Written by GeekGirlCon Board President Jennifer Stuller. Cross-posted with permission from the author from her blog.
One of my most treasured GeekGirlCon memories involves puppets. Okay, several of my favorite GeekGirlCon experiences involve puppets (looking at you, Puppet Joss Whedon – you handsy bastard), but this one in particular involves the spectacular Red Fraggle and her handler, the extraordinarily talented & singularly kind Karen Prell.
Karen had attended our inaugural con in 2011 for a sing-along screening of Labyrinth at the EMP. We’d held a sock-puppet making workshop earlier in the day, led by our Design Team, and she pointed out some key moments for puppet participation. (Seeing happy geek women & girls singing and smiling and waving sock puppets they made themselves packing the JBL theater was SQUEE.)
In 2013, celebrations for the 30th Anniversary of Fraggle Rock were taking place, and GeekGirlCon was presented with an opportunity to get in on the joy. The Jim Henson Company agreed to loan us Red – but she needed to be flown out with a handler and put up in a hotel. Red was certainly not a diva, and the expense was less than I’d predicted, but more than our entire programming budget.
The Executive Director and I decided it was something too special to not make happen.
We wanted to thank everyone for their programming proposal submissions for the inaugural GeekGirlCon. We received over 100 great ideas – and that’s on top of content we were already planning!
Unfortunately, there is just not enough time or space to accommodate every workshop, presentation, panel, reading, or screening. The final program will feature niche sessions that will appeal to the curiosity of a general audience. Throughout the summer, and leading up to the convention in the summer, we will continue to highlight some of the fun we have in store for you!
In the meantime, we are notifying accepted programming participants, and will continue to do so throughout the end of June. If you have been contacted by us with an invitation you must confirm your intention to attend no later than June 30th. If you do not contact us by the deadline, your reserved spot in the program will be given to another submission. If you do not intend to present at the con, the sooner you let us know, the sooner we can accept a different submission.
We are making every effort to notify those who proposed panels we couldn’t fit into our schedule this year – with an invitation to submit again in 2012 – but if you don’t hear from us by July 15th please assume we had to decline your proposal.
Either way, our entire team looks forward to seeing you in October!
GeekGirlCon welcomes Carrie and Katie “Star Wars Girl” Goldman to our convention
April 29, 2011-Seattle, WA- GeekGirlCon is proud to announce that Carrie and Katie Goldman will join our growing list of guests at GeekGirlCon. You may remember reading about Katie in November 2010 and her experiences being bullied at school by first-grade boys because she carried a Star Wars water bottle. The boys repeatedly picked on Katie in the lunch room, telling her Star Wars was for boys only. GeekGirlCon feels for these young boys, who do not yet know that Geek Girls exist and that we are everywhere. GeekGirlCon applauds Katie’s courage in declaring her love of Star Wars and believes that the force is strong with this one!
Carrie Goldman, who shared her daughter’s bullying experience on her blog A Portrait of an Adoption, is a painter and writer. Carrie is writing her first book, The Littlest Jedi, an exploration of bullying prevention that will be published by Harper Collins. At GeekGirlCon, Carrie and Katie will offer their insights and experience with bullies at a geeky parenting panel. GeekGirlCon programming is still taking shape, so please check geekgirlcon.com regularly for up-to-date information.
In 2010, Carrie was eager to show Katie that other girls are Star Wars fans too. GeekGirlCon will have more Star Wars Geek Girls that you can count. Not only will our attendees show their love of Star Wars, but our special guests too.
Bonnie Burton, writer at The Official Star Wars Blog and author of many Star Wars arts and crafts books, is a confirmed guest at GeekGirlCon. Bonnie has built a name for herself as a renowned authority on Star Wars and Geek Girl culture. Her first book Girls Against Girls is a look at how girls are often so cruel to one and other and, most importantly, offers suggestions on how to break the cycle of cruelty in their own lives.
GeekGirlCon is a celebration of the female geek in Seattle on October 8-9, 2011 in the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms. Look for more information soon about other programming ans special guests. Stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter @geekgirlcon or liking our Facebook page: facebook.com/geekgirlcon.
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MORE INFORAMTION ON GEEKGIRLCON:
GeekGirlCon is a Seattle nonprofit dedicated to promoting awareness of and celebrating the contribution and involvement of women in the sciences, science fiction, comics, gaming, and related Geek culture. The first ever GeekGirlCon will be October 8-9, 2011 at the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms. See GeekGirlCon.com for more details and our list of special guests.
MORE INFORMATION ON CARRIE GOLDMAN:
Carrie Goldman is the author of Portrait of an Adoption, (http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/portrait_of_an_adoption/), a blog that has drawn over 450,000 views just since November 15, 2010 and receives several thousand unique views per day. The blog is hosted by ChicagoNow, an online community owned by The Chicago Tribune. Goldman writes about issues related to adoption and parenting. She founded her own company, Artwork By Carrie, and entered the art show and gallery circuit. Through her award-winning oil paintings, Goldman expresses her emotions about the beauty, sadness and joy unexpectedly found in life. Goldman lives in Evanston with her husband and three young daughters, of whom Katie is the oldest.
Bonnie Burton is geek culture writer extraordinaire. She has done too much to list in one paragraph. Visit www.grrl.com for a comprehensive list of Bonnie’s geek credentials.
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GeekGirlCon Public Relations:
Kiri Callaghan
pr@geekgirlcon.com
Some highlights of our upcoming GeekGirlCon programming are up at GeekGirlCon.com. Do you want to see your name on that list, yet continue to procrastinate? No need to power up that TARDIS; there is still time. The submission deadline for GeekGirlCon presentations, panels, screenings and workshops is May 31, 2011.
The more information you can provide in your proposal, the better the chance of acceptance. Concise details, a clear vision for your panel, and acknowledgment and understanding of the GeekGirlCon’s mission are required. A thorough spell check is also always a good idea!
Accepted participants will be notified by email by July 1, 2011. You must then confirm your attendance at GeekGirlCon no later than July 31, 2011.
If you want to lend your own expertise to GeekGirlCon, consider some of the areas where we haven’t received a lot of submissions:
Anime & manga
Cosplay experts & professionals
Women in robotics
Diversity in genre
LGBTQ Geeks
Fan-fic or author readings
Pop culture scholarship
Dr. Who
Steampunk
Geek Girls in fandom
All proposals and submissions must reflect the mission of the convention – to promote, celebrate, educate, mentor, encourage and empower the female geek. We are interested in presentations, screenings, readings, and roundtable discussions from women and men in geeky professions: science fiction, fantasy, horror, action, gaming, science, anime, roller derby, cosplay, comic books, technology, B-movies, LARPing, and video games. There must be an understanding that these topics be addressed with a women-centric and woman-positive focus and with attention to issues of diversity.
GeekGirlCon is committed to representing women geeks of all ages, races, sexual orientations, gender identities, creeds, physical and mental abilities, and familial statues. Proposals must reflect a commitment to this as well.
New York Times Bestselling Author Nancy Holder and her coauthor and daughter, Belle Holder, have accepted GeekGirlCon’s invitation to appear as special guests. The Holders will attend the entire convention and are looking forward to a fantastic, stimulating weekend among their fellow geek girls.
The Holders have sold two short stories to DAW about a magical time-traveling mouse named Lightning Merriemouse-Jones. The team appears at SF cons and signs as a team for charity in the San Diego Comic-con’s California Browncoats booth.
Nancy Holder’s Wicked saga, co-written with Debbie Viguié, has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, and been optioned by DreamWorks. She has also written dozens of episode guides, novels, short fiction, and essays in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Firefly, Saving Grace, and other “universes.” She has a new essay in Whedonistas: A Celebration the Worlds of Joss Whedon by the Women Who Love Them. She is also the writer on Moonstone’s Domino Lady comic book.
“Buffy turned 30 this year,” Nancy says “I wish she could come to GeekGirlCon to celebrate with us.”
Belle Holder’s application to exhibit at the San Francisco Maker Fair (May 21 and 22) has been approved, and she will attend. She was a contestant on American Inventor, and placed in the kids’ division at the Bubonicon masquerade dressed as a Stormtrooper photographer. She is currently participating in the San Diego City Science Fair, presenting her findings on cockroach navigation. She is crossing her fingers that she makes it and passes to State. She is also involved in gaming, costuming, model rocketry, filmmaking, and comic books.
“I’m really looking forward to GeekGirlCon,” Belle says. “I expect it will be geektastic!”
Are you a professional in a geeky industry? Do you run your own geeky business? Can we learn from you about the history of women in gaming? Do you have a unique experience to share about being a women in the sciences, horror, comics, television, film, robotics, or stunt industries? Are you an artist or illustrator? A pop culture “herstorian” or cultural critic?
GeekGirlCon will feature informative and entertaining programming on topics ranging from geek lifestyle issues, to the sciences to popular culture.
We are seeking engaging and thought-provoking proposals from professionals for panels and presentations on topics such as, but not limited to:
· Geeky parenting and dating
· Women in science, math, engineering, and technology
· Women in robotics
· Women characters and creators in comic books, literature, film, and television
· Pop culture scholarship
· Women in gaming
· Women in horror
· Diversity in genre – including race, ethnicity, class, gender, sex and sexuality
· Crafty or geeky businesses
· Cosplay
· Women in Stunt Work
· Women writers (and men writing great geeky female characters)
· Women artists and illustrators
· Women in science fiction and fantasy
· Fandom and community
· Women’s history in geeky popular culture, science, and technology
· Women in Anime/Manga
· Women in Pop Culture Publishing
· YA authors with Strong Female Protagonists
· Geek Girl Pioneers in Fandom and Community
· Documentary filmmakers
· Web Series Producers
· Geeky Charities
· Women mentoring each other and our geeky little sisters
To be considered for acceptance proposal submissions must reflect the mission of the convention – to promote, celebrate, educate, mentor, encourage and empower the female geek.
We are interested in presentations, screenings, readings, and round table discussions from women and men in geeky professions: science fiction, fantasy, horror, action, gaming, science, anime, roller derby, cosplay, comic books, technology, B-movies, LARPing, and video games. There must be an understanding that these topics be addressed with a women-centric and woman-positive focus and with attention to issues of diversity.
GeekGirlCon is committed to representing women geeks of all ages, races, sexual orientations, gender identities, creeds, physical and mental abilities, and familial statues. Proposals must reflect a commitment to this as well.
If you are interested in proposing a panel or presentation please fill out this form:
Jennifer K. Stuller
Programming Director GeekGirlCon,Inc.
www.geekgirlcon.com
www.twitter.com/geekgirlcon GeekGirlCon is dedicated to celebrating female involvement in all fields of math, the sciences, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, gaming and more.
We are pleased to announce programming highlights leading up to GeekGirlCon’s inaugural convention this October 8th and 9th, 2011.
Lessons Learned from the World of LOLcats, FAILS, and Other Blunders
How does one build an empire on pictures of cats with silly, misspelled captions? As most fans of the Internet now know, Cheezburger which consists of over 50 popular humor sites such as I Can Has Cheezburger and FAIL Blog has become an Internet phenomenon. Its daily collection of LOLCats, FAILS, and other blunders are the source of endless humor, and you can be pretty sure that someone in the office is reading one of the sites and chuckling to themselves right now. But how did it happen?
Join Emily Huh, Editor in Chief of Cheezburger, as she shares her insight on how she and her husband started with one LOLCat site and grew it into one of the largest blog networks in the world where more than 16 million people come every month to get their daily dose of laughter.
We are pleased to announce programming highlights leading up to GeekGirlCon’s inaugural convention this October 8th and 9th, 2011.
CHARACTER STUDIES: GEEK GIRLS IN POPULAR CULTURE
PANEL DESCRIPTION:
From Willow Rosenberg to Wendy Watson, from Codex to Kitty Pryde, geek girls have always been an intrinsic part of popular culture. And when you’re a geek girl sitting in the audience or poring over the page, there’s a special thrill in discovering a fictional persona who truly speaks to you. Our panel of creators will discuss geek girl representations in film, TV, novels, comics, and beyond: what are the challenges in creating and portraying these characters? How do you balance the “girl” with the “geek”? And what’s the state of the geek girl character in our current pop cultural landscape?
PANELIST BIOS:
Cecil Castellucci is the author of numerous books for young adults, including “First Day on Earth,” “Rose Sees Red,” “Beige,” “The Queen of Cool,” “Boy Proof,” and “The Plain Janes” graphic novel series. She wrote the libretto for a comic book opera, “Les Aventures de Madame Merveille,” and she used to lead a band called Nerdy Girl. She once waited in a tent for 6 weeks for “Star Wars: Episode I” tickets. She also loves “Star Trek,” BioWare games, and outer space. She lives in Los Angeles, CA. For more information, go to www.misscecil.com .
Javier Grillo-Marxuach is a writer/producer of TV, films, comic books, and transmedia content. He is best known as one of the Emmy, Golden Globe, and WGA award-winning producers of “Lost” and creator of the graphic novels and TV series “The Middleman.” His credits include the George Foster Peabody award-winning “Boomtown,” as well as “Medium,” “Charmed,” “seaQuest,” and “The Pretender.” His original graphic novel “Ramiel: Wrath of God” will be published in July 2011 by APE Entertainment.
Sarah Kuhn is the author of the geek romantic comedy novella “One Con Glory,” which has earned kudos from io9 and USA Today/Pop Candy and is currently in development as a feature film. Her work has appeared in such fine publications as Back Stage, IGN.com, Geek Monthly, The Hollywood Reporter, Creative Screenwriting, and StarTrek.com. Sarah was also featured on San Diego Comic-Con’s popular “Geek Girls Exist” panel in 2010. As one fourth of the mighty Alert Nerd collective, she can often be found discussing important issues – like the state of Cyclops’ hair – at AlertNerd.com.
Jessica Mills is a transplant from Texas currently living in Los Angeles. She is best known for writing, producing, and starring in the geektastic comedy web series “Awkward Embraces,” which has been featured in the New York Times and Pink Raygun. She is currently hard at work on a number of other nerdy projects for her production company, Project A Productions. Jessica likes to knit tiny TARDISes in her spare time and secretly wishes she were Wonder Woman.
Stephanie Thorpe is an actor/writer/producer/lifelong geek. She has been a driving force as a producer and actor in numerous web productions, including the critically acclaimed “After Judgment” (6 Streamy nominations), “Asylum” (NYTVF), “Apocalypse WOW,” “Hurtling Through Space!” (for Babelgum), and the crowd-sourced “ElfQuest” fan fiction trailer (featured in the New York Times). She’s excited to be starring in the “GOLD” spin-off series “Night of the Zombie King.” Stephanie was proud to host the 2nd Celebrate the Web event during Comic-Con 2010: an interactive forum for genre web creators and fans.
This independent documentary feature looks our culture’s obsessions with superheroes, using our longest running superheroine as a way of exploring how representations of female empowerment have evolved over time.
Guevara-Flanagan will be joined on stage by a panel of experts interviewed for the project including GeekGirlCon special guests Gail Simone and Trina Robbins, as well as GeekGirlCon’s own Programming Director, Jennifer K. Stuller. More panelists to be announced!
In the meantime, History of the Universe as Told by Wonder Woman is raising funds for post-production through Kickstarter and need your support. Help Ms. Guevara-Flanagan and producer, Ms. Kelcey Edwards, finish the film and receive a plethora of prizes!
Yet another incredible individual has signed on to be a guest of GeekGirlCon! We’re excited to announce that writer, Gail Simone, will join us this October!
Gail Simone, creator of the Women in Refrigerators List – which subsequently raised awareness of the treatment of women in comic books – has written Simpsons comics for Bongo, Killer Princesses for Oni Press (with co-creator and artist Lea Hernandez), and a Rose and Thorn limited series for DC Comics.
In 2003 she took over DC’s Birds of Prey title. Under her direction Birds of Prey became one of DC’s steadiest selling and most critically acclaimed books.
In 2007 she took over writing duties on Wonder Woman. Additionally, Simone’s commitment to creating diverse casts of characters led her to win a Glyph Comics Award for Best Female Character in Thomasina Lindo—one of the lead characters in Welcome to Tranquility—a creator-owned comic published by WildStorm. Simone has also worked on a reboot of Gen¹³ for WildStorm and All-New Atom for DC Comics.
She has also done work in scripting for television and film based on comics including an episode of Justice League Unlimited and early drafts of the Wonder Woman animated direct to DVD feature film (2009).
She recently returned to writing the Birds of Prey series for DC Comics and can be followed on Twitter or her Tumblr, Ape in a Cape.