MarsCon

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 08

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 08

The adventure of cleaning up audio and improving show notes from previous panels continues in today’s episode of Justin on Panels. We are still working through MarsCon 2018, with the panel “Race and Culture in the Honorverse”. Please note: MarsCon 2018 was seven months before the release of Uncompromising Honor (HH14). Shadow of Victory (SI4) was the most recent novel in the current timeline.

Content Warning: Slavery does get discussed in this panel, and there are white men trying to whitesplain it away.

David Weber's Honor Harrington series presents a very diverse gambit of humans in a far future when race does not seem to matter as much as politics. Juxtaposed against our own realities, how does this fundamentally affect our perception of the Honorverse?

With: Justin Grays, Stephanie Stensland

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 07

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 07

The adventure of cleaning up audio and improving show notes from previous panels continues in today’s episode of Justin on Panels. We are still working through MarsCon 2018, with the panel “Cleavage Optional: Gender, Cosplay, and Genderbending Cosplay”.

Content Warning: Blackface does get mentioned during this panel.

How is the cosplay experience different for women and men? Why is genderbent cosplay so popular? What fans aren't doing it and what characters aren't being genderbent? What does this mean for trans and non-binary characters and fans?
With: Bridget Landry, Justin Grays, Kris Heding

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 06

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 06

The adventure of cleaning up audio and improving show notes from previous panels continues in today’s episode of Justin on Panels. We are still working through MarsCon 2018, with the panel “Star Trek”. Please note: at the time of recording, only season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery had been released.

A talk about the last 52 years of Star Trek, 6 Shows, and the 13 movies. Yes there will be spoilers for Star Trek Discovery.

With: Tony Artym, Elizabeth Erickson, Justin Grays, Joan Marie Verba, Stephanie Stensland

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 05

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 05

The adventure of cleaning up audio and improving show notes from previous panels continues in today’s episode of Justin on Panels. We are still working through MarsCon 2018, with the panel “Gem Watch”.

Discussion of the recent episodes of Steven Universe. What are your theories about events on Homeworld? What will this bring to Beach City?

With: Kathryn Sullivan, mod.; Justin Grays

Content Warning - mentions of:

  • Death

  • PTSD

  • Stress

  • Toxic Masculinity

  • Toxic Relationships

  • Trauma

Spoiler Warning: Steven Universe

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 04

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 04

Over the last four years, I have been promising to finish cleaning up the audio from the various panels that I have been on and improve the show notes. Now that GraysMatter Podcast is up and running, I have taken the time to also revisit these panels. Please join me in experiencing Justin on Panels.

MarsCon 2018

Starfleet's Prime Directive is evidence that Borg, Dominion, & Klingons are not the only ethnocentric civilizations in Star Trek. Let's talk about how and why deciding what's best for another culture is problematic regardless of intentions, even in space.
With: Justin Grays, Stephanie Stensland

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 03

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 03

Over the last four years, I have been promising to finish cleaning up the audio from the various panels that I have been on and improve the show notes. Now that GraysMatter Podcast is up and running, I have taken the time to also revisit these panels. Please join me in experiencing Justin on Panels.

MarsCon 2018

In society and in the media, a number of myths have revolved around polyamory. Though polyamory is becoming more generally accepted, the media shows it as a white phenomenon. Explore and discuss how the polyamorous experience is portrayed and how it differs from reality.
With: Kyle Andrew, Justin Grays

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 02

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 02

Over the last four years, I have been promising to finish cleaning up the audio from the various panels that I have been on and improve the show notes. Now that GraysMatter Podcast is up and running, I have taken the time to also revisit these panels. Please join me in experiencing Justin on Panels.

MarsCon 2018

The panel from CVG 2017 is back! Everybody makes mistakes sometimes. Maybe you've worded something poorly or were misinformed on a topic. Maybe you just didn't think a decision through and something went the wrong way. It happens. But how we react in these situations is what matters most.

With: Rachel Cleveland, Kyle Andrew, Michelle Chmura, Jennifer Jones, Justin Grays

Content Warning: Mentions of:

  • Abuse

  • Anxiety

  • Divorce

  • Imposter Syndrome

  • Inappropriate Touching

  • Mental Health / Mental Illness

  • Racism

  • Sexism

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 01

Justin on Panels - Season 2, Episode 01

Over the last four years, I have been promising to finish cleaning up the audio from the various panels that I have been on and improve the show notes. Now that GraysMatter Podcast is up and running, I have taken the time to also revisit these panels. Please join me in experiencing Justin on Panels.

MarsCon 2018

Creating actual diversity requires a great effort to avoiding unintentionally tokenizing your characters. Tokenism, even when unintentional, is what leads to adding "diversity” for the sake of diversity. How do we engender true diversity in sci fi and comics?

With: Justin Grays, Rob Callahan, S.N. Arly, Tyler Tork, mod.

Content Warning:

  • Mention of the slur for Romani people

  • Transracial/Transcultural adoption

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 1, Episode 05

GraysMatter Podcast - Season 1, Episode 05

In this episode, we discuss topics ranging from conventions and politics to COVID-19 and memes.

This episode is not sponsored. We are not medical providers, and nothing we say should be construed as medical advice.

Hosted By:

FaeBun (she/her)
Justin (xe/xem) - https://www.justingrays.org/
Michelle Chmura (she/her) - https://twitter.com/avocadabro & https://residentialrobot.tumblr.com/

Content Warning - Mentions of:

  • Aging

  • COVID-19

  • Death

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Military

  • Physical Therapy

  • Richard Dawkins

  • Weight & Weight Loss

CVG 2018 Day 3, Part 1 - Polyamory 101

CVG 2018 Day 3, Part 1 - Polyamory 101

CONvergence 2018 was July 5-8, 2018, almost 3 months ago now. I had planned on getting this post done last week as I have been trying to get posts out on a regular basis, but certain events tied up my brainspace last weekend. Now that I am back on track, I am getting Day 3 (Saturday the 7th) up for you all. I was on the panel “Polyamory 101” and attended “Sex in Sci-Fi/Fantasy”. For Part 1, I present to you the audio recording of the polyamory panel as well as my additional written thoughts about what we discussed, a link to “Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities” from MarsCon 2018, and various resources. Listen to the raw recording of “Polyamory 101” here.

Why I’m Not Going Back - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Times at MarsCon

Why I’m Not Going Back - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Times at MarsCon

MarsCon is a fan-run science fiction convention for all ages held every March in the Twin Cities area. This year's theme was Robots, Rayguns, & Rockets: The 3 R's of Sci-Fi. Each year that I have gone, I have had a wonderful time - unfortunately, there have been a number of events over the years that have made me decide to not go back in the future unless substantial changes are made. Rae Black of Twin Cities Geeks wrote a fantastic article about how MarsCon has a potential to be better; this post will be about my perspective of recent events and why it is I am not going back.

MarsCon 2018 - One Week Later

MarsCon 2018 - One Week Later

A week ago, I attended MarsCon 2018 and was on 10 panels. I also attended a couple of other panels. Two such panels I was able to take notes on: "Mysterious Minnesota: Unwrapping Urban Legends and Ghostly Tales from the Dead" and "Planetarium Star Show."

MarsCon 2018 - Day 3

MarsCon 2018 - Day 3

If you haven't read MarsCon 2018 - Day 1 or MarsCon 2018 - Day 2 already, I would suggest that you read those two entries first. Some parts of the eight previous panels can be connected to today's panels: "Androids, AI, And Gender Theory" and "Artificial People in Science Fiction."

MarsCon 2018 - Day 2

MarsCon 2018 - Day 2

If you didn't read the previous post, MarsCon 2018 - Day 1, I would suggest checking that out first. The panels that I was on, "Avoiding the Tokenism in Comics and Sci Fi Cultures," "How to Fail Gracefully," and "Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities" are all related to today's panels in one way or another: "The Prime Directive as Liberal Eurocentric Superiority," "Gem Watch," "Star Trek," "Cleavage Optional: Gender, Cosplay, and Genderbending Cosplay," and "Race and Culture in the Honorverse."

MarsCon 2018 - Day 1

MarsCon 2018 - Day 1

MarsCon is a fan-run science fiction convention for all ages held every March in the Twin Cities area. This year's theme is Robots, Rayguns, & Rockets: The 3 R's of Sci-Fi. Today I was on two panels, "Avoiding the Tokenism in Comics and Sci Fi Cultures," "How to Fail Gracefully," and "Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities." There are audio recordings of all three panels; however, they are still the raw, unedited versions. The normalized, balanced versions will be put up on a later post. I also took some notes for some of the panels - I will include them here so that I can expand on them on a later date. Please feel free to ask questions and post comments about the panels. Enjoy!

NaNoWriMo 2017 is over - back to regular blog posts!

Good afternoon, everybody!

NaNoWriMo 2017 is over, and though I did not meet the 50,000 word goal, I did beat my previous word record of 5,426. So I'm feeling very stoked about that! 5,500 words! I do plan on working on these stories that I've been writing, however, it is time to get back to my regular posting.

Download this song ► http://hyperurl.co/DouglassJefferson ◄ Watch the Behind the Scenes ►https://goo.gl/KsjYcN◄ New ERB Website & Merch can be found at http://erbofhistory.com/ ▼ CAST ▼ ========= Frederick Douglass: JB Smoove http://www.jbsmoove.com/ http://bit.ly/TweetJBSmoove Thomas Jefferson: Nice Peter http://www.nicepeter.com http://www.youtube.com/NicePeter ▼ CREW ▼ ========= Executive Producers: Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist Directed

In 3 days is 13th Amendment Day. Ratified on December 6th, 1865, the 13th Amendment slavery and involuntary servitude - however, Black Codes, white supremacist violence, red lining, and other factors have worked to prevent persons of color from having equal status in the United States. The 13th Amendment, though, was the first of the Reconstruction Amendments that began to transform the United States from "half slave and half free" (as Abraham Lincoln put it) to one where constitutional guarantees would apply to all citizens. 
The amendment states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Read more about the history here: http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/thirteenth-amendment

I have a number of blog posts that are being worked on. Though my list of posts that are being worked on is available to Patreon Subscribers, I can say that I am still working on follow-ups posts to The GOP is not the Party of Lincoln - A Brief History. Part I: Whigged Beginnings and Sex and Gender Part I: The Structure of Sex. Plus, as MarsCon is coming up in March, and a number of friends and I are preparing panels for the convention, and I will be writing about them as I did for CONvergence 2017 (read Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and Two Weeks Later). 

And that's some of what is coming up. There is more coming up in the next several days. Stay subscribed for more updates!

If you like what you read here, and would like to show your support, please consider donating.

I am on Patreon to help fund the work that goes into maintaining a website and creating researched content. Also, it will give me some financial relief as I am also endeavoring to complete a number of science fiction and fantasy stories, and hopefully compile them into zines or collected works. As a sponsor, you'll get quality blog posts, early access to completed stories, and the knowledge that you are helping me fund the creative process. I will get the benefit of some stress reduction as I won't have to worry about finances as much anymore, and that will help me be free to create more work.

It's not always possible to sponsor on a monthly basis. If you would like to do a one time donation, please feel free to use PayPal or SquareCash. Producing content takes time and effort, and any support would be most appreciated. Your donations help me cover expenses and eventually will let me be able to create quality content full-time.