Events for 1981

     In 1981, I felt more like an adult because I was no longer living with my parents. I had moved in with my boyfriend (who later became my husband), and we lived in an apartment in Collingswood, NJ.

     Other than local travels to New York City; Philadelphia; Washington, DC; and within NJ, we didn’t take any major trips, but I do remember three science fiction conventions (SF cons) that we attended that year:

     The first, Shore Leave, at Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD, in July, was the second three-day con that the Star Trek (ST) Association of Towson ran. Although, we only attended for two of the three days, I still enjoyed seeing a few ST episodes, buying a few items in the dealers’ room, looking at the art show, and hearing the guests of honor: Jesco Von Puttkamer, Bob Greenburger & Howie Weinstein. Then we saw the masquerade and socialized in the con suite. Overall, we had a good time. A local Baltimore TV reporter asked me a few questions about this con, and on the 11 p.m. news, I saw myself and other SF fans on TV.

     Then, I went to a SF con near Washington, DC: August Party, at the Key Bridge Hotel, in Virginia. This media-SF con was a ST con that the local ST club has run since 1975, but unlike the past NYC-ST cons, the con committee didn’t have actors for guests. Instead, they arranged for Gene Roddenberry to telephone collect to the con, and the con committee broadcasted it over the main auditorium. After Roddenberry gave the latest Trek news, the con committee interviewed him. This con, too, had the usual con rooms: dealers’ room, art show, and con suite, as well as a cinema showing ST episodes and SF films. They presented a masquerade, and had plenty on panels covering almost everything: news about ST, writing fanzines, costuming advice, some news about NASA, etc. I also appeared on the local TV here along with other SF fans. Similar to Baltimore, a reporter asked me a few questions about the con, and I saw myself on TV that night on the 11 p.m. news.

     For November, I went to my second Philcon, for a day. Like the year before, the con committee had it at the Sheraton Hotel on JFK Blvd., in Center City, Philadelphia. Unlike the other two cons, this general-SF con, as opposed to a media-SF con, catered to mainly literary SF fans. Therefore, the guests of honor were SF writers and SF artists instead of actors from SF TV shows and films. I visited the con suite, dealers’ room, art show, and listened to panels that covered subjects that ranged from writing, art, costuming, and so forth, to different sciences.

     After this, I started to realize that I was beginning to prefer general-SF cons to media-SF cons!