NSO adds comics events to NonCon

Weintana Abraha Guest Writer

It’s that time of the year again: The College Center is abuzz with video games, card tournaments, and game enthusiasts of all ages.

From 5 p.m. on March 2 until 5 p.m. on March 4, No Such Organization (NSO), the campus group devoted to gaming, science fiction, anime, fantasy and comics of every kind, will be holding their seventh annual No Such Convention, better known as NonCon. NonCon is a free conference featuring table-top games, video games, special events, guest speakers and local vendors. NonCon will be held in various rooms throughout the College Center including the Villard Room, and it will be open to both the Vassar College and local Poughkeepsie communities.

NSO First Minister Sally Slade ’08 promised that more artistic elements have been added to this convention thanks to contributions of guest coordinator Lauren Scanlan ’10. “This year, we will have Web comics. We have two paid specialists coming, C. J. Henderson [author of sci-fi books like The Stench of Fresh Air and The Things That Are Not There] and Jeph Jacques [creator of the popular Web-comic ‘Questionable Content’]” Slade said. “Also, [we are] trying to do an artists’ alley. Artists get together in a small space and sell their sketches or do one on the spot.”

Although the NSO hosts weekly events and screenings of everything from Daria to Heroes, NonCon is their biggest event of the year. The event has its own treasurer Adam Accardo ’08, a Webmaster Suzanne Rosier ’10, and 10 other staffers.

The four organizers in charge of the RPG, anime, video game, and tabletop tracks Dante Buccieri ’07, Caitlin Rinn ’09, Goran Svorcan ’10 and Mickey Thaler ’09, and they have made sure that this year’s NonCon features many favorites from past conventions. Some of the video game events will include Super Smash Brothers Melee, a Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) tournament, Karaoke Revolution, and anime-related music and music videos. For more old-fashioned convention goers, tabletop games like Dungeons & Dragons and Magic the Gathering will be available. The convention will also host Vassar’s first Duel of Ages tournament.

Thaler said that Non-Con conventions “let us meet other people with our shared interests and brings in people from the area.”

“The point is to have fun,” said Thaler. Attendees, “may discover something they like [that] they never knew existed or get a chance to do something they don’t [normally] get to do.”

For more information about NonCon’s schedule, visit noncon.vassar.edu; to learn more about the NSO, visit their Web site vsa.vassar.edu/~nso.