SeKWester*Con

SeKWester*Con (April 9-11, 1976) and SeKWester*Con, Too (May 28-29, 1977) were part of a series of seminal Star Trek media cons that eventually became MediaWest*Con.
Note: in the previous year's program report, Paula Smith mentions that this con was initially titled: "InKWest*Con."
 
By 1976, Star Trek cons were getting bigger and more expensive; more guests, more stars... In reaction, Paula Smith and Sharon Ferraro planned SeKWester*Con (pronounced "sequester con") as the first media con by fans and for fans, with no celebrity guests -- designed for fans who complain that at the big cons, they never get the time to see the other fans. 
==Cons in the Series==
* Kwest*Con (1974)
* ReKWest*Con (1975)
* SeKWester*Con (1976) and "SeKWester*Con, Too" (1977)
* T'Con (1978) 
* 2'Con (1979)
* Mos' Eastly Con (1980-1991)
==Its Birth==
==Connection to MediaWest*Con ==
After two years, Sharon Ferraro dropped out, and Lori Chapek-Carleton and Paula Smith changed the name to T'Con, to take place on Memorial Day weekend of the next year, 1978. That convention gave out the second Fan Q Awards. The next year, they held 2'Con, and again, gave out Fan Q Awards.
In 1981, Lori Chapek-Carleton, Gordon Carleton and Paula Smith put on MediaWestCon (actually called "MidWest*Con" the first two years), held on May 22-25 in Lansing, Michigan. It turned out to be the fanzine convention of the year, and has been held every year since. They still give out Fan Q Awards, though the categories have changed many times over the years.
==The First Star Trek Fan Fund==
Gerry Downes was the first recipient of the Star Trek Fan Fund, sponsored by the letterzine The Halkan Council which raised money to pay for transportation and hotel fees to allow fans to attend conventions. She chose to go to SeKWester*Con.
For more about this fan fund, see: Star Trek Fan Fund.
== The Pornography Controversy!, aka "Rise of the Age Statements" ==
The major difference between SeKWester*Con and SeKWester*Con, Too was the new inclusion of explicit art (nudes) in the art show, discussion of K/S stories and pornography in two of the panels, and nomination of explicit stories (including Leslie Fish's notorious Shelter) for Fan Q Awards. R&R, the first zine series after Grup to label itself adult, brought out its first three issues between 'SeKWester*Con and SeKWester*Con, Too. Some fans had never seen this sort of material in Trek fandom, and they had very strong reactions. 
The strongest reaction came from Mary Louise Dodge -- an excerpt:
Paula Smith, one of the con organizers, responded -- an excerpt:
A few month later, Spectrum #35 covered the controversy over sexually explicit material -- an excerpt:
For more on this topic, see The SekWester*Con Porn Debate.
The debate spurred decisions throughout Trek fandom to label any fanzine with explicit sexual material as such, and not to knowingly sell such material to minors by requiring an age statement for purchase. By a decade later, when the Surak awards debuted, zines nominated were divided into two categories: "general" (which became gen) and "age statement required".
==SeKWester*Con (1976)==
The first con was held April 9-11, 1976. 
It had a had a cap of 200 attendees and was wildly successful.
 
There were 110 attendees. Most were zine editors, writers and artists, along with some zine readers. 
Twelve pages of the program book are printed in The New York and Chicago Strektaculars!.
The program book also contains a filk called "Star Drek Strektacular!"
All attending and supporting members got a copy of Sharon Ferraro's perzine, Turnabout.
===SeKWester*Con : Program Book Covers===
Image:sek1front.jpg|front cover of SekWester*Con convention program. It is 22 pages long, lists the panels, has a time line of Star Trek, and has several full page ads for a fanzine publisher, the James Blish pro books, and the STW. The main content of it, though, is a reprint of about half of the content of The New York and Chicago Strektaculars!
Image:sek1back.jpg|back cover of SekWester*Con convention program, Paula and Sharon
===Programming: SeKWester*Con (1976)===
Friday:
* 9:00 -- The Image of the Trekkie and Why (Virginia Walker, Shirley Maiewski, Phil Foglio (M))
* 10:00 -- The History of the Federation (Stephen O'Neil, Jeff Johnston, Sharon Ferraro (M), Rich Tucholka)
* 11:00 -- Kraith (Debbie Goldstein (M), Carol Lynn, Joyce Yasner, intro by Paula Smith)
* 12:00 -- Lunch Break
* 1:00 -- Cons at Present -- The State of the Event Now (Joyce Yasner, Devra Langsam, Sharon Ferraro (M))
* 1:30 -- Cons of the Future -- Evolution (Mary Manchester, Sandy Yingling, Shirley Huang, SRF (M))
* 2:00 -- Fanzines, What Makes a Good One? (Devra Langsam, Debbie Goldsmith, Connie Faddis)
* 3:00 -- The Blueprints and Tech Manual -- How Useful Are They? (Mike Short, Jeff Johnston, Paula Smith (M))
* 4:00 -- Panel for Beginning Writers (Joyce Yasner, Connie Faddis, Shirley Maiewski, Paula Smith)
 
* 5:00 -- The Star Trek film and Revival -- What Will it Mean to the Hard-Core Fan?
* 6:00 -- Banquet preperation
* 7:00 -- pre-banquet parade ("introduce your persona, watch out for Shirley's camera!")
* 7:30 -- Banquet
* 8:30 -- Special Surprise by Gordon Carleton ("Non-banquet attendees may come in for this.")
* 9:30 or so -- break up for the evening -- Special suggested discussion topic -- Star Trek Lives and The New Voyages -- what are they, what have they done?" 
Sunday:
* 10:00 -- Brunch and talk, brunch served buffet style
* 11:00 -- Feminism in Trek Fan Lit (Sharon Ferraro and Jean Lorrah)
* 12:00 -- The Vulcan/Human Hybrid (Paula Smith and Joan Verba debating the viability of the Vulcan-human hybrid, Mike Amsden was the referee)
* 1:00 -- Fan-WrittenNovels in Trek Lit (Sharon Ferraro, Beth Robertson, Shirley Maiewski)
 
* 2:00 -- art and charity auction (STFF)
* 3:30 -- What are we all doing here? Final wrap up. Group discussion, all members
* Alternative Program Room -- "The program for the alternate room (smaller and set up for projecting) will be posted outside the room. Topics and subjects likely to be scheduled in this room are" 
** "I Am Not Spock" (book discussion?)
** Uses and Misuses of ESP in Trek Lit
** Slide Shows of "Amok Time," "City on the Edge of Forever," "Mirror, Mirror," and "Journey to Babel"
** Devra Langsam's Slide Shows
** "Operation: Annihilate" -- episode film
** Graphic Aids for the Zine Editor by Jeff Johnston and Phil Foglio
** Types of ST Fiction - Mary Sue stories, "get stories," etc...
** What is David Gerrold and Why?
** Proper Adoration Techniques for Celebrities (sub classification for short writers)
** Humor in Trek Lit
** Care and Feeding of Film Clips and Rubberized T-Shirts
Some of these panels were excerpted and transcribed in the 1977 program book (the following year). See below.
Image:sekwestercon2-1.jpg 
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Image:sekwestercon2-8.jpg |first page of three for "The Vulcan/Human Hybrid"
===Dealer's Room & Art Room for SeKWester*Con (1976)===
From the program guide:
===SeKWester*Con's (1976) Required Reading!===
From The Halkan Council #10: "... required reading list will include World of ST, STLives and Trouble with Tribbles with a recommended reading list spanning even more Kraith, major fiction, and articles like Grup's Vulcan anatomy, etc. This is almost going to be a work con. We hope to produce an after-the-con book with transcripts of the best panels. Each attending or supporting member will have first dibs (cost about $2) and any extras will be sold on a first come-first served basis." 
The official reading list from the progress report: 
* The Making of Star Trek by Stephen Whitfield
* The World of Star Trek by David Gerrold
* Star Trek Lives! by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and others
* The Star Trek Blue Prints by Franz Josephs
* The Star Trek Technical Manual by Franz Josephs
* The Trouble With Tribbles by David Gerrold
Other recommended reading:
* The Star Trek Log Books by Alan Dean Foster
* Star Trek books by James Blish
* In Search of Wonder Woman by Damon Knight
* The Issue at Hand by William Atheling, Jr.
* More Issues at Hand by William Atheling, Jr.
"Fannishly Available" recommended reading:
* The Star Trek Concordance by Bjo Trimble, Kraith, Halkan Council, Interphase, The Misfit, Spock Enslaved, Grup, Berengaria, Warped Space #8, The Daneswoman, Spockanalia, Masiform D, Alternate Universe, Babel, T-Negative, Energize!, Spectrum and Menagerie.
===Some Tidbits from the Progress Report for SeKWester*Con (1976)===
* TAPING: "Feel free to bring along your tape recorder. We will try to synchronize all starts of taping to avoid the 'clack, crack' in the middle that gets on everyone else's tape. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you bring C-60 cassettes (60 minutes total, 30 minutes on a side). We will plan a short 'flip-over break' at the 30 minutes point on all the panels."
* ART SHOW: "Apparently the art show will include an auction. Each artist is in charge of her own display -- buy half a table for $1." 
* BANQUET: "The banquet will be a costume banquet. Please feel free to wear the costume of your favorite persona. Remember though, that you have to be able to eat, which precludes such ideas such as the Horta -- unless you want to eat off the floor... The cost for the meal is $7. Because the Holiday Inn has instituted a new policy, we must have a catered meal each day in order to get our function rooms free... [So], we will have a $4 Sunday brunch, and only 30 of your clowns need to attend, more is okay, of course! Since this is the exact same meal at the exact same price you'd get downstairs in the restaurant, you can see it's a deal to have the same thing upstairs, served privately for con members (and not frightening the mundanes)."
===Con Reports for SeKWester*Con (1976)===
Joan Verba writes about the first SeKWester*Con in Boldly Writing: 
Another fan in Probe #8 offers this up: 
A fan writes in Menagerie #10: 
From a report in A Piece of the Action #42: 
From Randy Ash in Sehlat's Roar #2: 
== SeKWester*Con, Too (1977)==
It was held May 28 & 29, 1977. 
The con program lists 183 attending members, and 17 supporting members.
The con looked much like today's relaxacons. But there were two major and a few minor fanwritten productions performed live during the banquets. Also, many people were interested in how to make their own fanzines, so Jeff, the editor of the zine Spectrum volunteered to create the zine, The Cage at the con so that those attending the convention could see a mimeographed fanzine being put together before their very eyes. It took all four days of the con. ("The result was 41 pages, printed on Jeff's machine. There were a variety of contributions—stories, articles, satires written under pseudonyms (one of which was "Su Do Nims"), plus an honest-to-goodness Mary Sue story.")
Verba, Joan. Boldly Writing. F T L Pubns, March 26, 2003, pg 37 For Johnston's comments on this endeavor, see The Story of The Cage, the Se-Kwester*Con Too Conzine... or... How Not to Publish a Fanzine.
One evening's activities was Gordon Carleton's slideshow City on the Edge of Whatever Slide Show. 
The program book is largely made up of photos and transcripts from last year's con.
As a reaction to the failed effort to get Trek fan writers and editors on the Hugo ballot, Paula and Sharon sponsored the first Fan Q awards. 
Gerry Downes was the winner of the Fan Fund and attended
===SeKWester*Con, Too: Program Book ===
Image:sekwester2-1.jpg|front cover of the program book, illo by Gayle F 
Image:sekwester2-2.jpg|back cover of the program book 
The program book contains 15 pages.
* programming
* a list of attending member's names
* five recaps of panel discussions from last year, each one includes photos of the panelists
** recap transcribed via an audio tape of a panel from last year's con (panelists were Sharon Ferraro, Shirley Maiewski, and Beth Robertson) called "Trek Novels" (about the quality of fanfic Trek novels, plus writing hints)
** recap transcribed via an audio tape of a panel from last year's con (panelists were Joyce Yasner, Connie Faddis, Shirley Maiewski, and Paula Smith) called "Beginning Writers" (about the quality of Trek writing)
** recap transcribed via an audio tape of a panel from last year's con (panelists were Sharon Ferraro, Jean Lorrah) called Feminism in Treklit
** recap transcribed via an audio tape of a panel from last year's con (panelists were Devra Langsam, Debbie Goldstein, Connie Faddis) called Fanzine Reproduction
** recap transcribed via an audio tape of a panel from last year's con (panelists were Joan Verba, Paula Smith, Mike Amsden) called The Vulcan Human Hybrid
===SeKWester*Con, Too: Skits===
One of the two con skits that were performed "in drag" was Stour Trek: A Musical in Search of a Key by Paula Smith. This skit's transcript was printed in Eel-Bird Banders' Bulletin #2. Howlett, who cosplayed Uhura, wrote about this skit in I Didn't Know Uhura Had a Cleft in Her Chin!. 
The other skit was Where No Man Has Gone Lately by Winston Howlett. 
The third skit was an epilogue to a story in Delta Triad #4 called "The Sword At the Gate," a sequel to the episode "The Paradise Syndrome." It was performed with Gerry Downes reading the lines aloud while the story was narrated by Dorothy Martin in Indian Sign Language. from a review of Stardate Unknown #4 in Delta Triad #4 
 
 
 File:Eel2art4.jpg |Stour Trek: A Musical in Search of a Key from Eel-Bird Banders' Bulletin #2, art by Gordon Carleton 
 File:Conniefaddis.jpg| Stour Trek: A Musical in Search of a Key: from Eel Bird Bander's Bulletin #2: "Costumes ranged from the elaborate -- Winston Howlett playing Uhura, came in full drag; false breasts, a wig, and a uniform dress -- to the the not-so-elaborate -- Connie Faddis, playing Kirk, wore a beige nylon shirt with the command insignia and a a braid stapled on, a pair of black knit pants, knee socks, and a pair of beat up old sneakers. Joan Winston informed Connie that Kirk wouldn't be caught dead in such atrocious footwear: he'd wear Adidas." 
===Programming for SeKWester*Con, Too (1977)===
Friday:
"Con Suite open ? to ?, Penthisilean Pool Party; Drinks, munchies, gab; CAGE typing, plays rehearsal. Filksinging, crowding, creative drowning."
Saturday:
* A "Created Worlds" panel track, featuring the creators of some popular fan universes: 
** 9:30 -- "Night of the Twin Moons" (Jean Lorrah)
** 10:00 -- Sahaj (Leslie Lilker)
** 10:30 -- "Kraith" (Jackie Lichtenberg, Debbie Goldstein, Carol Lynn)
** 11:00 -- "Landing Party 6" (Paula Block, Gordon Carleton, Lori Carleton, David Manship, and Cindy Myers)
** 11:30 -- "Alternate Universe 4" (Daphne Hamilton, Shirley Maiewski, Anna Mary Hall)
* 12:00 -- "Lunch -- go forage"
* 1:00 -- Trek Tech, part two (Mike Short, Jeff Johnston)
* 2:00 -- The Music of ST (Amy Falkowitz, Leslie Fish, Steve Reubart)
* 3:00 -- Zine Reviewing (Lori Chapek, Roberta Rogow, Jackie Bielowicz, Dixie Owen)
* 4:00 -- Kirk and Spock: Do They or Don't They? (Carol Shuttleworth, Leslie Fish, Gerry Downes, Gayle F, Theresa Holmes, Amy Harlib, Connie Faddis)
* 5:00 -- Charity Auction
Dealers'/Art Room was open from 12-4. Alternate Programming room was open from 10-5 for zine production of the CAGE.
* 7:30 -- Dinner, come in costume
* 8:15 -- Culture-time: Skits
** Stour Trek: A Musical In Search of a Key by Paula Smith
** Where No Man Has Gone Lately by Winston Howlett
** City on the Edge of Whatever by Gordon Carleton
* 9:30 or so: Films, etc. "Also, the Starsky and Hutch CateGorical Appreciation Society will bug out at 9: to watch the reruns."
 
Sunday:
* 10:30 -- Breakfast, Postprandial Greek Choris
* 12:00 -- Publication (Sharon Short, Joan Winston, Joyce Yasner, Devra Langsam)
* 1:00 -- Artists [with a panel representing the Art Royalty of the day] (Connie Faddis, Gayle F, Signe Landon, Gordon Carleton, Joni Wagner)
* 2:00 -- Porno and Sex in ST (Sharon Short, Melinda Shreve, Jean Lorrah, Jackie Bielowicz)
* 3:00 -- How We Do It, Throwing a Small Con (Sharon Short, Paula Smith)
* 4:00 Art Auction till 6:00, "until we get tired, or sell out."
* Break for Dinner
* Films for anyone still around, or last of Charity Auction, or "sump'n"
Stephen Clarke will show slides of the NASA Space Program in the Alternative Programming room from 12:00.
Monday ("If anyone's still around")
* swim in the pool
* lay in the sun
* help Paula pack
===SeKWester*Con, Too: The First "Slash" Panel===
The first public discussion of K/S may have taken place at SeKWester*Con, Too in the form of a panel called Kirk and Spock: Do They or Don't They?. Other fans point to the August Party in 1976 where Leslie Fish almost caused a riot when she defended K/S. However, the August Parties were not formal conventions, even though they were quite influential in disseminating information throughout fandom. 
It was, by all accounts, the most well attended event at the convention and quite boisterous. On the panel were Leslie Fish, Gerry Downes, and Gayle F. 
Carol Frisbie, editor of Thrust, informed the audience that Gene Roddenberry knew about K/S and had told them that, "as long as it stays underground, and away from the mothers of America," he had no problem with it. Over the course of time, Roddenberry apparently tailored his response to K/S fanworks, depending upon his audience, telling 
some people he was against it and telling people --usually in his "public persona"--that he was okay with it. -- MPH's recollection of a 2003 conversation on a private mailing list. 
Parts of the panel went unintentionally public when a problem with the hotel sound system inadvertently projected the voice of Connie Faddis reading aloud from an explicit story into the hallway. 
And while the panel was controversial and generated loud objections (see the LOCs in issues #12 and #14 of Menagerie), the convention organizers pointed out afterwards in Menagerie that when the panel was announced in the convention progress report: "Ten people volunteered to be 'pro' the K/S relationship; no one volunteered to be 'con.' We had to draft the opposition." (Panelist Theresa H. revealed that she and other "anti"-K/S fans had felt intimidated by the "pro" side and that many of the fans she spoke to had been afraid to be "emotionally involved.")
Also see: The SekWester*Con Porn Debate and The Sound and the Fury: The First Panel Discussion About K/S. 
For a broader discussion of these issues see: Slash Controversies and History of K/S Fandom.
===SeKWester*Con, Too: Con Reports===
 
==References==
Category:Conventions in United States
Category:Star Trek TOS Conventions
Category:Star Trek Conventions
Category:1976 Conventions
Category:1977 Conventions