I’m driving down to Charlotte, North Carolina for the annual Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts conference. This is the second time that I’ve presented at SLSA. My presentation last year was on “Subversive Subjectivity in Battlestar Galactica,” and this year I’m presenting on the political efficacy of “transsexual technologies.” There are several concurrent panels during my session’s time slot on Saturday, so I’m wondering what the turnout will be like, and what reception my paper will receive. I’ll post about the conference, time permitting, from Charlotte. However, I have two papers to write while I’m there in addition to attending sessions, so my updates may have to wait until I return to Kent.
SLSA 2008, On the Road Again
November 12, 2008
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
What I’m Working On
June 16, 2008Even though it’s Summer 2008 that doesn’t mean that I’m taking an extended vacation! This summer is jam-packed with writing, conferencing, and class.
- Course work: Teaching College Writing with Professor Brian Huot. I’m taking a class in preparation of teaching the introductory college writing course in the Fall at Kent State University. I received an appointment beginning in the Fall that pays for my classes and gives me a stipend in exchange of carrying a 2-1 teaching load. This Fall will be my first college teaching experience, and I’m feeling a mixed bag of excitement and trepidation. However, the excitement is taking over as this course progresses and I learn more pedagogical theory and nuts-and-bolts teaching practices.
- Writing: I’m preparing my much traveled conference paper, “Michael Bay’s Transformers, the Global War on Terror, and the New Post-9/11 SF Narrative” for publication. I promised this to Sherryl Vint, co-editor of Science Fiction Film and Television, at IAFA 2008 in March. My plan is to send this off in the next two weeks.
- Writing and Conferencing: I’m turning my paper, “We are All Nomads: Computers, Orientalism, and Nomadology in Mike Resnick’s Ivory” into a conference length work. I’m presenting this at SFRA 2008 in July (on my birthday). This will require a lot of elbow grease, but I’m confident that it’ll come together before I begin the long drive out West (yes, I want to go on a road trip after I finish my Teaching College Writing course over Summer I).
- Writing and Conferencing: Andrew Pilsch emailed me on Facebook awhile back about doing another panel at SLSA 2008 in the Fall. Last year, Chris Van Acker, Andrew, and I were on a panel together, and it was a blast. Andrew has some kickass ideas for a new panel, and an even more knock-dead paper idea. I just sent him a draft for our panel proposal along with an abstract of my publishable-length paper, “Transsexual Technology: The Political Potential of Gender Shifting Technologies.” That’s another paper that needs a significant reduction, but I’m looking forward to getting some comments and questions on it.
UPDATE
My CRS kicked in and I forgot to mention this:
5. Reviewing: I’m looking forward to reviewing Sonja Fritzsche’s Science Fiction Literature in East Germany for German Quarterly!
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
More Thoughts on Forced Fellatio in AVP2 Requiem
January 4, 2008There’s one point that I didn’t make that clear in my last posting on Aliens Vs. Predator Requiem and that is the underlying problematic nature of the hybrid Alien-Predator. It signifies the ambiguous sex of transsexuals. Its body contains the Predator’s vagina-like mouth, which in turn houses the Alien’s phallus-like mouth extension. Through this imagery of design, the Alien-Predator hybrid represents both the female and male sexes. Which leads me to wonder if the Alien-Predator hybrid’s forcing a pregnant woman to have unnaturally impregnating fellatio represents a culturally derived fear of transsexuals and the intersexed? Is the Alien-Predator hybrid the new barbarian at the gates? Intersexed persons are most definitely individuals and human subjects, so how do these SF images of the marauding/barbaric/primitive/animal Alien-Predator hybrid Other challenge cultural progress in regards to sex and gender? It’s time to reread Sandy Stone’s “The Empire Strikes Back: A Posttranssexual Manifesto.”
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
