https://tophost.org/2026/alex-newman As something of a lark, I entered a contest being run by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The top prize is a lot of exposure and a fair bit of gear towards creating a home podcast studio. I didn't expect to be doing as well as I am. Every week, they cut the group down -- from 80 to 20 to 15 to 10 - and so far, I've managed to make the cut each time. *But* the next cut is coming up on Thursday (11/5) and it's from the Top 10 to the Top 5 and I'm currently in 8th place... so - HELP! You can vote once a day (and if you're inclined to throw a few bucks at charity, you can increase my vote count that way). As a shameless and seasonal bribe, I've recorded two Halloween poems for y'all and they're up for free* on my website at https://7minutegm.com/store#audio-files My plan in the unlikely event that I win is to use this to launch a really professional in-depth interview show with TTRPG creators and storytellers. So -- who knows? -- you could be a guest! *- you have to register to be a member of the site, but that's free too.

I'm at Origins in Columbus, OH. It seems to me like a place where a lot of people from all across the sex/gender spectrum feel comfortable being their genuine selves. I don't know everyone's story but I've seen a *lot* of people signalling pretty openly about things from kink to sexual orientation to gender identity. There are a lot of rainbows here and while some of them are attached to unicorns or rain clouds, many of them are on lapel pins, suspenders, decals on laptops, etc. There are also the more subtle things like hearing to 50-something guy who was teaching me the character creation process for a new (to me) RPG, excitedly talking about a recent character of his, who was a 20-something woman who had been a star athlete in high school and who now used those gifts and training to fight crime. There are enough people walking around in cosplay or fantasy armor that I can't always spot the kinksters, but they're definitely here. That (all) is the Good News. I spent part of today trying to find a friend of mine. I knew what company he was working for and I went looking for him at their booth (vendor hall isn't open yet, but Iget access during set-up). He wasn't around. We exchanged some messages and I found out where he was -- or where I thought he was. I wandered the Gaming Hall looking for him, going up and down 1-2 aisles where I thought he would be. I thought I spotted him a couple of times -- because he's a P.O.C., and there were few enough that any time I saw someone it was noteworthy. Now, it's early in the con and that means there are fewer people here overall, but that shouldn't change the proportional makeup of the people here. And I know we're in Ohio, but I also know this event draws people from all over the country. There are all different aspects of Gaming represent here -- trading card games, LARPs, Escape rooms, board games, kids games, social deduction games, RPGs, etc. I'm not casting aspersions on any one segment of the the gaming world -- but I think we all can and should do better. I don't have a solution and I don't have it in my power to fix it. But I'm hoping that by gently pointing out the wildly disproportionate representation here -- at least for one segment of the population -- we'll all try to do better.