DC9 Nightclub
DOORS: 6:00PM
$10
21+
HAPPY NERD YEAR!
We’re ringing in 2019 with three amazing talks. Freakin’ lasers! Not being abilist jerks! The connection between sketchy wizards and back pain! Auld acquaintance may be forgot, but you won’t forget these amazing speakers. So much to learn! Come start the new year off right by partying it up with your favorite nerds.
Also, come out to hear some exciting new updates about Nerd Nite DC 2019!
“Sick Freaks: Disability, Freak Shows, and Reality TV”
Summary: The old carnival freak shows are basically gone now, but that hasn’t changed people’s desire to stare at those who are different. From Mystery Diagnosis to Born This Way, come find out what’s going on with reality television, and how all that’s old is new again.
Presenter Bio: Katya is a queer, disabled theater historian (for extra freakiness) who writes about identity, performance theory, and political theater. When not reading, writing, or talking about these topics, Katya is usually either murdering aliens in XCOM or crafting, and sometimes even does both at once.
“Cosmic Death Lasers”
Summary: We’ll explore objects so extreme that if you could stand on their surfaces gravity would squash you flat as a pancake. Then we’ll learn how to manipulate these objects to create a death ray capable of destroying all life on Earth as we know it.
Presenter Bio: Ginny is a fourth year astronomy graduate student working at the University of Maryland and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She studies the brightest explosions in the universe and in her free time she likes to pet dogs and drink wine (preferably at the same time).
“Exposing the Fake News of Low Back Pain”
Summary: Does good posture prevent back pain? Do six pack abs help your back? Where does pain even come from? Can Professor Dumbledore teach us something about pain? (okay that one is obviously yes!) Forget everything you’ve ever been told about back pain and get ready to nerd out on the science of pain while busting some myths along the way.
Presenter Bio: JD is a nerd with the goal of making physical therapy and health care more scientific (if you haven’t heard health care is complicated). He a board-certified specialist in orthopedic physical therapy, is currently serving on the American Physical Therapy Association of Maryland’s board of directors, and works at Washington Wellness Physical Therapy & Sports Care. In his free time he enjoys hiking and backpacking with his dog Scout.
DC9 Nightclub
DOORS: 6:00PM
$10
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.
“James Bond… no the REAL James Bond!”
Summary: Many people associate the name “James Bond” with the charming, handsome, and action packed British spy portrayed by Ian Fleming and Hollywood, but did you know that James Bond was actually a REAL person? Drastically different from his cinematic counterpart, James Bond was actually a quiet, studious ornithologist from Philadelphia!
Presenter Bio: Bonnie is a library technician and librarian that is currently working in the Natural History Museum libraries, specifically in vertebrate zoology and the vertebrate paleontology. When she is not librarying, she spends her time playing roller derby, volunteering for multiple nonprofits, playing with computers, or just being a general nerd.
“”Bodyslams in the Beltway – Independent Wrestling in the DC Area”
Summary: Mike and a few members of the staff and locker room will be discussing NOVA Pro Wrestling, an Independent Wrestling promotion that calls Northern Virginia home.
Presenter Bio: Mike E. King aka “The Boy” – Promoter and matchmaker of NOVA Pro Wrestling. Mike has been in and around the professional wrestling business since he was five years old. Growing up in Springfield, VA the closest independent promotions were in Baltimore and Philadelphia and after years of traveling and with help from his father he opened NOVA Pro.
“SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED straight from a Nerd Nite favorite! “
Summary: It’s going to be a topic straight from a seasoned Nerd Nite professional, so c’mon.
Presenter Bio: A three-time Nerd Nite presenter. You’re in for a treat. Believe us.
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.