Everyone should have the opportunity to be in the Dragon*Con parade. It’s a great way to be part of the con and meet a lot of cool people.
This was my first year in the parade, even though it’s my eighth year at the con. I wanted to branch out and try something new. There was a call for participants for the Periodic Table. I love science, so my husband Kenny and I stepped up. He was Plutonium and I was Neptunium. Learning and having fun tend to go hand in hand. My husband and I made t-shirts earlier this week and met up with the group Saturday morning.
Jennifer Law is the coordinator for this entry. I asked her about why the Periodic Table was chosen. “This is only our third year marching in the parade,” she said. Raul Gonzalez started the table in 2009. Since Gonzales was unable to continue spearheading the group the following year, Law and a few others “decided to take up the mantle.”
To date, the Periodic Table has never been fully represented in the parade. Law has become the de facto leader. She’s a children’s librarian in the Atlanta area, and she loves science. “I’ve never been good at it,” she says, “but [I’ve] always admired it. Marching as the periodic table in the Dragon*Con parade just felt like a perfect match.” She enjoys promoting science in a friendly environment and likes reminding fellow geeks of such an important discipline. She points out that, “It’s also an awful lot of fun to dress up like an element and march proudly through downtown.”
Kenny and I had a great time and made some new friends. We are already talking about doing it again next year. Come be a part of the Periodic Table and join one more aspect of Dragon*Con.
