Letter from the Editors: Our Perspective on Our Ottawa Comiccon Panel

Credit- Morris Rothman

This past weekend, Courtney Lockhart, MJ Baker, and I presented a panel at the Ottawa Comiccon called “The Girl’s Guide to Being Geeky”. When we started gathering notes for this (asking all our CGG writers to contribute their two cents) we really didn’t know what would come out of it. As I was working on the notes, I kept thinking, “Is any of this really all that novel? Don’t we all already know this stuff?"

What I think I forgot is that, working here in our ‘Ivory Tower’ of geekdom, the CGG writers have managed to incubate a sense of happy geek safety and support where we always have people with whom we can ask questions, share ideas, rant, and generally feel connected. When you’re building a lighthouse in the dark night by which other ships may steer, the light is obviously most radiant right where you’re working because you have to foster such a profound brightness to have it shine beyond the waves. This, I think, blinded me to the fact that for many geek girls out there, the waters are still dark and murky indeed.

I can’t say enough thank you’s to the full house we had—both men and women. It was an absolute honor to chat with you all, and those that stood up and gave their thanks for the work of CGG, you moved me more than I can tell you. To the Princess Leia who made me tear up, and to every other woman out there who’s ever felt alone in the geek world, let me quote Valerie’s letter from V for Vendetta: 

“…what I hope most of all is that you understand what I mean when I tell you that even though I do not know you, and even though I may not meet you, laugh with you, cry with you, or kiss you: I love you.”

Hearing people stand up, support other question-askers, share ideas, pose queries, and smile at us from their seats…this was a humbling and epic moment in my geek life. Thank you for letting us share some of the knowledge, ideas, and reassurances we’ve gathered for you. I look forward to geeking out with you all in the future.

-Jordan Danger

Editor/Founder, Capital Geek Girls

I’ve sat down to write this about three times. It’s been really hard because I’ve found myself just wanting to say two words to everyone who attended the panel, shared the event information, or just wished us well: Thank You

Thank you to Jordan for coming up with the idea for the panel and including MJ and I in her cunning plan.

Thank you to Ottawa Comiccon for putting on a great weekend and letting us be a part of it.

Thank you to our tech ninja Morris for keeping everything running smoothly and playing The Safety Dance to pump us up. 

Thank you to our families, friends and pets for putting up with pre-con crazy.

And most importantly, thank YOU. The Capital Geek Girl Community is full of such lovely people. We had hoped to have a simple discussion in a safe space and you blew us out of the water. Everyone laughed at the silliness, supported the people with more serious concerns  and made sure that little alpaca had the opportunity to get his earmuffs sewn back on!  I spoke more candidly on what exactly constitutes my nerdiness than I ever had before. That wasn’t a room of 60 strangers, it was 60 friends.

So until next time, Don’t forget to be awesome, and thank you. 


-Courtney Lockhart
Assistant Editor, Capital Geek Girls 


P.S : Slides from the Presentation will be uploaded soon! We Promise!