Broad Universe News

27 March 2003

Broad Universe Picks Logo
Broad Universe is pleased to unveil its new logo — a design created by Jeanne Gomoll.

The logo, which includes a woman symbol and a hand reaching for a star, was chosen by the Broad Universe Motherboard after designs submitted by several artists were screened by the BU Logo Committee.

"We got a bunch of great ideas from all kinds of great people, it was so hard to decide," said Amy Hanson, a member of the Logo Committee. "The BU list came up with a really neat idea, as did several other artists, and then of course, we had ideas from Jeanne Gomoll. It was like opening a box of chocolates and trying to decide between the chocolate mousse and the double vanilla cream!"

Suzy McKee Charnas, another member of the committee, said BU was lucky to be able to draw on so much talent and enthusiasm for the logo.

"I'd like to thank Jeanne Gomoll, in particular, for coming up with not just one, but a whole slew of first-rate designs for us to consider. Because of this, we were all involved in a fascinating exploration of the qualities a design needs to succeed as a logo."

Well known in the feminist science fiction community, Jeanne has been involved in the planning of every WisCon since the con was born in 1976. A member of the Tiptree Motherboard and the Broad Universe Advisory Board, Jeanne has had a hand in the graphic design and publishing of all three of the Tiptree books. She has received several Hugo nominations as both a fan artist and editor and her work has appeared in far too many fan publications to list. In her copious "extra time," Jeanne is an artist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and a freelance graphic designer.

Broad Universe Gains Treasurer and Motherboard Member
Grace O'Malley, who brings both financial and genre qualifications to the job, has taken over as treasurer for Broad Universe and joined the Motherboard as a voting member.

Grace has a degree in economics and over 25 years of experience in budgeting for a large corporation. She currently serves the corporation in the role of treasurer.

"I started reading science fiction (the Judith Merrill anthologies of short stories) when I was 9," she said. "I stopped reading for a while in late high school because I got tired of the sexism. While in grad school, I published a feminist music magazine and produced feminist concerts bringing to Milwaukee all sorts of wonderful perfomers. I helped other production companies get started."

A Canadian friend, who published the fanzine, The Witch and The Chameleon, told Grace about a new feminist science fiction convention being held in Madison.

"I did not go to the first WisCon because I did not believe that there could be such a thing as feminist science fiction," she said. "Was I wrong! I attended the second and almost every WisCon since."

Grace is the founder of the "Writers You Probably Never Heard Of" panel, starting what has become a WisCon tradition at a Milwaukee convention called X-Con.

"We were told not to be strident since the only writers we talked about were women, then I moved the panel to WisCon. The original members of the panel were Bev Deweese, Jan Bogstad, Karen Axness and myself."

Grace said she decided to get more involved in BU because of the importance of the organization's work.

"BU is important because even though women have made many inroads into science fiction/fanatasy writing, they are still too far underrepresented. I love to read women's ideas and want to make sure that opportunities for women writers increase."

Tarot Readings, Balloons, and Authors, Oh My!
Broad Universe & Carl Brandon Society Host WisCon Fair
Broad Universe and The Carl Brandon Society have teamed up to host a fair Friday afternoon, 23 May 2003, at WisCon, the world's only feminist science fiction convention.

Called The Gathering, the event is a fund raiser for BU and the Carl Brandon Society and will help kick off the Madison, Wis., convention. The Gathering will run from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the second-floor ballrooms of WisCon's home, the Concourse Hotel.

"There won't be any Friday panels, so you won't miss out on any of WisCon's famous programming," said Amy Hanson, co-organizer with Jeanne Gomoll of The Gathering. The Gathering was proposed by Jeanne, a long-time WisCon organizer.

Plans call for booths featuring henna tattooing, face paint, book building, custom buttons, numerology, and a ring toss. Other booths will feature materials to create name-badge necklaces and offer hair braiding, wacky makeovers, and Sri Lankan spice mixing. Folks should sign up early for the 10-minute massage booth. Perhaps the most important booth will be the coffee, tea, juice, and cookie cart. At the very least, folks can meet their friends for high tea at The Gathering.

Plans are also in the works for a special 4 p.m. event. Early rumors use the words "hilarious" and "dreamed up" to describe it.

BU Motherboard member Suzy McKee Charnas will do Tarot Readings and BU Advisory Board member Pat Murphy will answer questions about writing while showcasing one of her other talents — the creation of balloon hats and animals.

The Ellen and Delia Makeover booth will be a clothing swap. If readers have mumus they won't be wearing, or a leather jacket they've outgrown or other fun clothing to pass along, bring it to the booth, Amy said.

"Activities will be reasonably priced, and some will be free," Amy said. "All activities will be appropriate for the whole family. If you don't care to do any of the booths at any time, there will be plenty of space to sit and have tea and catch up with your friends.

"Meanwhile, if you're doing spring cleaning, please bring your unwanted necklaces with re-stringable beads to WisCon, so we can use them in the name-badge necklace booth."

For more information, or to send in a suggestion or comment, please contact us at info@broaduniverse.org. Read more about the Gathering.