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This Blerd Girl is Geek Girl Con or Bust!

Yes! I’m going to Seattle, Washington, and going to enjoy every single geeky moment of GeekGirlCon (GGC) ! Thanks to my Curly Hair Mafia sister @DrRubidium, she has pulled off the Geek Heist of all time: Assembling a Motley Crew of Geeksters – Cos Playing Pseuds, Funny Hat Wearing Physicists, a Rubber Duck Chemist, a [...]

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Yes! I'm going to Seattle, Washington, and going to enjoy every single geeky moment of GeekGirlCon (GGC) ! Thanks to my Curly Hair Mafia sister @DrRubidium, she has pulled off the Geek Heist of all time: Assembling a Motley Crew of Geeksters - Cos Playing Pseuds, Funny Hat Wearing Physicists, a Rubber Duck Chemist, a too cool biomedical researcher, A Noisy Astronomer, Crazy Robotics researchers, and some more freaks and geeks of science, plus a high school teacher to corral us altogether and what do you have?

Off the CHAIN fun! and

#DIYSciZone will bring hands-on, do-it-yourself science all day Saturday, October 19th (day #1 of GGC) and half the day on Sunday, October 20th (day #2). We (@DNLee5, @Lalsox, @Chemjobber, @Seelix, @Scicurious, @DrMRFrancis, @HeyDrWilson, @r343l, @Sargent, Dr. Marie Villarba, @melmall, @NoisyAstronomer, Dr. Charity Lovitt, @DrRubidium) will be leading a series of fun, engaging, hands-on, make-and-take activities perfect for ALL ages. Taking advantage of our Crew's diversity of skills we'll be doing


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  • DNA extraction made easy!

  • Are you bitter? A genetic taste test.

  • Magic breath! Acid-base chemistry of the body.

  • CSI: GGC! Finding latent prints using ninhydrin.

  • Coffee ground fossils! Perfect for Seattle.

  • Neuron know-how! Build your own & learn how they work.

  • Slime-to-go! Make your own bag of goo.

  • Making craters! Please bring your own sound effects.

  • Dancing raisins! No choreography skills required.

  • Nature notebooks! A mix of art & nature.

And didn't you check out the diversity of our team, too? That's a big deal. For so many people Geek Culture is thought of as mostly male and monochromatic; but there has always been an appreciation of sci-fi, fantasy, nerddom and more among African-American, Latino, Asian, and female-centric audiences. GeekGirlCon celebrates the contribution of all women to geek culture and it also serves to inspire the inner geek and scientist and engineer in every child, especially little girls.

So, I am asking for your help to send me and my friends to Seattle and show folks the real faces of science: young, old, brown, tan, white, round, thin, hairy, and masked!

We need some financial assistance to get us there. Any amount you contribute helps (so don't feel shame about $5 and $10 donations. We appreciate every nickel!). Link to make donation:here.

The money will be used for admission fees, supplies, hotel, and travel. And we'll keep you abreast of our fundraising progress with Outrageous Acts of Whimsy & Silliness. (Yes, seriously. We are willing to make a spectacle of ourselves for science & money - (Bandz Make A Dance). So give to make science happen, to inspire new generations of creative thinkers, or heck give to see us act a fool on the internet (Let Us Entertain You). Complete details of how we'll spend the money and our fundraising shenanigans is detailed at Dr Rubidium's blog: Help fund the DIY Science Zone at @GeekGirlCon!

Thank you very, very much.

DNLee is a biologist and she studies animal behavior, mammalogy, and ecology . She uses social media, informal experiential science experiences, and draws from hip hop culture to share science with general audiences, particularly under-served groups.

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