My mother, God bless her (she’s still around, but still), grew up in a certain village in rural Nigeria. And to survive this upbringing, she had to adopt some beliefs, behaviors and coping mechanisms that would seem paranoid to untrained and Americanized eyes like mine.

In 2002 I hopped a Greyhound bus from my Iowa State college campus to get back home to Illinois for my first anime convention. I had no idea what to expect, but more important, I had no idea what to wear! I was going to a place where being a geek was highly encouraged—and I couldn’t contain my joy (retroactive…

I’m one of those people who visibly twitch at those supposedly clever online posts about how technology is killing our ability to socialize. You know, “We live in a society, dang nabbit, and you kids with your darn tootin’ Facebooks and Tweeters have forgotten how to hold proper conversations.”

I was 6 years old when my mama educated me in the ways of saving princesses by touching flowers and shooting fireballs at turtles. Four years later, a kid in my class revealed a juicy bit of gossip: There were adult cartoons that aired way past our bedtimes.

I’m a cosplayer. A black geek. A black, queer, cosplaying geek in a plus-size body.