Tanya McGinnity

I was honored to be part of a discussion on “Where the @#$% are the Girl Geeks?” during the recent Festival de Geek Montreal and so happy to have been joined by Debbie Rouleau and Émilie Plante in this panel discussion. Animated by Camille Desrosiers, we covered a wonk-load of topics from what makes for a ‘real’ geek, if girl geeks have a more difficult time in the geek world, how we got started in being a geek and the age old debate of ‘geek vs nerd’. (I honestly didn’t know that there was such division between geek and nerd as this was discussed twice during sessions held throughout the weekend!)

Semantics aside, what I appreciated was seeing so many folks in the audience who were interested in hearing our thoughts, sharing their own and asking questions. It struck me that not enough outreach has been done with my franco-girlo-geeko community here in Montreal and I’m looking into ways to change this (including ramping up my French classes).

I left the session and had an inspiring chat with one of the volunteers at the event who came up to me and said that he thinks that what I’m doing with the Montreal Girl Geeks is awesome. It left me tearing up because after some of the knocks I have taken in my life as the underdog, the goofy geek with glasses -  his shared story of not feeling like he fit in made me feel that I had found my people at this event.

I was thrilled to see an event as the Festival de Geek as it featured such a diversity of information, booths and interests. A heartfelt thanks goes out to the organizers, volunteers and exhibitors and sponsors for bringing the community together.

Oh and to the whole question of “Where the @#$% are the Girl Geeks?” – I came out of pre-internet society, but I still found a way to find like-minded folks to be inspired by – even living in small town New Brunswick. I joined groups, I created groups, I had pen pals who wrote zines (yes, I’m old) and traded cassette and video tapes with them. Life wasn’t as easy as it is now kids. Chances are that if you’re a pagan, Buffy fan over the age of 50 who prefers Star Wars to Star Trek, there’s a group out there for you to be a part of. Connect with folks- online and offline and chances are you’ll find someone who’s just as interested in your passions as you are and from this, a community will grow.

Where the girls are. MTL Girl Geek Dinner. Photo by Simon Law

Yeah. I know. I suck as a blogger. Get off my case already. You can see the shame on my face, can’t you?

I blog in 3 differnt locations plus I added a guest gig with Frames per Second magazine to do a bit of Fantasia Film Festival coverage. Considering I let my Twitter fixation get in the way of my true love of blogging, I have a lot of apologizing to do to you, dear reader. Oh. And a lot to catch you up on.

I started a new job a few months back which gives me a good taste of community, and in particular a women’s-oriented community. I’m learning so much about the ‘average Canadian gal’ as opposed to the ‘not-so average Canadian tech gals’ which I am used to socializing with. I’m gaining some great insights on how moms-who-aren’t-mommybloggers use social networks and online websites and it’s helping me to open my eyes to how much outreach needs to be done in speaking with this audience. Most of my social media ‘mavens/ divas/goddesses’ or whatever they are calling themselves, already get it.

Stay tuned to see what this all goes. I’m still working to figure it out myself but I’m happy to watch how the community I’m now a part of is using the internet to connect and share with one another.

I’m getting married. Most of my career has been spent in the project management space. So you’d think I’d have a handle on planning, timelines and generally having my shit together. No.

Eloping is a word that I don’t say as a threat.. but as a soothing mantra.

I bought a kick @$$ ring from a talented local designer – Rachel from Brazen Design.

Isn’t it lovely?

Yet again, my love for Etsy artisans has been realized so pop on over there and pick yourself up a little treat from a local seller.

Truth be told, Etsy is also another site that keeps me from blogging so please don’t blame me if you forsake your blog for nonstop digital window shopping.

Girl Geek Dinners stuff has gone on hiatus for the summer. I need a well-deserved break while I ramp up in my relatively new job and get hitched, so our little group with a big soul will need to put on it’s lovely one-piece swimsuit and sit in a chaise lounge while momma balances life, love, career and chunky rings.