Matter Anti-Matter

Sometimes late at night when I should be finishing that last chapter of the ol’ dissertation, I instead decide that it’s about time I found a nice academic conference where I can be publicly shamed into improving my scholarly research skills.  In times like these, I wonder if the multiverse does in fact exist, and if so, what the other me’s might be doing.  Is there another me in an alternate reality combing the internet for snuggies and scented candles?  Do I wear heels in alternate realities?  What if alternate-reality me likes Law and Order?  Or worse, Heroes?

Well, real-reality me does wonder if somewhere, in a distant yet strangely similar universe I might be researching Zombies or Slayage, because apparently there’s an academic conference for that.  Here’s a sampling of academic conference cfps (call for papers) for big nerds who’ve taken their passions to an extreme, scholarly place:

1. Zombies, Vampire, Mummies!  Undead in the West (PCA/ACA National Conference, St. Louis MO, March 31-April 3 2010)
Be prepared to answer questions like, “Have zombies become a ‘safe’ substitute for Indians as aliens have for foreign soldiers in stories of war and invasion?”
2. SC4: The Slayage Conference on Whedonverses (Flagler College—Whedon Studies Association, St. Augustine FL, June 3-6 2010)
You know you’ve been toying for some time with performing a comparative analysis of Joss Whedon’s notion of the hero as feminist avenger across Buffy, Firefly, Fray, and Dollhouse.   
3. Twilight (PCA/ACA National Conference, St. Louis, MO, March 31-April 3 2010)
I can see it now: “Queering Robert Pattinson: The Metasexual Pleasures of the Gaze”
4. True Blood (PCA/ACA National Conference, St. Louis, MO, March 31-April 3 2010)
This would be a good panel for anyone who studies race, southern culture, and awesome TV shows.  
5. Open Graves, Open Minds:  Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture (University of Hertfordshire, UK, April 16-18 2010)
Possible topics include “goth culture”, “the undead as other”, and “decomposition and decadence.”  The pairing of decomposition and decadence alone makes my academic spidey sense tingle!

If you’ve never been to an academic conference, these science fiction themed conferences would make for a nice entry into the world of patched-elbow corduroy blazers and worn leather attaches.  Usually presentation titles involve deep, egregious puns like “True Blood and Racial Passing: Taking the Compton out of Bill.”  You know how much I love punning.

Deadlines are approaching, so submit your proposals now!