The Event Formerly Known As Nerd Nite!

This Sunday night at 8pm, either outdoors in front of a fire and an inflatable movie screen in the Silver Lake Bowl (if it’s a hot night) OR indoors in front of a fire in Roger’s movie theater (if it’s cool), we are proud to present to you: The Event Formerly Known as Nerd Nite!  

Nerd Nite is a series of informative and entertaining audio-visual talks where community speakers share some of their intense interests and areas of professional or lay expertise.  (Apparently there is a real organization that uses this name, and we are not that organization, which is why our event is now “formerly known as…”)  

Our first speaker is Meagan Ramsey, who works as a medical social worker and also is a Gallery Interpreter at the LA County Natural History Museum.  She will talk about spiders, and ask the question: “Aversions to spiders are incredibly common in Western culture, but why do we fear them when other cultures do not?”  She’ll examine the roots of this fear, explore spider ‘101’ and ‘fact vs. fiction’, along the way identifying our local spider species and whether they deserve our shrieks and shivers.

Our second speaker is Erica Li, a newly minted MD who works as a pediatrics resident at Harbor UCLA.  She and her slide show will discuss reproduction and sex differentiation, and ask the question: “When you were an embryo, how did your body know whether to develop male or female genitals?  What did your genes say to your forming gonads, and what did they in turn say to your budding genitalia?”  And: “How do people with Disorders of Sexual Differentiation shed light upon our perception of maleness and femaleness?”

Our third speaker is LAVA Visionary Laura Brody, a costume designer, who will talk about (and demonstrate) her specialty design and construction method: staple draping!  Using re-used fabrics, staplers, scissors and basic geometry, she’ll show you how to create clothing on the fly.  Brave volunteers, come and let her staple you! 

So – bring your family, friends, and perhaps a bottle of something to drink, and come learn and enjoy.

Please register for your free ticket!