DC9 Nightclub
DOORS: 6:00PM
FREE
21+

Nerd Nite is an informal gathering at which nerds get together for nerdery of all sorts (well, mostly presentations and drinking). Nerds and non-nerds alike gather to meet, drink and learn something new. Each evening, three nerds will give short, fun presentations where they can nerd out about sperm transfer, string theory, Aztec mythology, or some similarly nerdilicious topic. While they talk, you drink, thereby increasing their wittiness, and your IQ.

“Brontës Behaving Badly”

Summary: English classes the world over read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and talk about the rules these precocious novels broke and the accomplishments of their reclusive, mythic authors, Charlotte and Emily Brontë . But what they DON’T talk about is the even more salacious work that Charlotte and her other sister, perpetual underdog Anne, went on to write. Come along on a deep dive into Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Shirley, and Villette where you’ll find critiques of marriage, depictions of substance abuse and adultery, acts of outspoken feminism and slapstick comedy, Victorians in drag, and cynicism that declares shipwreck is a much kinder ending than marriage. You’ll meet lesser known figures in the Brontës orbit–dissolute brother Branwell, stalwart adventurer Mary Taylor–and hear literary gossip about the likes of Elizabeth Gaskell and William Makepeace Thackeray.

Presenter Bio: Miranda K. Pennington is the author of A Girl Walks Into a Book: What the Brontes Taught Me About Life, Love, and Women’s Work, a bibliomemoir that mixes biography, memoir, and literary criticism (and picks up where this Nerd Nite talk leaves off!) She received her MFA in creative nonfiction from Columbia University and currently teaches college writing at American University. You can find her most weeknights doing standup comedy in DC’s finest dive bars and on Twitter at @MKPinDC.

“A Robot, an Anthropologist, and A Comedy Researcher Walk Into A Bar”

Summary: A look at the hilarious attempts to get AI to write comedy and what that means about humanity.

Presenter Bio: Rachel Pendergrass is the Co-Boss of Nerd Nite DC, so you know you’re in good hands. Who else is Rachel Pendergrass? Rachel Pendergrass is the CEO of Science Art Fusion (aka ScienceAF), a company that helps bring nerdy, nerdy science outreach to the masses. She is a writer, performer, and gigantic dork who has written for everyone from National Lampoon to HowStuffWorks. She’s the producer of the internationally touring Solve for X Variety show, and a staff writer for Southern Fried Science. She has over seven years of experience as a performer and educator and over five years of experience touching sharks. She has also, at one point in her life, played didjeridoo in a one-night-only Johnny Cash cover band.”Maritime Unmanned Surface Vessel Autonomy: An Application”

“SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED straight from National Geographic! “

Summary: It’s going to be a topic straight from National Geographic, so c’mon.

Presenter Bio: This will be a person who actually works for National Geographic, so again, c’mon.