As you may have seen in my previous post, one of my passions is cosplaying. As part of that passion, I have attended conventions and interviewed cosplayers to learn more about their craft, their inspiration, & what they love about the nerd community. Based on all of this, imagine my excitement when I was able to obtain press passes to the Cleveland Comic Con 2015 at the Berea Fairgrounds thanks to the help of the Ohio Center for Broadcasting’s Admissions Coordinator, Ryan Lang. Mr. Lang contacted the convention organizers and obtained passes for not only myself, but also a few classmates with whom I participate in the radio show Loserville.

While attending the convention, my fellow students and I were able to hone our video skills as well as our on-air interviewing abilities. It was exciting to be a part of the convention, which was at the hub of the local nerd/geek community, and to be able to use the convention as  learning opportunity made it even better!

I was even photographed while broadcasting by a fellow cosplayer who does photography and she shared the photo on her Facebook page:

I also met some great contacts, such as the hosts of The Mummy and the Monkey show, which is based out of Cleveland and focuses on “horror hosting”, which is a combination of comedy and movie screenings.

Overall I enjoyed attending the Cleveland Comic Con 2015 and was happy to get the opportunity to interview some of the attendees. I look forward to the next event from which I can broadcast and conduct interviews on behalf of the Ohio Center for Broadcasting!

Our first assigned speech at the Ohio Center for Broadcasting was a 10-minute demonstration speech on a topic of the student’s choice. For my speech, I decided to demonstrate how to carve a pumpkin. I was extremely happy with my topic choice as I love things related to Halloween & I was able to include some of my family history as part of my demonstration.

Here it is for those who are interested in checking it out–

When I first saw the previews for the show iZombie, I was mildly intrigued. The show focuses on a strong female lead (my favorite type of character in a TV show) who was turned into a zombie and now uses her zombie powers to solve crimes. For a while I forgot all about the show’s existence, but my interest in the show was renewed when I saw it was added to Netflix this October.

The show was created by Rob Thomas, who was also responsible for Veronica Mars and Party Down, which are both favorites of mine and feature strong female characters. As soon as I realized Thomas was being iZombie I knew I was going to end up hooked to the show!

The lead character in iZombie, Liv Moore, is able to deduce how murder victims met their demise by consuming their brains (which she needs as part of her zombie cravings, anyway). In addition to the plot being interesting, I really like the way that the character of Liv is styled:

To see what else was added and what was removed from Netflix in October, check out the following link:

http://www.tvguide.com/news/coming-to-netflix-october-hemlock-grove-jane-the-virgin/

In the meantime, be sure to check out iZombie, I highly recommend it– its a great choice for the Halloween season but also a very compelling series as a whole!

New York City Comic Con took place this past weekend, October 6th through the 9th, 2015. There are many types of nerds who flocked to this very high profile event– fans of Marvel, DC Universe, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, and more! The Con featured photos ops & autograph opportunities with celebrities, but what attendees may not have expected were stars to be attending the convention incognito! Mark Ruffalo, star of the Avengers, and Jared Leto of the upcoming Suicide Squad movie (which will be released August 2016) went to the NYC Comic Con in strange cosplay that made them unrecognizable to fans.

Leto, who donned a baboon mask, even posed for a photo with a fan cosplaying the Joker character he will be portraying in Suicide Squad:

Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk, wore a mask that featured an over-sized cigar, making him indistinguishable to fans of the Avengers films:

The disguises allowed the celebrities to check out the Comic Con without being mobbed by people who recognize them, which may suggest that these two are just as interested in nerd culture & participating in nerd community events as the fans are!

It will be interesting to see if celebrities continue this trend moving forward and if this makes cosplayers and Con attendees more friendly to those dressed in more peculiar costumes!

This past June at Kalahari in Sandusky, OH I started a new project—interviewing fellow female cosplayers to learn more about not only cosplay itself, but also their experiences as women within nerd culture. My first step on this exploratory journey was to get some great resources to learn what has already been written on the topic. I started with the following books, which were available at my local Cuyahoga County library branch:

They provided insight into the world of geeky gals, and provided a primarily positive spin on the subject. This was an interesting start, but I wanted to learn more from the cosplay community that I was involved with and the community as a whole. I created a Survey Monkey site and shared it with many cosplay forums in major cities, which allowed me to get a wide array of responses from cosplayers around the US. Next I got in touch with the Colossal Con administration to get a table set up where I could meet cosplayers and, if they consented, conduct interviews with them to learn about how being a part of nerd culture has impacted their life—for better or worse.

The rise of social media has drawn attention to something that some may be surprised is now seen as “controversial”–  dress codes at schools. More specifically, many have become concerned that student dress codes are going too far and becoming unreasonable. When I attended high school, the dress code was merely a way to enforce what most of us considered to be obvious standards for what is and is not appropriate. For example, when you think of what body parts are not OK to expose at a school, it is probably very clear to you what is and is not acceptable. Unfortunately, this assumptive mindset that many of us have had regarding dress codes is now being surpassed by what seems to be excessive enforcement.

Parents across the country have been posting stories of their children being sent home for “dress code violations” that do not seem valid. Reasons like exposed arms, exposed shoulders, or even exposed knees have now been called into question as these stories have caused an uproar online. Some fear that, while dress codes may be set into place to prevent distractions from education, the strictly enforced dress codes might actually be teaching young ladies an unpleasant lesson– that they are a target for unwanted male attention based on how they dress.

I tend to agree with many of the articles online which state that we should be teaching youngsters to be respectful of each other’s bodies and not to justify anything non-consensual based on what someone may be wearing. I think ultimately it is an extremely positive result that this strict dress code enforcement has opened a dialogue about how we, as a society, view women’s bodies. For more information on how dress code enforcement can be seen as sexism or “shaming” of young women, I find that this Huffington Post article is a good starting point: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/soraya-chemaly/every-reason-your-schools_b_8147266.html

There is now a hashtag trending on social media platforms, created by young women, which illustrates their feelings on this issue: #iammorethanadistraction

Get involved in the discussion by doing some research of both sides of this issue and speaking out on social media! I am eager to hear what you have to say.

The Ohio Center for Broadcasting (OCB) in Valley View is hosting their second “Lip Sync or Swim” event, which is open to students & the public alike. The free event is a great way for prospective students to check out some of the fun (and even silly) things that happen on the OCB campus. I think this event is also great for currently enrolled students as it is way for us to hone our on-air skills by stepping out of our comfort zones and releasing our inner divas!

On a personal note, I am excited for this event as I am a huge fan of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, which has aired some of the best lip syncing performances I’ve ever seen. It will be interesting to change my role from a fan of lip sync performances to a lip sync performer, but I feel that I am up to the challenge!

According to the Ohio Center for Broadcasting Cleveland campus website, there will be prizes awarded for the best lip syncs, and the contest will be judged by unannounced celebrity judges. The event will be hosted by Mike Holyko, Education Coordinator at the Cleveland campus of OCB, who is known for being quite the character. The afternoon festivity should be full of dramatic lip syncs, hilarious moments, and student bonding and will finally put my RuPaul’s Drag Race binge-watching to good use. The “Lip Sync or Swim II” event takes place on the OCB campus Wednesday October 21 at 3pm– be sure to come and see me and other OCB students hamming it up! For more information or to sign up as a participant, visit http://beonair.com/lip-sync-or-swim-ii/

In the meantime, check out this sickening lip sync, which is my favorite “lip sync for your life” battle from RuPaul’s Drag Race’s third season:

https://youtu.be/tatoplO2A70

     With Cuyahoga County elections approaching in November, it’s time to get educated about one of the ballot issues- Issue 8- which is a levy for arts & culture that does not increase taxes.

As part of the Cuyahoga County community, I feel that it is crucial to get involved in issues that affect our day-to-day lives, where we are heading as we move towards the future, and even our wallets. After reading up on Issue 8, I have become an avid supporter. Not only does Issue 8 address something that greatly influenced my upbringing—arts & culture for children—but it also is not a tax increase for voters. The money for the Issue 8 Levy comes from increasing cigarette taxes by a penny-and-a-half. I think this is a creative way to take something that is seemingly harmful to the environment (smoking), and turn it into something that nourishes our community’s youth (education on arts and culture).

I was initially made aware of this topic through oWOW Radio, an internet radio station that proudly works with the Issue 8 campaign to spread the word about its benefits for the public as a whole. oWOW Radio is based out of 78^th Street Studios, which is in Cleveland’s Gordon Square Art Distrcit. Being locally owned & operated has clearly allowed oWOW Radio to get involved in what is going on in the lives of their listeners, as they have absentee ballots available on their website as part of their support of Issue 8.

As a resident of Cuyahoga County, I think it is my civic duty to ensure that arts & culture programs are available to children growing up in the area. Not only does it benefit the young, but according to http://www.voteforissue8.org the Levy would also stimulate the economy and attract tourism to Cleveland and surrounding municipalities.  The original Levy was passed in 2006 and is set to expire in January 2017. This initial Levy was a success in enriching arts and culture in Cleveland as, according to the Issue 8 website, it allowed for more annual educational experience for kids such as fieldtrips and allowed for more grants for a wide array of organizations and institutions.

When I was growing up in Strongsville, dancing singing and the theater were my passions, and I was fortunate enough to participate in public programs that fueled that passion immensely. The reason that I strongly support Issue 8 is that I want to ensure that kids with similar passions growing up today are able to have access to the education and experiences that will inspire them. I hope that you will do some research on Issue 8 and decide that arts and culture helps to renew our communities & is an important part of your life and the life of young people. For these reasons I would like to ask you to stand with the Issue 8 campaign, oWOW Radio, and myself—don’t hate, vote Issue 8.