Susan Hilton College Station Real Estate
Realtor & Vice President of Sales of Bryan College Station Real Estate
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Strange Experience Over the Weekend – Am I Older Than I Thought…. A-Kon RULES!
June 1st, 2008 Categories: Family
If you are over the age of 50 you should remember the days of hippies. Remember when you dressed “odd” compared to your parents? They thought your clothes were strange, your hair was too long, your music was bad, etc. Well I had a “parent” experience over the weekend.
My daughter asked to go to the A-Kon Convention in Dallas. She is a very open girl who dresses normal, looks normal, gets all A’s & B’s, the teachers love her, participates in theatre and student council, rides her horse, helps her grandparents, willingly goes to church and does volunteer work. We weren’t doing anything else so why not!
Being the very protective family that we are, we made it a family event. I made hotel reservations at the convention hotel, drove up and then OH MY GOODNESS!!! I felt like we had stepped into another world. There were kids dressed in all kinds of costumes. It was not what I expected. It did not look like anything she would have normally participated in. I was concerned!
After the shock wore down (it never wore off) I visited with MANY parents and kids that were there. I found out that they were almost all high achievers, active in their schools, had high GPA’s and just enjoyed reading and watching anime. They were very polite, well spoken, friendly, yet oddly dressed as a group. I would say about 1/3 the people were in costumes and the rest just came to participate. There were vendors, plays, concerts, books from all over the world, art work, seminars and panels. Think of it as a very well organized convention for the student council presidents from all over the country but they came in costume.
It reminded me of watching the “Sunday Bikers” who look so scarey at the bar with their Harleys out front. When you see them on Sunday they look like Hell’s Angels in their black leather but when you see them on Monday you realize they are really doctors and attorneys just playing dress up for the weekend.
I had many discussions with the police and security throughout the event. I learned that with thousands of kids at the event they had minimal problems. Friday night is the highest attended evening and they had only 2 arrests for public intoxication. They had no fights, no drug problems, no disorderly conduct – nothing. Yes, there were a few fire alarms pulled but think back to what you did as a teenager…. The event hosts and the hotel were also very careful about who was allowed to volunteer and work as staff. Every volunteer and staff was put through a background check to vet out any sexual predator and criminals.
So, even though the kids looked odd (I found out they dress normal the rest of the year) and sometimes even looked scarey, they were a great bunch! With supervision of course, I would be glad to let my children go back and enjoy the A-Kon of 2009.
So when you see a group of kids dressed strange at TAMU (the AggieKon) or Dallas next June, remember when YOU dressed a bit odd and had some fun. Remember these kids are GOOD kids! (Want to see more pictures? CLICK HERE!)
Susan Hilton – Realtor & Sales Trainer for Century 21 Beal, Inc.
#1 in Real Estate in Bryan and College Station Home Sales
Bryan College Station Real Estate & Community Blog
I have had a similar experiences. One day while working as a State Trooper I was tasked to guard the Governor of Texas at the state capital and witnessed a number of people protesting. I was on guard duty and had an opportunity to talk with the protesters (who were much younger that I). I was pleasantly surprised to find out that many people that look different from the norm of my generation are normal and really think I am abnormal because of the way I dress and act. My eyes have been opened.
She is definately your child and very well rounded. One week it’s horses, one week it’s foreign cartoons. Things could be worse…I’m glad you support her creativity. It says a lot about you as a mom that you don’t force your kids to endure certain things. You let them be who they are within reason to discover what truly will make them happy in life and to explore all positive options. More parents should be like that and forget the things they have planned for them.
And how did the Hilton family dress for the occasion? I think it’s wonderful you made a family affair out of it!!!
I agree with Clay! However,…..
…. It is a ittle wierd 
What are you and Steve going to dress as next year???
Yeah I guess I did look a little strange with all my pink and white hair. Thanks for Saying nice things about a-kon! Hope to see you next year!
I’m glad you’re more open-minded than a lot of parents. When I was in high school, I can’t say my family was all that supportive. I’m 24, and have been going to these kinds of conventions for about 6 years now, and I must say, the demographic has changed.
Back in 2001, when I started going to these things, the attendees were mostly college age and older, now, it seems the average con-goer is about 16 or so, with many in the 13-14 range. That’s mostly due to the shows being on TV and widely available on DVD, when I first got into the fandom, only specialty stores like Suncoast carried Anime, and it was very expensive.
I’ve not been to A-kon, as I’m in the midwest, but most anime cons are similar, they only vary in size really. I’m glad you made it into a family event though, I’m not sure what age your daughter is, but I do know many parents dump their pre and young teens at these things for the weekend and have no idea who they’re staying with, and while illegal activity is usually pretty low at all anime conventions, there’s always some creepy and questionable people at these things, I usually stay with my 15 year old niece at conventions, or have her check in every couple hours at least.
I mostly spend time with people in my age range at these events, and while the majority of attendees are high school kids, there’s usually a good amount (probably at least 25%) of over 25 adults around too, and mostly ones who are there for themselves, not with children. It’s an odd little hobby, but like you said, the people are mostly nice, and most everyone there are hard-working, fairly normal people who just choose to spend their spare time and money at a rather strange and dorky event.
Oh, and the shock never wears off really, not even when you make and wear costumes at them yourselves, I still see things that are bizarre and freak me out.
I got into A-Kon in much the same way. More than ten years ago, my son, who was about 11 years old at the time, asked me to take him and his friend Tim to A-Kon. I had never seen anything quite like it, and I was no virgin to cons. I mean, I had been to the World SCi Fi convention several times, but it could not hold a candle to A-Kon! We got involved, at first as vendors in the dealers’ room. Now I am the Marketing Head! I still don’t know a whole lot about anime, but they are the most terrific group of people I have ever met!