 |
 | The invites were made up to look like convention nametags and
had the times and places of the launches on the back. Upon arriving, an Earth
Council representative would hole-punch one of the host planets
on the nametag completely at random, disregarding the participant's requests. |
 |
People were then invited to interact with the four alien exhibits located
around the site. They included pyjamas for octo-sapiens, uncanny musical
instruments, helmets for nearsighted aliens and mysterious rock oracles, and
were intended to induce people to sign up for an offworld hitch. |
 |
Once the audience had arrived, I got on stage and, in my best impression
of a bureaucrat from the thirtieth century, proceeded to give a recruitment
seminar. A slide-show presentation made the convincing
argument that in order to continue Earth's cultural dominance throughout
the galaxy more English teachers were required. |
 |
Gesturing to the screen, I wrapped up my pitch: "This could be you. Maybe you've always
wanted to travel to far-off, exotic places. Maybe you're interested in
making some serious money..." |
 |
"Or maybe, you just like the idea of helping people..." |
 |
"Whatever your reason, the TEOOP program could be for you. Because
it doesn't just get you a job -- it gets you a rocketship ride straight
to the heart of adventure!" |
 |
Sadly, the people at the Toronto information session didn't seem
to take my proposition all that seriously. |
 |
After the presentation, I fielded a few questions from the audience
with the help of 9/3, a roboman who taught English on Montavia and a previous
applicant of the TEOOP program. His rabidly anti-human sentiments eventually
forced me to do a sudden disconnect of his brain. |
Mishaps aside, people seemed to find the presentation
quite edu-taining. Thanks to Sandy Plotnikoff who created,
installed, and toured with the alien exhibits; Mark Slutsky
for preparing the slide-show; Janet Bailey for taking the
above photos; and to Meesoo Lee for videotaping the Vancouver
launch
Here's a list of the tour stops (the Canadian
ones were in 2000, the US ones were in 2001) and some sample
posters and press releases:
Toronto,
ON
Wednesday, May 3, 9pm
Rancho Relaxo (300 College St.)
Montreal,
PQ
Monday, May 8, 9pm
The Jailhouse (30 Mont-Royal W.)
Halifax,
NS
Thursday, May 8, 9pm
Khyber Club (1588 Barrington St.)
Vancouver,
BC
Monday, May 22, 9pm
The Sugar Refinary (1115 Granville St.)
Chicago,
IL
Saturday, Oct. 6, 8pm
Quimby's (1854 West North Avenue)
.pdf poster | press
release
Ann
Arbor, MI
Sunday, Oct. 7, 7pm
Gallery 212 (207 West Liberty)
Charlottesville,
VA
Tuesday, Oct. 9, 8pm
Mudhouse (213 West Main St.)
Greenville,
SC
Wednesday, Oct. 10, 8pm
Open Book (110 S. Pleasantburg Dr.)
New
Orleans, LA
Sunday, Oct. 14, 8pm
Zeitgeist (Barrister's Gallery, 1724 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.)
Columbia,
MO
Tuesday, Oct. 16th, 6pm
Ragtag Cinemacafe (23 North 10th St.)
Seattle,
WA
Friday, Oct. 19th, 7:30pm
Paradox (5510 University Way NE)
press release
Portland,
OR
Monday, Oct. 22, 7pm
Reading Frenzy (921 Southwest Oak Street)
Arcata,
CA
Tuesday, Oct. 23, 8pm
Muddy Waters (1603 G Street)
Los
Angeles, CA
Wednesday, Oct. 24, 8pm
ZineORama (1618 1/2 Silverlake Blvd)
Oakland,
CA
Thursday, Oct. 25, 8pm
AK Press Warehouse (674 A 23rd Street)
|
