By Kelly Youngblood
The last time we met up with 12-year-old Rowan Trilling-Hansen of Champaign, she was making waves with a letter she wrote to DC Comics that expressed her disappointment over the lack of female super heroes in comic books.
The letter got her a lot of attention from the news media. It also got the attention of GeekGirlCon, which celebrates and honors women’s contributions to “geek” culture.
Organizers of GeekGirlCon were so impressed with Rowan’s initiative, they invited her to be a guest panelist at their annual convention this past October in Seattle.
Rowan, a sixth grade student at Campus Middle School for Girls, said the experience was “awesome.” Here’s what else this local girl to know said about her recent adventure.
How did it feel to get chosen to attend GeekGirlCon?
I felt so special to be picked, it was like they actually cared about what I had to say. It was the first time that this kind of thing had happened to me, and many people say nasty things about you on the internet when you disagree with them, it was nice to know that some people cared.
What was the best part about the whole experience?
Like most wonderful things, it is really hard to choose a best part, but I think that I would have to say that the questions that people asked me and the other girl on my panel were probably the best part. Just hearing what other girls, our age and older, wanted to say to us was awesome! They had all kinds of things to say, from book suggestions to questions about our work. It was really cool.
What exactly did you do at the convention?
Well GeekGirlCon was really no different from any other convention that I have been to. I have been going to ComicCon in Chicago with my dad for the past couple of years and we do the same kinds of things there. For example, at conventions a lot of people, including myself, walk the floor. This is where you walk around a space in the convention center that is full of vendors, cosplayers (costume players) and other people, but it is mostly people selling things. I could walk the floor for hours. There were other things to do too, we went to some panels, and explored the cool science area there, we also looked at some artists work, of superheroes of course.
I take it you aren’t offended by being referred to as a geek? Why not?
I do not take offense because a geek is just someone who likes things like superheroes and science fiction and I like those things. It is similar to the term nerd, which just means someone who cares about their studies. That is what those things mean, personally I identify as both, and don’t see how any of these things could be considered bad, or insulting.
What was the biggest thing you took away from the experience?
I guess the biggest thing I took away was the feeling of acceptance, that community was one that I really loved being a part of. These people are role models to me, as they have loved these things for so much longer than me, and stood by them through taunts and other things. I guess, even though I said in my letter that girls read comics too, I wasn’t really sure until GeekGirlCon that me and my friends were not the only ones.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I would just like to add that what I did was not that amazing and that anyone could have done it, I was just the one who did.