something new

Recently, Ive been getting a lot of people asking me about my thesis, mostly asking to read it. What follows this update will be something along those lines- a piece of my thesis, edited and revised to stand on its own, as a look into the nature of conventions as pilgrimages. I wrote a lot in the end result on this matter, along with the idea of attendees as consumers of fandom in general. That piece will come a little later (still editing it now), but I hope that what I publish here will offer at least a better look into the world of anime conventions are more than just a bunch of kids screaming "Marco Polo" or "the cake is a lie." And while I have no doubt that some of the ideas presented therein are not universally applicable to all attendees at convention, I know for a fact that, at least for some of them, they judge these events on along the same lines, and possibly have noticed what I have. You can't go to 20+ conventions in 2 years and not notice some of these things for yourself.