Epbot Exemplars 4/29/13

It has been waaay too long since I featured some new Exemplars, you guys. How could you let me get away with that? Yell at me or something next time, will you?

For those who don't remember, this is where I feature mostly younger geek girls proudly just being themselves - and of course I always reserve the right to showcase older geek girls or guys, too. Because we don't have "rules" here - more like "guidelines." ARRR.


Julie B. writes, "My almost 4 year old daughter's Halloween costume arrived in the mail today from a friend (we had the tutu and leggings already), and she is so excited. Is it October yet?"

YES! And I love that she chose red instead of the usual R2 blue, Julie! So great! 

(I'm suddenly struck with the need to see a whole troupe of little girl droids in every color of the rainbow.  MAKE THIS HAPPEN, INTERNET.)

Next we have Abi, who writes:

"Dear Jen,

I am 12 years old, and a major geek girl and artist. About a year ago, I started to read your blog, and to be honest, it was a major thing. I used to hide my geekiness at school, and I was not happy a lot of the time. As I read your blog more, I became more comfortable with my geekiness, and stopped hiding it. My life is SO much better now, and I am so much happier. I really wanted to thank you for that, and for introducing me to steampunk. It is now one of the loves of my life, and I'm working on next year's Halloween costume already. (It's going to be a steampunk girl-version of the Phantom of the Opera. *squeal* I can't wait!!) This year's was a steampunk air worker, from Scott Westerfeld's 'Leviathan.'"

This gal has fantastic taste in blogs, books, AND costumes, you guys. She's totally going places.


Here's five-year-old Allison cosplaying as Pixie from the X-men at Chicago Comic-Con:

LOVE.

That was two years ago. Here she is now at age seven rocking her favorite hat - which her mom Leigh tells me she wears pretty much every day:

A-HA! I spy a Whovian!

Allison's four-year-old sister Lizzie is also on the proper path to geekdom; when her school had a "pirates and princesses" day, she decided to be the Amazon princess, Wonder Woman:

AWWWW YEEEEEAH.

Seriously, this makes me so happy I could bust.

Their mom Leigh writes,  

"I love that my girls have no qualms about liking what they like. I love Epbot for being a resource to show them that they are not alone. I'm not naive enough to think that they will always feel as free to be themselves as they do now. I just hope that knowing there are other girls out there who like the things they like will help them find a community they might not have in real life.  But I am also holding out hope that by sharing their love of superheroes, science, and other 'geeky' things, maybe they're influencing other kids to be themselves too!"

I have no doubt they are, Leigh, and good on you for being such an awesome mom!

Sandy R. posted this on the Epbot Facebook page, saying, "Just felt like trying to make your day, Jen. Yes, that is a Darth Vader clipped to my 3YO daughter's backpack. :)"

Day = MADE.

Which reminds me - here's one of my formerly featured Exemplars, Hayden, with her sixth birthday cake:


Yep, she requested the Darth Vader-riding-a-My-Little-Pony design - and just look at that grin! (I like the substitution of Rainbow Dash, btw - good choice, Hayden!) Note how all the ponies around the cake have Star Wars riders, too. Ha! [Cake by Sweet Startt's Bakery]


I'm probably the last person on the 'net to finally post this, but if you haven't seen Little Girls Are Better At Designing Superheroes Than You, you should totally check it out. It's an art project by Alex Law, where he draws superheros based on real costumes little girls have put together:

He only has about half a dozen up so far, but I'm hoping the fact that his project went viral last week will encourage him to do lots more!

Oh, and I've mentioned it before, but Alex got some of those original photos from Girls Love Superheroes, Too, another excellent blog. (LOOK AT THIS TINY HAWK GIRL. AND THIS WEE WONDER WOMAN. AND THIS SASSY BAT GIRL. AND...ok, ok, I'm done. Really.)

And finally, I'm going to wrap up with Sierra T's story, because I love it to pieces and it's super inspiring. She writes:


"I was a closet geek all through high school and college. I desperately wanted to embrace the geeky side of me, but I got enough grief just being the toned down geek version of me. Like so many geek girls, I got teased and picked on and excluded. As much as I wanted to watch Star Trek marathons and read from the sci-fi section of the bookstore, I pushed that down and away in the interest of having some sort of social life. I found Epbot through chance and would literally sneak away to read it so no one could tease me.

"I saw all your pictures of the cons that you went to and the Ah-Mazing costumes that were there and I was so jealous that you could be so open about what you liked. Then it was like a light bulb went off in my brain, and I realized, life is far too short to worry about what everyone else may think.

"It was empowering!  I went to my first convention in October and even dressed up. I have a new friend who went with me because there are other geek girls out there (who knew, right?). It was fun and I’m already looking forward to the next one where I will hopefully work up the courage to actually speak to others. These people are my tribe and I don’t have to be ashamed of loving Dr. Who and Star Trek and anything that Stan Lee ever creates. I give you a lot of credit for making me see that and giving me the courage to step out and be awesome!

"P.S. Attached is the worst possible picture of my husband and I as the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond, but quality aside, we were having fun."

Sierra, the courage was all you, my friend, and you ROCKED it. I bet someone reading this right now just decided to go to HER first convention, so thanks for sharing your story and encouraging us all to get out there and live the lives we want to live, not just the ones we think are expected.


Ok, that does it for this installment, Exemplars! I'll try to do this more often, though, so I can chisel away at the small backlog I've accumulated. Which reminds me: If you have an Exemplar story to share, or a fun photo of yourself or your kids showing off your geeky passions, then please send them to me! (Or share them over on the Epbot Facebook page!)