Interspectional

As the WGA and SAG strikes continue, it can be easy to forget why they are on strike in the first place. Many people don't really understand the production process or how things are so bad that professional writers have been willing to stop working for nearly 5 months. In this episode, I speak with veteran TV writer and executive producer, Ricky Manning and staff writer and story editor, Britt...

The Writers Guild of America is on strike. The Screen Actors Guild is on strike. Hollywood has come to a screeching halt. And everyone is wondering who in the world is the AMPTP! In this episode, I talk to my friends, Cort, an entertainment journalists from Pure Fandom.com and co-host of the Geek Girl Soup podcast, and Amanda-Rae Prescott, an entertainment journal for the PBS affiliate, WGBH Bosto...

In this episode, Kimberly, Neka and I talking about falling in love... with your alien next-door neighbor or the werewolf mechanic or the dragon shifter to tells you that you MUST go on a quest together. Monster Romances are nothing new, going all the way back to Beauty and the Beast, which as you know is "a tale as old as time", but there seems to be a recent surge in interest. In this...

This episode is like of a retrospective of internet fanfiction starting for the early days of late 80's with UserNet to modern day social media and how that has influenced fannish behaviors. I talk to my friend Tara O'Shea who is like a fandom OG, bard and storyteller. She is a Award-winning editor, journalist, illustrator, and designer. She co-edited the Hugo Award-winning book "Chicks Love Time...

For my first convention review, I'm joined by journalist, Dean Rogers of pop culture news site, The Rogers Revue. Together, we discuss our collective and separate experiences at the convention as well as some general best practices for going to a convention. As a frequent comic con attendee myself, I was struck by the differences and similarities that I experienced in this convention space. Dean a...

Anita aka Tranquil Ashes has crafted her own cosplay brand and business in nerdy/blerdy game for a decade. Using her connections and influence to create more inclusive spaces for other black and brown artists and creators, she has become positive force in the cosplay space, encouraging others to full their dreams and setting an example by being an ambitious and bold plus-size creator herself. Also...

Recorded in March of 2022, in this episode, Dr. Maria DeBlassie and I discuss the ways that sci-fi media has responded to the calls for diversity, inclusion and authenticity in television and if we think they have been able to meet the moment. We discuss the ways that social media has influenced the conversation both positively and negatively as well as how certain television shows have had to evo...

In this episode, host of the podcast The Sacred Now , Jay Jackson and Episcopal priest, Reverend Rachel Kessler aka @nerdypriest on TikTok, join me as we discuss the different places were faith and science fiction meet. We discuss faiths within sci-fi universes as well as how our collective interests in science fiction has complimented or contradicted our beliefs. But ultimately *spoiler alert* th...

For the last episode of Black History Month 2022, we end as we begun: Celebrating Black Joy.  We are talking about BIPOC Vampire Day with its founder Jamila aka @BlackBettieCosplay . BIPOC Vampire Day (well, weekend) took place on September 17-19, 2021. For this weekend, cosplayers and artists of Black, Indigenous, Latine, Middle Eastern, East Asian, South Asian backgrounds embraced their "da...

Since 2015 (and a little bit earlier), there has been a massive increase in the amount of women of color that we see in sci-fi/fantasy media across network, cable and streaming platforms. With this increase in representation (and we can always use more), the conversation has shifted a bit more from just putting women of color in speculative properties to exploring how we are being represented and...

Critical Race Theory has been the hot topic in the news, on the web and has been the lightning rod phrase used to ban #antiracism , #antioppression and #multicultural books and curriculum in states throughout the United States. These bans have also been model used to limit discussions about gender and LGBTQIA+ concern in academic settings. In this episode, I talk to Dr. Marvin Lynn, a Professor of...

On May 8, 2021, #BlackFaeDay was the second highest trending topic on Twitter. What is Black Fae Day? It was a day where Black folks from all walks of life and all over the world dressed up in their most joyful and whimsical costumes and shared it with the world. Some without wings and glitter where inspired to take nature hikes, draw Black fairies, write poems, plays or anything to get them in th...

In July 2021, I did a panel about my podcast at BlerDCon called "Interspectional: A Black woman-led, sci-fi podcast". This presentation was a great opportunity to share all that I had learned from doing my podcast over the past year as well as delve into the inspiration behind my podcast. I was also able to share the philosophy of Interspectional with a live audience as well as share clips from so...

While Star Trek takes place in the future, so many episodes either take place in the past or have a time-period-specific aspect to them. These "bottle episodes" have a tendency to pose complex questions around sociology, psychology and ethics. Focusing on episodes from Star Trek: TOS, TNG, Voyager and DS9, we'll look at these period dramas in space, the themes that can be examined from these episo...

Part 2 of the season finale, "Building Communities in Fandom" gets real. Jaycee Dubyuh of Gaymer Allied People of Color , Neisha Mulchan of Diversely Geek and Bianca Hernandez-Knight of The Jane Austen Universe and Virtual Jane Con and I get into the nitty-grity about problems in the fandom space, when it's time to fight and the struggles that can occur when you go from being fan to be a community...

In this episode, I talked to Jaycee Dubyuh of Gaymer Allied People of Color , Neisha Mulchan of Diversely Geek and Bianca Hernandez-Knight of The Jane Austen Universe and Virtual Jane Con about the importance of building community in fandom spaces. Delving into our own fandom histories, we discuss the online and off-line activities, adventures, friendships and relationships that we built through o...

Whenever we see something problematic or insensitive on our TV screens or streaming shows, we often ask, "Who wrote this? Who was in the room??" In this episode, I talk to three TV writers who are not only in the room, but are apart of a growing movement to improve the working conditions for underrepresented writers as well as improving the quality and authenticity of the stories that make it to o...

In this episode, best-selling author of the book, "Spoiler Alert", Olivia Dade and host of the fanfiction podcast, "Into The Archives", Talia Franks stop by to discuss all things fanfiction. We talk about our fanfiction origin stories, the value that fanfiction has brought into our lives and the importance of a communities built around common interests. I had planned for this to be a light episode...

Queen of the Damned, True Blood, Blade, Vampire Diaries, Buffy. In this episode, Afrofuturism researcher and soon-to-be published doctoral student, D'arcee Charington Neal, Associate Editor of the inclusive geek space, Quirktastic, and practicing mental health counselor, Anjé McLish and I discuss all things vampire. We talk about the politics of these fictional vampire societies and how vampires a...

In this episode of Interspectional, my guests and I discuss Asian Representation in media. Looking at the impact of favorites like "Always Be My Maybe" as well as problematic films like the live-action production of "Ghost in the Shell", we discuss tropes, stereotypes, issues within the media industry itself as well as ways to connect and show solidarity in supporting each other's artform. It's an...

What is like to be a character of color in fantastical world? Do you have a background, a family, a mission, a purpose of your own or are you just there in the background to help someone else's story? Booktuber and actress, Nineka (aka Neeks) Wright, filmmaker and cosplayer Andrew and I tackle these questions by looking at the fantasy stories presented in books, video games and television shows li...

In this episode, Jay Anneli, lore consultant for Wizards of the Coast and author of Magic: The Gathering: Legends: A Visual History, Erin Roberts, speculative fiction and tabletop game writer, and Jezze Torres, make-up artist and Dungeons and Dragons player, discuss the triumphs and the challenges of making the world of tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG) a more inclusive community, both in game a...

In this episode, screenwriter and filmmaker, LaDarrion Williams, cosplayer and occultist, Kristine aka DJ Lady Loki and I discuss the power, portrayal and cultural resonance of witches and magical beings of African, African-American and Caribbean heritage. In film and television, Black witches been both celebrated and shamefully used and abused. We go deep into the power of these practitioners of...

In this episode, creator and co-founder of Latinx Geeks, Alexis Sanchez, cosplayer and artist, Allegriana, radiologist and Star Trek aficionado, Dr. Luz Rosines discuss the portrayal of Latinx characters in space. Delving mostly into Star Trek and Star Wars lore, they discuss the impact these characters had on people’s lives, the importance of culture and the improvements that they hope to see in...

In this episode, pop culture journalist, Amanda-Rae Prescott and historical fashion and beauty blogger, Ayana of The Vintage Guidebook, join me to discuss Bridgerton, Hamilton and diversity in period dramas. We also take time to examine the fandom community around period dramas as well as diversity of the production and writing teams. So tighten your corset and put on your best hat because we are...