm trying to figure out which day I should drive there."

@RealSkepticon: "We have workshops from 10am-4pm, speakers from 6-9pm and then a tabletop gaming night!"

And so, the first day of Skepticon 8 came to be. After a hearty breakfast near simulated waterfalls, I made my way to the registration table, obtained my lanyard badge and "strategy guide" brochure, and quickly felt at home. If there were any protesters aghast at the hordes of heathens in their midst, they were out of sight and out of mind.

Trouble was, I wasn't sure what was going on. The bulk of the first day's events consisted of small "workshops," but they were marked in the "strategy guide" as a single nine-hour block with no further detail. Different things were going on in different rooms concurrently, I scarcely knew which things were where, and any signage on the rooms was limited to the name of the current workshop and nothing else. For lack of any better guidance, I picked a room at random and sat down inside.

What followed was a dialogue by Thomas Essel and Christopher McDowell of the Original Motto Project on their battles against the "ceremonial deism" of the post-McCarthy era and the reprehensible trend in Missouri of local police and sheriff's offices emblazoning "In God We Trust" across the flanks of their cars. It makes you wonder if LEOs can ever serve and protect their communities when they show open contempt for a portion of them on their sleeves.

Essel and McDowell were quickly followed by Stephanie Zvan (who I also had the good fortune of seeing in Winnipeg a couple months earlier), and Danielle Muscato. Unfortunately while all this was going on, I discovered that I accidentally missed a workshop going on in another room devoted to the subject of busting anti-abortion myths. I was miffed...that had been the one workshop I had been looking forward to more than any other...but there was still a lot of conference left.

Next up was Cindy Cooper, president of Camp Quest Oklahoma. Camp Quest is a growing nationwide network of secular summer camps focused on combating the isolation of non-religious children and allowing them the opportunities to partake in activities without the fear of religious indoctrination and think for themselves.

As you might expect, doing a secular summer camp program in Anita Bryant's home state has carried a list of challenges: Finding a facility to use was very difficult as Camp Quest was illegally turned away by many Christian campground owners, and the group had an Oklahoma restaurant owner pull out and refuse to honor a fund-raiser while it was happening.

I was a little surprised to hear that the camp included BB and rifle activities in its repertoire: When I was a kid, my summer-camp opportunities were stymied just as much by guns as a deterrent as by God. It was quickly reinforced, however, that these activities were optional and no kids were forced to partake.

To fully demonstrate the breadth of activities that they do, we were invited outside to build and launch paper rockets. Quickly I learned a thing or two both about aerodynamics and the way paper seams react to being pressurized without reinforcement! My rocket was in tatters, but the fun and satisfaction of the experience made my day.

Much later that day, the workshops ended and we retreated into the main auditorium for the first main presentations. Every time I get dejected by reactionary factions and impotence within the atheist movement, I have to remind myself that there are people like Sikivu Hutchinson in the world: Her hour was an absolutely stunning speech on racial justice and intersectional advocacy; combating racism and misogyny within civil-rights movements, finding ways humanism can improve the disposition of disenfranchised people of color, and moving activism beyond "low-hanging fruit" like Confederate flags and 10-Commandments monuments to bigger and greater challenges for the benefit of mankind. Hutchinson helped found Black Skeptics Los Angeles, and spoke in brutally honest terms.

Several other speakers followed, but the spirit was set for the rest of the weekend. This was a going to be a conference to be reckoned with.