"Effervescence." That's the word Emile Durkheim used to describe the process through which a collective, through regular meetings of its members, maintains solidarity and cohesion across physical distance. And as 25,000 self-professed otaku--so self-professed they valued the moniker at about $65--descended upon Baltimore (a city akin to Beijing in climate if not in cost of living or efficient public transportation,) there was indeed an effervescence in the air. But this effervescence was less the countless bubbles bursting atop a kettle of fortifying coffee that Durkheim's words conjure, and more the torpid, backwash-choked foam swirling about a sagging, half-empty 20-oz. of Mountain Dew. With cat ears on top.
Put another way, the only palpable stir in Baltimore's languid, waterlogged air last weekend was the whirling clash of a community marginalized by a racist legacy of socioeconomic stratification meeting a community marginalized by its own obsession with PVC statuettes of little girls.
But a festival of lies where broken kids try to appropriate an even more broken culture is still a festival, and in all seriousness, everyone involved was wonderful. (Except the Maryland Transit Authority.) My heartfelt thanks go out to the Otakon management, the guests, and the city of Baltimore for a memorable weekend, a cavalcade of sights and laughs, and maybe just a little bit of effervescence. Especial thanks to the following:
By the way, please check out my Otakon sampler comic.
