San Diego, CA
My first trip since the pandemic began.
September 3-5, 2021
This was the first trip I took during the pandemic. Though I stayed within my own state, I was 8 hours from home and when a day's time or a whole "work-day" is needed to reach your travel destination, I consider that an actual trip. The farthest I have ventured since returning from NYC, NY last March 14, 2020, is Fairfield, CA (about 40 minutes north of where I live) and San Francisco, CA (about 45 minutes southwest of where I live).
By personal choice, I have taken a very cautious approach with the pandemic and the way COVID-19 has spread. There will be many who have a lot to say about this, including those who believe they are doing what is right and still traveling for pleasure. I'm not here to judge anyone on their beliefs or what they feel is true; All I am asking is that you respect my views and not leave hate here.
*****Outright hate will be deleted.
The decision to go to San Diego was not taken lightly, at least not for me. Other members of the nonprofit that I work with, who were also traveling for the same function, were at ease with traveling and saw no issues. All of us were fully vaccinated prior to meeting up in San Diego. However, I was still restless with the pandemic. I watched the COVID case numbers closely. As the date to travel approached, I noticed that the cases were going down in San Diego and that the deaths had ceased about a week before travel. This made me feel slightly better. Vaccination is not a guarantee to not catch COVID-19 and I personally knew 3 people who caught the virus while being 100% vaccinated. Two of those people have had to undergo lung physical therapy. As someone who has a compromised immune system and poor breath support, these sorts of issues are very concerning to me.
My final decision to actually go to San Diego came with the COVID case numbers dropping in the San Diego area and the guarantee that the event I was working at would require mask wearing.
I almost felt out of practice when preparing to pack. It sounds silly, I'm sure, but I hadn't had to pack for a trip in a year and half! I also was only going for 2 nights/3 days. It's so easy to overpack for a short trip. I've really taken the approach of "less is more" while traveling since my trip to Geneva, Switzerland 2 years ago. I use to travel by plane with 3 carry-on pieces. When I went to Geneva, my partner encouraged me not travel with a lot of personal items to allow the flexibility to roam and move quickly. Once I experienced this freedom I could never go back to hauling around luggage or bags in the airport. The ability to be able to move quickly and leave the airport and come back with nothing to weigh me down was too great in comparison to having things "in case you might need them".
San Diego is a city I have only been in for San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) and in the month of July, prior to this trip and this time not only was I not going for this event, but it hadn't even taken place yet. (SDCC 2021 will take place in November this year.) It felt weird. I spend most of my time in the Gas Lamp District when I'm there because of SDCC and on this trip I didn't even go anywhere near it! What I noted about San Diego after roaming around different parts this year, is that even though it's a well-known city it feels small. Everybody seems to know everybody and a large portion of the population are born, raised, and never leaving there. It actually feels smaller than San Jose, CA, even though San Diego is 372 square miles and San Jose is only 181 square miles. My personal view is that the areas or communities of San Diego feel like separate cities.
San Diego County currently does not require mask wearing outside of educational facilities (schools), healthcare service centers (hospitals, senior citizen homes, etc.), or indoor areas with poor ventilation (buses, airplanes, trains, etc.). People who are vaccinated do not have to wear masks, but companies are not allowed to ask either. Initially, I felt uncomfortable upon being out in the city of San Diego. A good example is when I went to Costco on the day of my arrival. Costco is a large warehouse with no windows or real ventilation, but they're not listed under any of the categories where masks would be required and by law they do not have to ask people to wear masks or prove they're vaccinated. I would say at least 50% (or slightly more) of the shoppers were not wearing masks, which is very different from the Bay Area where I live (Northern California) where the majority of people wear masks and it is required in most counties to wear a mask indoors or outdoors. Mask wearing, in general, did not seem like a "thing" for the majority there. I was relieved to see that the area the event was in seemed to have more people wearing masks and that the teenage population and young adults were all taking the right precautions from what I saw. The responsibility and care that this sector of the city are taking was refreshing, especially when the media in America has really depicted the 26-and-under crowd as being careless and anti-masks during this pandemic.
My trip to San Diego was never an actual planned vacation. The nonprofit I am a part of decided to combine a board retreat with one of our member's events: AfroCon.
As I mentioned before, I am a member and serve on a board of a nonprofit organization. Since 2015, I have served on the board of EDFU Foundation - a nonprofit aimed at providing education and resources for the underrepresented. - In June of this year, a board member mentioned they were trying to turn their offsite after-party they annually hold during SDCC into an actual convention, because SDCC wasn't going to happen until Thanksgiving weekend and most people were not into traveling or parting from family during the holidays. At the time, our board didn't know exactly how we were going to support our fellow member, but we wanted to be there for her.
The work aspect of the trip and the chance to finally connect with my fellow board members in-person heavily weighed on my mind while I had to make the decision to travel. I'm really glad that it all worked out and I was able to go down to San Diego without feeling irresponsible or unsafe.
Unknown, but dedicated, support for Dr.LaWana Richmond, became 3 months of several meetings, phone calls, planning, and all-day/all-night work. The result was the first ever AfroCon.
There was much uncertainty in the weeks leading up to the convention. We checked San Diego county's COVID guidelines almost daily and held our breath, because we believed a shutdown or cancellation of in-person events would occur. Fortune smiled upon us though!
AfroCon was a learning experience for all of us. No one, except Ms.Richmond had any practice working or operating a convention of any type, especially not a fan convention put together in 4 months time. (FYI, 4 months is not enough time to plan a con.) To be honest, we weren't as organized as we needed to be and looking back we definitely felt improvements could be made for future events.
I remember walking into the Jackie Robinson YMCA on the first day of the con, a couple of hours before it opened to the public, and feeling excited, but also unsure of what to do without instruction. The event took place Labor Day weekend: September 4 & 5, 2021. It brought in an estimated 1,200 people combined, which was 4x's the expected amount of people. Any doubt we had of failure was erased and this event was deemed a success. Many vendors left early on the last day, because they had run out of product to sell! As far as actually working the con- it was a lot of: "Hurry-up! Get this done!" and then waiting to those two things again, heh. In between tasks, we found ourselves looking for places to sit and hopefully in silence. I have a long background in retail, so dealing with the general public wasn't new to me, but for most of the board it is not an everyday task and I felt that dealing with society as a service took a toll on them fairly quickly.
The way our board came together to help make one of our tribe member's vision a reality was inspiring and proved to me that we can do anything we put our minds to and when we work together we come out stronger.
What was also refreshing for my soul, was seeing the way the city of San Diego came out for LaWana. The mayor made a proclamation, her friends and family never stopped working and trying to support her and her vision - before, during, and after the event.
The community showed up and supported. There was kindness and connections being made nonstop. I met several individuals who I was able to learn from and engage with about cosplay, history, art, and who were generally happy to just have a human connection with another. One thing that Dr.Richmond can be proud of - and in my opinion it is the most important aspect - is that she created a safe space for nerds; people who never have felt like they fit in or their efforts were not appreciated; and those in categories that are often ignored or under represented in the arts. Myself and others were able to engage each other the way we did and on the topics we discussed, because we had this space that the community and fans could be present in without the worries of being judged, ignored, threatened, or having to compete.
Even my dear friend, Monique, drove hours to come down to San Diego and support the efforts of my organization and AfroCon. Just her presence meant a lot to both myself and my partner.
This was actually Monique's first ever fan convention. She had attended other conventions, but most were aimed at the purpose of guiding and inspiring those in the art & animation industry. (She's an animator!)
It's magical to think that I helped create the experience that some people will now compare their future cons to and will motivate them to want to go to other conventions.
AfroCon really brought everyone together in so many ways. It is hard to relay how, but it was as if there was a puzzle to be built and all of the pieces willingly brought themselves together and stayed there with the glue that is Dr.Richmond. Then the community, friends, and family framed everything together in the end so that all of this work could be remembered and hung-up to preserve and show others what is and what can be; to inspire a future.
EDFU Foundation was a sponsor for AfroCon, on paper. In reality, we were so much more. Support and work un-stopped for LaWana and her event. All but 1 member of our board came out and multiple partners of EDFU showed up.
Our big spotlight came at the 2 cosplay contests. AfroCon hosted 2 separate cosplay contests - 1 on each day of the con. EDFU Foundation sponsored them and awarded $350 to each winner. I was actually a judge on day 2, which turned out to be a lot of fun. At first, I was really nervous to be a judge, but it ended up not being intimidating at all.
As an organization, we made a lot of connections and gained a new audience through this venture with AfroCon. These are relationships and connections I hope we keep and stay with us for years to come!
Personally, I'll never forget these moments that were created at AfroCon with us.
The board retreat was needed. Some of us had never been in the physical presence of one another. We come from all over the world and even for those of us who are in the United States, we are very spread out. Our board relies on constant online or phone communication to keep going. I recognize that this practice is not uncommon in the 21st century for a lot organizations and businesses, even before the pandemic, but it's not always the best way to operate. As one of our members pointed out- when we could see the faces in front of us and not a screen, we then had a human-connection and could understand each other better and more personally. We walked away better connected from just the few days we were all together. I do feel that us having to work the convention took away from the time needed to cover work-related issues and discussions, but I wouldn't trade that in-person bonding for anything!
There's no place like home.
I can't lie- I was relieved to come home. I was exhausted and drain from the work and not enough sleep, but also the stress of COVID took a toll on me mentally and I just wanted to feel safe again. It was a great experience, both in terms of work and my personal benefit. The pandemic has stripped us social-butterflies of how we use to flutter and I admit that I missed meeting people and socializing. Though the people at the convention were polite and I felt safe, the general safety and concern in the Bay Area/Northern California is much more reassuring to me than in Southern California. Update: November 2021 I'm happy to report that no one on the EDFU Foundation board contracted COVID during or after the event and no one reported any cases linked to AfroCon 2021.
Learn more about EDFU Foundation.
Meet the EDFU Foundation board.
Check out Afronauts podcast.
Donate to EDFU Foundation.
Follow EDFU Foundation on IG.
Like EDFU Foundation on Facebook.
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