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, Brittany Northcross, about their perspectives on the strikes. They also pull back the veil a bit and talk about working conditions of writers and how that has changed with the advent of streaming. The contrast between Ricky and Brittany's journeys into becoming television writers shows how much the industry has changed and how unforgiving it has been for newer writers over the past decade. This strike about the future of creative labor and invites us all to consider how our work is be respected and used in the greater landscape. Note: I have consulted with SAG about this episode and have tried to adhere to all necessary guidelines.

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 Boston, about this entire situation. We also discussion how the demands of SAG and WGA tie into history, representation, progress and the nature of human creativity itself.

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 conversation, we explore what is so compelling about these monster lovers, what does it say about our own society and what can learn from these interspecies relationships. I hope you enjoy the episode!!

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 Lords", has been on the planning committee of conventions all over the country and currently works as a graphic designer. From message boards to fanfiction.net, to Archive of Our Own, to Fanlore... Tara has been there, so gather 'round fans old and new, and we will tell you the tale of where we have been. 

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 and I cover subjects from the current state of fandom to the emotional experience of celebrity interactions and between all that, I give Farpoint my convention score with my new "convention rubic". Have a listen and I can't wait to hear what you think. 

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, as the creator of Black Mermaid Day, she is passionate about not only creating a safe aquatic fantasy space, but also encouraging more black families to take up swimming as a life skill and develop a positive relationship with the water. 

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 evolve their narrative to adapt to the social consciousness of their audience. Television shows discussed include: Supernatural, Flash, Charmed, Charmed (2018 reboot), The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Wheel of Time and Star Trek: Discovery

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* this conversation is about the ways that science fiction can continue to give a us hope for a better future. In this episode, we discuss everything from Star Trek, to Blade Runner to Children of Men and more. I hope you enjoy it. 

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 "dark" side and dressed up as vampires and various creatures of the night. As movies, television and media have embraced vampire lore over the past few decades, people of color have often been left out or left with minimal representation, with #BIPOCVampireDay, Jamila sought to change that as well as bring a community of diverse, creative people together for a good cause. In this episode, we discuss the inspiration behind BIPOC Vampire Day, how event developed and where it is going next. I hope you enjoy it. P.S. Interspectional is going for a bit of a hiatus in March, but new blog posts recapping the "POC and Period Drama" and "Building Communities in Fandom" episodes will be added the website on March 11 and March 25, respectively. New episodes of Interspectional will drop in April. 

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 what are the overall messages being send the audience. In this episode, I explore those ideas with transmedia social justice producer and co-host of Trek Table, Claudia Alick and Community Advocate and co-host of Pop Chatter podcast, Natacia Knapper. We look at #StarTrekDiscovery, #Watchmen, #LovecraftCountry, #Flash and so much more. It's a fun, intense, definitely going-to-challenge you conversation. You can follow Natacia on Twitter @nknapper and you can follow Pop Chatter Podcast on Twitter at @PopChatterPod  If you are interested in learning more about the Baldwin House project follow @DCW1MutualAid You can follow Claudia on Twitter @Callingup and you can follow Trek Table Podcast on Twitter at @Trek_Table If you are interested in learning more about Watch Nights and F*** The Gala, go to www.callingupjustice.com 

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 Education at Portland State University, former elementary school teacher and critical race theorist. We delve into some of the history of critical race theory, how it was originally applied and how it evolved. We also discuss the myths around #criticalracetheory and how those myths gained traction. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this episode.  You can follow Dr. Lynn on Twitter at @DrMarvinLynn or on instagram at @marvinlynn You can find the books mentioned in this episode and others here: https://bookshop.org/lists/s2e2-crt-and-education/

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 the spirit of feeling like magical beings of power, beauty and grace. In The first episode of my second season, I talk to Jasmine La Fleur, the founder of Black Fae Day, and we discuss what inspired her to create this day, what was the reaction and what is next for her organization. It was an fun and inspiring conversation. I hope you enjoy it!! You can find out all about the events of Black Fae Day here: https://www.blackfaeday.com/ You can find Black Fairies: All Ages Coloring Book by A. C. Washington, Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales by Virginia Hamilton and other magical books here: https://bookshop.org/lists/s2e1-black-fae-day

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 some of my favorite episodes. As 2021 draws to close, I hope that we can learn more about each other's experiences, value each other's differences and support each other as we face various personal, relationship and systemic difficulties. That hope is what is truly behind the podcast and you'll learn more about that in this episode.  Show notes: You can find the Audre Lorde clip here And the episodes that I reference in this presentation are The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow, POC and Period Drama, Vampires, Class and the Presentation of Privilege and TV Writers Advocating for Authentic Stories. 

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 episodes and how science fiction makes these stories unique. This is a recording from Women At Warp's IDIC Podcast Festival. For this panel, my returning guests were Bianca Hernandez  (@bookhoarding) for the season 1 finale: Building Communities in Fandom and Dr. Luz Rosines (@LuzXRayMD) from the S1:E3 - Latinx Representation in Space. 

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 leader.  We also celebrate the successes that we have seen in the fandom communities and share our hope stories about the things that keep us going.  You can follow Jaycee on Facebook at Gaymer Allied People of Color You can follow Neisha on Twitter at Diversely Geek You can follow Bianca on Twitter at @bookhoarding

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 our fandom experiences. Jaycee, Neisha and Bianca then discuss their inspiration and motivation for building their own fan communities that have had a global reach and tangible impact in their respective communities. This episode was filled with so many thoughtful takeaways and deep feels that I actually made it a two-parter. So remember to check out the next episode to hear the rest of the conversation.  You can follow Jaycee on Facebook at Gaymer Allied People of Color You can follow Neisha on Twitter at Diversely Geek You can follow Bianca on Twitter at @bookhoarding

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 our screens. Co-executive producer of NBC's New Amsterdam and Peacock's Vampire Academy, Y. Shireen Razack,  co-executive producer of CW's Life After First Failure, Tawal Panyacosit Jr. and researcher on Grey's Anatomy and story editor on Station 19, Barbara Friend talk about their experiences in Hollywood as well as their organization, Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity (TTIE pronounced "tie"), an "intersectional consortium of TV writers committed to increasing inclusion & equity and improving work conditions for all TV writers." You can learn more about Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity here and follow them on Twitter at @writeinclusion.  You can follow Y. Shireen Razack on Twitter at @YShireenWhyNot You can follow Tawal Panyacosit Jr. on Twitter at @Tawal You can follow Barbara Friend on Twitter at @babsamiga

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, but it got surprisingly deep, as these conversation often do. I hope you enjoy it. You can follow Talia Franks on Twitter at @Talia_Franks or on their website at Word for Sense  Listen Into the Archives Podcast and follow @ArchivesPod And for your Doctor Who fans out there, you can listen to The Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Podcast and follow @WibblyPod You can follow Olivia Dade on Twitter at @Olivia_Writes You can allow find book Spoiler Alert and all over her fantastic novels here Also be on the lookout for her book All The Feels due out in October. 

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 as a proxy for beauty, wealth and temptation as well as answering that greatest of all questions: Are all vampires project partners? This is a fun, slight meandering, but ultimately insightful episode about that different ways this "monster" is used to talk about ourselves and our society's norms. By framing vampire stories in the terms of privilege, we get to examine wealth, access and power through this fun sci-fi/horror lens. Check it out. You can find D'Arcee at @DrChairington You can find Anjé at @RecklessPoetess You can purchase her book here

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 episode with laughter, analysis and more than it's fair share of heart. I'm so excited to share with this you. My guests are CEO of We Are Heroes Production and the hit actual-play comedy/horror podcast, Tabletop For the End of the World, Jemarc Axinto, actress and producer, Jonah Azurin and finally make-up artist and gamer Jezzelyn Torres. You can find Jemarc on Twitter at Tabletop for the End of the World. You can also find the Tabletop for the End of the World website here: https://www.tfewcast.com/. You can also listen to you first episode of TFEW here. You can find Jonah at her website here And please follow Jezze's instagram here