We’ve been at the Hynes Convention Center at the anime convention for almost three hours and it is finally worth it. The registration process was not friendly—multiple lines, down long hallways. It took a long time to get a print out of the schedule for the day. They say we should be using an app, but I cannot download the app, I wanted Julia to have a paper schedule to choose from, and after being turned down by a few “officials”, I ask at the accessibility desk and insist.  Finally, someone admits that this is the first year they are not providing paper schedules.  I insist again, like the mother bear that I am, and a paper schedule is put in our hands but by that time, I am pissed off and grumbling and deliver a lecture on what accessibility means.  I’m not going to say it was not needed but I could have been nicer about it.  Not a proud moment.

But now . . . 

Julia is learning a dance in a k-pop dance workshop.  In a ballroom with at least 75 (maybe 100) other young men and women, mostly women. Two women teach on a slightly raised stage. They are clear and good at breaking the dance down into manageable chunks and repeating.  The actual singing group, Bebe performing Stay C, is projected on a large screen beside the two teachers. The dance is repeated at 50% and 75% of the speed of the song over and over. The dancers learn small chunks and dance. Every few learned chunks, the teachers review by going over everything that has been learned.   

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