Defending the galaxy since 1974
Pre-History: Tales of Great Doings before the Rise of the SFS, most particularly Technicon, and divers other Wonders
1974 to Present: Being a Faithful Chronicle of Mighty Officers and their Deeds
Very Recent Events: Being not old at all, and thus not worthy of that many capital letters
Traditions, Enduring and Not So Much
SFS Pre-History
As chronicled by some of the
Rich Holmes, '78
Sheesh. Kids these days.
Or, more likely, kidding these days. Nevertheless, in case it really is such a big mystery, WPISFS (how'd that space get in there? It always used to be WPISFS, one glob of six letters, pronounced "whoopies-fiss". "WPI Science Fiction Club" was contemplated, but that would have been "whoopies-fuck".) was started up by Steve Kovner (now at skovnerworld.std.com), John Major (JAMAJORdelphi.com), and John Kuklewicz (?) in May, 1974. Yes, May. They'd been talking about it all semester, ever since Technicon II, and decided when the end of the school year was impending to start then rather than wait until September.
I was at that first meeting, and most of the meetings through May, 1977. So was David Wolff (now at dwolffbrooktrout.com), and a bunch of other people I don't offhand remember. I was secretary in 1975, and president in 1976. I think Steve was the first president and John Major was the second -- or vice versa.
Andrew Boyer, '??
I have the dubious honor of having been heavily involved in the SFS from about 84-88, including the planning and execution of TechniCon. We were warned, but we didn't listen... Trivia fact: Does anyone remember who the guests of honor at Technicon were? A) Larry Niven and whoever it was that wrote "Code of the Life-Bringer" (I don't even remember him) Gerrold/Hogan, something like that.
Bill Marrs, '90
I was there when "The T Word"(TM) happened. Actually the person mostly responsible for it: Lisa Shea (was Lisa Waller) is active on the net (lsheaworld.std.com) - I'm sure she would love to talk about it.
Richard Holmes, '78
Sheesh. Kids these days. Messrs. Boyer and Marrs seem to have, or at least to give, the impression that there was only one Technicon. In fact there were at least six prior to 1980, and in fact Technicon predates WPISFS.
Bill Carton ('73) organized Technicon I, held in January 1973. It was an intersession course. You still have intersession courses? A.k.a. intercourse sessions? I wasn't there (being a senior in high school at the time) but I recall hearing that the guest of honor was supposed to be Isaac Asimov, but he cancelled and Ben Bova substituted.
There was a good budget for GoH's, because there was something called the Larry Hull Memorial Lecture Fund to bring speakers to WPI and it had sat unused for some time. For the first few years, Technicon used that fund to bring it its GoH's.
Despite his having graduated, Bill was prevailed upon by intersession director Harriet Kay (I think) to run Technicon II in 1974. I was there, as was Lester del Rey. Most of the con occurred in the daytime in the physics building lecture hall; the GoH speech and the movies were in Alden. Technicon did *not* have a big movie budget, and the tradition was to get four movies -- three as good as they could afford, and one real turkey.
Technicon II provided the impetus for the founding of WPISFS that spring. We assisted Bill in running Technicon III and then took over for Technicon IV. Guests of honor:
III - Fred Pohl
IV - Gordon R. Dickson
V - Jerry Pournelle
I know there was a Technicon VI the year after I graduated. Beyond that, ask someone else.
The SFS: 1974 to Present
Hey, you! Do you know who did what when? If you do, contact Monica Kolb (last name then first initial at wpi for email) and tell her!
Jody Zolli, '87
I first joined the WPISFS in 1984. I graduated in 1987, but stayed involved in the sfs for several years after that.
And, of course, in those days, membership was five bucks or five books. We'd have semi-annual sales in the wedge where we would sell off duplicate copies of books to raise money. I donated a membership to a video rental store (remember when membership to a video rental store was $100?) and in return was proclaimed what I believe was the first lifetime member of the wpisfs (an honor which I will eternally treasure).
The Technicon I remember best was, I believe, in 1985. Ben Bova was the guest. He drove up from Connecticut - we didn't have much of a budget. We put him up in one of the guest bedrooms in Higgins House. We had gotten preliminary informating indicating that Frank Herbert (of Dune fame) had agreed to be our guest of honor the following year, but sadly he died in early 1986, and we were in significant debt by that point anyway. We did have nice buttons and T-shirts made, though. The T-shirts were black, with the event logo, and the 8 arrows of chaos all done up in red (how appropriate, as after that Technicon we were both besieged by chaos, and in the red).
We also had a tradition of electing whoever was NOT present at the meeting to be president of the wpisfs. It got to the point where people who did NOT want to be president were strongly encouraged to attend the meeting where the election would be held specifically to ensure they were not chosen for the position.
2004
President: Dictator-for-Life Mike Wixon, 2004
Vice President: Nyren Shaylokar
Treasurer: Ben Johnson, 2006
Secretary: Micah Gaulin-McKenzie, 2007
Librarians: Rory, 2006
Membership surged in 2004 with a strong incoming class. 2004 saw the ambitious Sunday Night Babylon 5 TUB, run by Nyren Shaylokar. All five seasons of the series were shown, starting in A term and ending sometime in late C term 2005.
2005
President: God-Emperor Mike Anastasia, 2007
Vice President: Adam Nakama, 2008
Treasurer: Ben Johnson, 2006
Secretary: Micah Gaulin-McKenzie, 2007
Librarians: Rory, 2006
Jonathan Adler, 2008
Adam Nakama conceived and oversaw the creation of the first Wedgefic. In late September Jon Adler was instrumental in arranging a public showing of several key Firefly episodes in preparation for the opening weekend of Serenity. 2006
President: God-Emperor Mike Anastasia, 2007
Vice President: Micah Gaulin-McKenzie, 2007
Treasurer: Jonathan Adler, 2008
Secretary: Monica Kolb, 2008
Librarians: Adam Nakama, 2008
Christopher Woo, 2008
In D06 the SFS, hearkening back to the good old days of yore, had donuts. Gaming Weekend A06 was held in the Campus Center for the first time, making it less crowded and more accessible than ever. Also, in B term 2006 the SFS was reclassified as a Class III campus-wide organization.
SFS Traditions, Enduring and Otherwise
Donuts
Andrew Boyer, '??
The donut float came about because we used to get a budget every year from WPI. In order to justify this budget, you had to spend all your money. Having nothing better to spend it on, we bought doughnuts for every meeting.
Bill Marrs, '90
We made a giant SFS donut float for homecoming one year. Ask Lisa Shea about this.
I have this wonderful picture of the SFS during the time I was there. We were all given donuts just before the picture - most of us have the donuts raised high in salute while others are cramming their faces. I've always wanted to make it into a gif file...
Jody Zolli, '87
I believe the donut float was built specifically for the 1985 Homecoming Parade. The multi-talented Mike Grusin designed the multi-gore toroidal shape, built it out of trash bags and packing tape, and inflated it with a hair dryer. It was then tied to the roof of somebody's station wagon (John Whitman? The guy who played the organ in Alden Hall for the APO haunted house every year). The donut must have been at least 7' in diameter. We had Tomita's version of Holst's "The Planets" blasting from the car stereo, as we slowly made our way up West Street to the quad. That year, we won the plaque for Most Creative for the homecoming parade.
The Library's Cramped Quarters
Rich Holmes, '78
Good to know the library is thriving. Steve Kovner used to keep it under his dorm room bed.
Andrew Boyer, '??
Glad to see the library finally got out of the [Alden] closet. So many years we tried to kick the Scuba club out of their space... Still have any Technicon t-shirts/buttons left? We ordered a few too many. (-:
Miscellaneous WPISFS Traditions
Bill Marrs, '90
Some traditions that were around when I was there:
- donuts
- Punt count - we counted the number of courses punted by members each term
- Tradition of Presidents snowflaking while in office [Editor's Note: This tradition has since been delegated to the Vice Presidents, who have upheld it admirably.]
- Silly Names for the officers
- Live Roleplaying games
- Strange newsletters
- Gaming Weekends
- Movie nights
The High Sign
Shawn Zimmerman, '9?
Well, my brain is pretty useless this early in the morning. Which means thaT THE ONLY THING i CAN REALLY REMEMBER ABOUT ALL THOSE YEARS IS THE sfs High Sign. Oh yeah, and I remember where that stupid caps lock key is. But not the delete key.
Anyway, the High Sign is meant to represent our lord and leige Cthulhu (aka K'tulu, aka That Which Is Not Dead But Dreams Eternal, aka The Big Squishy). It is also meant to be a subtle and sneaky hand signal which allows SFS members to secretly identify one another. You stick your hand, palm down, under your chin and wiggle your fingers suggestively. The addition of high pitched sqeaky moans is optional.