WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T

GO HOME AGAIN?

Tales of the 1998 WDC

By Larry Peery

Quotations from the writings of Thomas Wolfe

INTRODUCTION

I have already written essays on this year's WDC for DIPLOMACY WORLD, LEPANTO 4-EVER (Sweden), and DIPSOMANIA (Belgium): so why another? This essay; which will appear in THE DIPLOMATIC POUCH and on my own Diplomacy home page; is designed to take advantage of the internet's unique capabilities to communicate information. In this format you'll find text, a lot of illustrations, and even a midi or two! It's all designed to give you not only the facts about what happened in Chapel Hill this past Memorial Day, but also a feel for what the event and venue were like. Now, if I only had a "scratch and sniff" for the magnolias!

If you like, or you are in a hurry, you can simply scan through this site, looking at the pics; but I hope you'll take the time to read at least some of the text. After all, what are pics without Peeriblah? If you have pics, or words, about this year's WDC event, I'd love to have them to include in the "shrine" to WDC that I am constructing for the internet. You can get an idea of what it will be like if you check out my DIP&Dip home page at http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Dungeon/7969.

Now, take a few minutes to sip your Mint Julep or sniff the magnolias; while you wait for this page to load so you to can experience this year's WDC event, at least as I recorded it.

The WDC Team Championship Cup, sponsored by WDC VII (Goteborg, Sweden 1997)

Most people go to a WDC event with the dream of winning something to take home with them. This year I went with the intent of giving something back; specifically the WDC Team Championship Cup which my team won in Goteborg last year. The Cup is now in the hands of the Belgians who will host the 1999 WDC event, and in the future it will be a perpetual award moving from European to European event.

LOOK HOMEWARD, DIPPER

Eugenia, Scott Joplin

"A stone, a leaf, an unfound door."

Jon Mlinar, at the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, UNC-CH

I've often thought that if each person returning to a DipCon would bring one new person, the events would grow and prosper. This year I decided to do just that, so I brought Jon Mlinar. Since he hadn't seen Chapel Hill before; we took some time to visit some of the local sites before the Con started. The Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower, modelled on the Tower in Venice, was the local Republicans response to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal "socialistic-communistic WPA projects." Perhaps only Massachusetts in the North and California in the West have the same commitment to public education as North Carolina, and a focal point of that commitment is their university system, complete with various libraries and an outstanding publishing program. If it has anything to do with North Carolina you can probably find it in the NC Collection Gallery. Take time to visit the Sir Walter Raleigh Rooms. Who knows, perhaps your grand kids will be able to visit the Sir David Hood Rooms someday! The Ackland Gallery doesn't quite rival The Gallery at the University of Birmingham; which is definitely world class; but it does show a good sampling of a wide variety of art. And the exhibit of artworks made out of cigarette-inspired materials was definitely to "die for."

Wilson Library Programs

The North Carolina Collection Gallery

The Sir Walter Raleigh Rooms

The Ackland Gallery

Besides education, the other North Carolina obsession seems to be sports, and Jon is just as obsessed with them as the Tar Heels; so a visit to the newly redone football stadium was required. When we first visited Dip's ten or so years ago; it really was a southern-style, home cooking place with all you could eat servings and low prices! Since then it has become a big success; and has all the accoutrements that go with it: strict portion controls, higher prices, and even a web site! On the plus side, most of the help seemed to be students from the University. To show you how times have changed, I remember asking myself when I attended my first DixieCon, where the black students were on campus. This year, I was asking myself where the white ones were. We didn't have to look far to find them --- they were up at Duke University! It's a lovely campus, very Etonist! It positively reeks of money and tobacco smoke. The third force that drives the area is its commitment to high-tech, particularly in the biomedical sciences. The Blue Cross Building is almost old enough to be a classic, but it still demonstrates the area's modern approach to architecture.

Jon Mlinar, at Kennan Stadium, UNC-CH

Dip's Inc., Dip's Country Kitchen, Mama Dip's Kitchen, Dip's

Jon Mlinar, in the Rose Garden, Duke University

Larry Peery, The Chapel, Duke University

Burial site of former NC Governor Terry Sanford, The Chapel, Duke University

Jon Mlinar, at Duke's basketball shrine

Jon Mlinar at Blue Shield's NC Headquarters

OF TIME AND DIP

Easy Winners Rag, Scott Joplin

Where can you match the mighty muscle of their names? ---

The Monongahela, the Colorado, the Rio Grande, the Columbia,

the Tennessee, the Hudson (Sweet Thames!);

the Kennebec, the Rappahannock, the Delaware, the Penobscot,

the Wabash, the Chesapeake, the Swannanoa, the Indian River,

the Niagara (Sweet Afton!);

the Saint Lawrence, the Susquehanna, the Tombigbee,

the Nantahala, the French Broad, the Chattahoochee, the Arizona,

and the Potomac (Father Tiber!) ---

these are only a few of their princely names,

these are a few of their great, proud, glittering names,

fit for the immense and lonely land that they inhabit.

Oh, Tiber! Father Tiber! You'd only be a suckling in that mighty land!

And as for you, sweet Thames, flow gently until I end my song.

Round One of our site-seeing completed, it was time to take to the tables! Much to everyone's surprise, including my own, I decided to make my last appearance as a player at DipCon's a serious one. So I actually concentrated on my play in the first round; which explains why there are no pictures from that Round. To the consternation of the Old Farts, the bewilderment of the Newbies, and my own great amusement; I actually managed to pull off a two-way draw in my first game. Heh, heh. Alas, my good fortune did not continue in the Second Round; ; but I won't bore you with details about that here. Since Round Two was also the team event;, my team (Jon Mlinar, Per Westling, and myself) didn't do too well either. I was going to be a real SOB and publish some photographs of the Sat BBQ from WDC II, but who would want to see pics of a younger David Hood, an Edi Birsan with more hair, or a thinner Bruce Reiff? Nope, didn't think so. Jon Mlinar was the ultimate Newbie at this WDC event. He had never played the game before and only had two hours of coaching from me. Still, I'm real proud of the way he played. By the time the Third Round came around Saturday night people were already starting to play the scoring system instead of the game! That always pisses me off. Alas, that didn't help my performance either, so perhaps I should have sat out that Round. Some of the games from that Round lasted until sunrise on Sunday morning!

The Saturday BBQ Feeding Frenzy

The Newbie and the Old Fart

Third Round, Table B included: Rick Despar, Tom Schneider, Per Westling, Hunter Davis, Tim Richardson, Ryan Early, and yours truly.

Third Round, Table C included: Jacob Sacksteder, Simon Szykman, JC Imbeault, Andy Marshall, Bruce Reiff, Edi Birsan, and Mike McMillie.

Third Round, Table D included: Robby Schmelpfening, Pete Rauch, Ron Fisher, Mark Wightman, Mark Murray, Buz Eddy, and Jon Mlinar

He awakes at morning in a foreign land,

he draws his breath in labor in the wool-soft air of Europe:

the wool-gray air is all about him like a living substance...

It is in the slow and vital movements of the people;

it soaks down from the sodden skies into the earth,

into the heavy buildings,

into the limbs and hearts and brains of living men.

Anything I write about the Sunday morning WDC Society meeting will sound like sound grapes! And why not? It is. As an internationalist and west coast Dipper, I find the current situation involving the non-existent WDC Charter, site rotation & selection, and event administration very frustrating; but obviously the east coast Diplomacy crowd is happy with the status quo. And why not? It works to their best interest to keep things as they are. Even though there was no chance any bid coming from me or the west would win, we put in a bid anyway. And getting a third of the votes wasn't too bad. So, in 1999 DIPCON will be held in Columbus, Ohio in conjunction with ORIGINS, as the 1996 WDC event was. I won't be there. CHEERS! The 1999 WDC event will be held in Namur, Belgium, around Eastertime I believe. I do plan to be there. BOOS!!! The 2000 WDC event will be held in conjunction with AVALONCON, near Baltimore, MD, if Avalon Hill is still around or "some place else" if not. More on that later. In the meantime, you can be very sure I will be watching to see if the 2000 WDC fulfill the promises they have made in respect to their event and foreign attendees.

Digging the Trenches, Sunday's DIPCON Society Meeting at 0530!

Making the world safe for hypocrisy.

The last round was almost anti-climatical, and the number of boards was down to eight, I believe. By now most of those who cared knew who the event winner(s) would be, unless somebody actually won a game in the last round. In the first 25 games there had only been two out-right wins, a very disappointing stat, I think. Even though I didn't do very well, I enjoyed the game. I let Brian Ecton sweet talk me into an Austrian-Italian alliance; until I realized he had no idea of what he was doing! Then I spent the rest of the game smoozing with the two Francophone players and pissing off Don Williams! That's always fun.

Fourth Round, Table E: Brian Ecton and Don Williams

The Goodies Table

This year's WDC event lacked the impressive awards and prizes display of some of the recent European events. This was partially because the event lacked the sposors/donors that the Europeans have, partially because the Europeans like big, flashy awards, and partially because Edi Birsan; who donates many of the awards; prefers placques to cups. Still, a world championship title is a world championship title!

For the second year in a row, I almost missed the awards ceremony. I walked in just as Mike and David were beginning to present the individual winners. As I listened I couldn't help but think back to some of the other WDCs I have attended. '88 in Birmingham, '90 in Chapel Hill, '94 in Birmingham, '96 in Columbus, '97 in Goteborg, and now again in Chapel Hill. Each of them a unique event, some better than others, no doubt. How did this one stack up? Since the event was a triple-header I see no reason not to give it three separate ratings: As a DIXIECON I would give it 5 stars, as a DIPCON a solid 4 stars, but as a WORLD DIPCON event I would not rate it more than 3 stars, and even that third star is a bit shakey! The primary reason for the low rating was the absence of foreigners, of course. This was not, in any sense of the word, a world event. Other reasons were the way the organization aspects of the WDC event were handled; and the lack-luster playing results.

It is the Europeans, for the most part,

who have constructed these great ships,

but without America they have no meaning.

These ships are alive with the supreme ecstasy of the modern world,

which is the voyage to America.

There is no other experience that is remotely comparable to it,

in its sense of joy, its exultancy,

its drunken and magnificent hope.

The four Francophone players added a bit of excitement and class to the event, and gave a hint of what Namur promises next year. And if the Diplomacy isn't enough to bring you over to their event, the Belgian chocolates will! I knew David had two brothers, but I'd forgotten about the fourth one. Here's a rare pic of all four of them together. Now, if I could just get his sister to show up! The list of winners will, no doubt, appear elsewhere. So I will leave it to others to analyze that to death. Perhaps from a playing and event perspective the most interesting thing to happen this year was a remarkable coincidence! I'm referring to the 1994 WDC in Birmingham, England in which the French contingent brought over by Xavier Blanchot took many of the top positions, including the WDC title. Before the event, Xavier had spent a lot of time calculating exactly how many Frenchmen would have to attend to have a good chance of winning the event, and that's just how many they brought! This year, by luck I'm sure, Tim Richardson did exactly the same thing. There were just enough people in his group to practically guarantee that one of them would win the championship. And so it happened. Chris Martin was first, Brian Ecton was sixth, Mike McMillie was ninth; Tim Richardson was 23^rd, Ike Porter was 26^th, Eric Grinnel was 34^th, Hudson Defoe was 40^th, and Steve Mauris was 55^th. The infusion of these PBEM players, plus the old DIPLOMATIC POUCH contingent from previous years, made the PBEM/Internet contribution to this year's event a major one. In fact, it turned the carefully laid plans of the DIXIECON and east coast regulars upside down! Even the team event was won by an internet team! It's the people who make these events memorable, of course. Old friends seen again, new friends made, and establishing links with perfect strangers! It's all part of the DIPCON experience, no matter where you play it.

Parlez-vous Franglais? JC Imbeault (Canada), Vincent Mous (Canada/Denmark), Jean Louis Delattre (Belgium), Bruno Berken (Belgium)

Think Belgium, Think Chocolate; Think Namur, Think Dip!

The Four Hood Brothers: David, Hal, John, and Robert (L to R)

Which of us has known his brother?

Which of us has looked into his father's heart?

Which of us has not remained forever prison-pent?

Which of us is not forever a stranger and alone?

John Quarto, 2^nd Place, Individuals Event

O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.

Chris Martin, 1^st Place, Individuals Event

If a man has a talent and cannot use it, he has failed.

If he has a talent and uses only half of it, he has partly failed.

If he has a talent and learns somehow to use the whole of it,

he has gloriously succeeded,

and won a satisfaction and a triumph few men ever know.

Chris Martin, 1998 WDC Champion, DC Champion, and DIXIECON Champion

Team Internet, 1998 WDC Team Event Champions: David Norman (UK), Vincent Mous (Canada/Denmark), and Manus Hand (USA)

Hudson Defoe and Brian Ecton

Pete Rauch and Jon Mlinar

THE WEB AND THE DOT

Fig Leaf Rag, Scott Joplin

There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman

in the act of making dinner for someone she loves.

One way to spot a really successful WDC event is to watch what happens when its over. After the awards Sunday thirty brave souls followed David across half of North Carolina in search of a Japanese restaurant that no longer existed! Still, the knife show was good, if not as good as the one in some of the games, and the food was plentiful. Well, except for Bruce. Even Monday morning, people didn't want to let go, and eleven of us had breakfast together. However, for Jon and I four nights in a university dorm were enough. We decided to sample Chapel Hill's la dolce vita before heading back to the real world. So Monday morning, the Memorial Day holiday, after Jon dropped of some of our friends at the airport, he and I headed over to Raleigh for Round Two of our site-seeing. We got there just in time for the Memorial Day ceremony, toured the Capitol a bit, checked our the North Carolina Museum of Art (closed), and then drove back to Chapel Hill for a night at the Siena Hotel and a great dinner! Tuesday was a travel day and I arrived home only three minutes behind schedule.