Gina is an artist and librarian, and has been residing in Seattle for 10 years. They are passionate about sustainability and mindful consumption, and more specifically, combatting fast fashion and fabric waste. They have been sewing their whole life and view it through a lens of activism since COVID.

Clothing Justice and Mending for Sustainability
Clothing and fabric waste have been destined to rot in our landfills at a higher rate than ever before! The rise of micro-trends and fast fashion are doing a number on our environment. The solution is mindful consumption and care for the garments we already own. In this talk, Gina will discuss the historical, environmental, and social importance of mending one’s clothes (and other items) to reduce waste and show off our natural creativity! They will bring some examples of visibly mended garments to show off so people can see and feel how useful and beautiful mending can be.

Carl is a native Seattleite who loves being outdoors – he skis, climbs, bikes, hikes, camps AND surfs!

What the Foil?!
This talk is about the sport of foiling, its history, Carl’s road to foiling, and why it’s so awesome.

A software engineer and local author of fantasy, action, and romance genres, Grace has previously been a public presenter for a number of years, as well as an educator, giving them a unique perspective. They write fiction that features characters on the LGBTQA+ spectrum with a focus on consent, well-researched and deliberately represented kinks, and general sex positivity.

Dissecting the Smut
Look, we all love smut. But it’s a nerve-wracking topic to tackle. How do you toe the line between smut and porn? How do you write a satisfying scene that doesn’t make your audience riot (in a bad way)? Join this talk for a deep-dive into what makes a good smut scene, how to engage your audience in the material, and how to leave them satisfied (in more than one way).

Relevant Relativity
Quantum physics and relativity often go into practically philosophical theories that seem so superfluous to everyday life that they are only useful for driving plot lines and filling up scripts with technobabble. However, they have had such a meaningful impact on our lives, to the point their influence has become mundane! In this talk, I’ll take a quick whirlwind tour through the quantum realm and how they’ve shaped our everyday lives.

Ellen is a Washington-based science communicator focused on educating general audiences of all ages on wildlife and nature with geeky humor. Growing up on a steady diet of Animal Planet and Pokémon, she turned her passion for wildlife into the hit podcast Just the Zoo of Us and has been writing and producing fun, approachable science content for both web and print ever since.

The Zoology of Dragons
What environmental and ecological factors would a giant, flying, fire-breathing reptile need to actually survive in the wild? How might the dragons from our own modern myths & pop culture be related to each other, or to the rest of the animal kingdom? Let’s review the data from worlds of fact and fiction.

More Bacchus, Less Apollo
Dionysus (god + wine) is the typical understanding, but were you aware that Dionysus is heir to the Olympic throne? Or that Dionysus contains many of the myths that give us our Salvator Jesus? But we’ve lost and rediscovered much since antiquity, and it’s time for Dionysus to make his third great reentry into mythos. I will break down the Apollonian-Dionysian myth and examine the understanding Nietzche gave us and compare this to the sources in Orphic theology to uncover deeper spiritual meaning in Hellenism and what it means for our society today.