geektastic

Exploring Our Inner Supervillain

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / Leave a comment
Me as Poison Ivy (a woman with green skin) from Harley Quinn posing with Nnedi Okorafor (a Black woman in a black sweater) at her signing with a large AwesomeCon backdrop

Looking in the mirror, I saw someone looking back at me who was both terribly familiar and foreign. For one, she had green skin in comparison to my normal pale visage. I noticed a spot that was a bit light and dabbed on a bit more green makeup. There – finished. Save the red hair and the cartoon skinniness, I was the image of Poison Ivy from the Harley Quinn animated show.

On the lawful to chaotic and good to bad morality scale, I am solidly in the lawful good zone. I was obsessive about rules as a kid to the point I would correct other kids regularly. (That made me very popular.) While I’ve shed much of that slavish devotion, I hate breaking rules for no good reason and hold myself to high moral standards.

So why was I cosplaying a chaotic supervillain at a comic book convention?

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A Preschoolers’ Guide to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 2 Comments

A Preschooler's guide to.png

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History – a national treasure full of priceless specimens and engaging exhibits. But the perspective looks a whole lot different through the eyes of a preschooler, for better or worse. Living near Washington D.C., we make a trip to the museum at least once a year, typically in the coldest doldrums of winter.

Here’s a breakdown of the best and worst of several of the major exhibits, from a preschooler’s and a preschooler’s parent’s points of view:

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Guest Post on Raising Nerd: Top 5 Movie Examples of Female Scientists Who Will Inspire Your Nerds to Greatness 

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Nerds unite! At least that’s what the bloggers at Raising Nerd and I did over the past two weeks, exchanging posts on each other’s blogs. In case you missed it, Scott Beller wrote on here about how to get your kids thinking about Santa using terrible movies and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Two weeks ago, I wrote for Raising Nerd about five movies featuring awesome female scientists, from the women of Ghostbusters to Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park. 

Here’s a preview of my post:

From dinosaur bones to aliens, some of the best Nerd inspiration comes from the movies. Unfortunately, female scientists and mathematicians notoriously have been under-represented on the big screen. But with an all-female Nerd team leading the Ghostbusters reboot and the story of forgotten NASA heroines finally being told in Hidden Figures starting December 25, it seems like things just might be changing for the better in Hollywood.
For more, check out the post on Raising Nerd! 

Guest Post: Extending Santa’s Magic by Appealing to the STEM/STEAM Side of Kids’ Curious Minds

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 3 Comments

We have our very first guest post here at We’ll Eat You Up, We Love You So! It’s courtesy of Scott Beller, who is the “Chief Word Nerd” at the blog Raising Nerd. As a completely unabashed nerd myself, I was proud to write a guest post for him last week on inspirational female scientists in movies. He’s returning the favor this week, with a blog post that ties together three of my favorite things: Mystery Science Theater 3000, science and Santa.

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My daughter giggled as she watched the gigantic blue and yellow egg hatch. The glowing blue larva emerged, surrounded by hundreds of worshipping natives on Infant Island. It was coaxed into action by two miniature, telepathic fairies in distress.

My daughter’s eyes widened.

“Is this real?” she asked, giggling some more.

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Hollywood: Give Us Sci-Fi Heroines with Kids!

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

Image: Background of cosmic photo. Text: "Hollywood: Give Us Sci-Fi Heroines with Kids!" We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So

Content note: Fairly minor spoilers for a variety of SF movies, mention of trauma relating to infertility.

2015 and 2016 have been fantastic years for action-adventure heroines. Rey saved the universe in Star Wars (despite the dearth of merchandise featuring her), Mad Max: Fury Road was filled with kick-ass women, Supergirl saved the world while her cousin was hypnotized, and Doctor Who’s Clara Oswald basically became a Time Lord. But there’s something missing. Perhaps it’s asking too much, too soon, but Hollywood, I ask of you – give us some geeky heroines with children!

Let’s get the obvious argument out of the way. Supposedly no woman would be getting in danger so often if she had kids at home.

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Science Adventures: Feathers

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Photo: Black feather on multi-colored gravel. Text: "Science Adventures: Feathers; We'll Eat You Up, We Love You So"

This post explores the biology and ecology of feathers. It’s part of a series I’m doing on using everyday situations to help young kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth. 

The opportunity:
With birds winging their way south for the winter, it’s the perfect time to investigate their most unique trait: feathers. Find a feather on the ground to examine it!

The scientific context:
While feathers are unique to birds these days, they’ve been around for far longer. Unlike when I was a kid, scientists now think that many dinosaurs had feathers as well. Although they didn’t fly, dinosaurs’ feathers probably served many of the same purposes bird feathers do today.

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In Defense of Adults Playing PokemonGo

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 1 Comment

In Defense of Adults who Play PokemonGo.jpg

Some people just hate fun. At least that’s the impression I get from all of the “I have better things to do than Pokemon” posts on social media. But these people are far sillier than the game they’re making fun of.

Play is a fundamental part of human life. It’s the most important for children, who are seriously suffering from a decline in the hours spent in play over the last few decades. But it’s essential for adults as well. In The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin reports that people who make time to have fun are 20 times happier than those who don’t. Play sparks creativity, provides relaxation, and perhaps most importantly, brings joy.

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Science Adventures: PokemonGo and Field Biologists Catching Wildlife

/ Shannon Brescher Shea / 3 Comments

Science Adventures PokemonGo and Field Biology

This is a series I’m doing using everyday situations to help kids explore science – particularly ecology and biology – more in depth.

The opportunity
PokemonGo, which is massively popular, is based on the idea of capturing wild animals and fighting each other for “research.” As a trained ecologist, I call shenanigans on the scientific validity of this method. But this fun game can help spark conversations about how real wildlife biologists study animals, including trapping them.

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