deerstalker

https://blackgirlnerds.com/the-black-collegiate-gaming-association-teams-up-with-sony-playstation-to-distribute-100000-to-hbcu-students/

 The Black Collegiate Gaming Association (BCGA) teamed up again with Sony Interactive Entertainment and its PlayStation Career Pathways Program for the Fall 2021 BCGA Success Scholarship. Twelve scholarship recipients were announced via social media, distributing a total of $100,000.  The following are the 12 sophomore class recipients attending the following colleges: 

Texas Southern University (TSU) – Omokhuwele Umoru & Mikhail Jackson 

Florida A&M University (FAMU) – Matthew Williams, Philben W. Pierre, & James Peterson IV 

Florida Memorial University (FMU) – DeOzzie Sylvester & Dimitrus Smith

Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) – Harrington Stutson & Kristopher Bond 

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) – Joshua Bernardin 

Georgia Gwinnett College – Gaylord Moore III 

New York Institute of Technology – Willette Menefee

The inaugural class of 18 juniors and seniors were announced in 2021. The following college students scholarship recipients:

University of Houston – Aliyah Hunt

Edward Waters University (EWU) – Amari Leath & Chandrae Bethea 

Michigan State University (MSU) – Calil Hall 

Florida A&M University (FAMU) – Celestina Kolog, Ivana Onema, Randall Leath, & Monasia Vernon

The University of Texas at Dallas – Chelsea Edosomwan

Georgia State University (GSU) – Daanann Agboga & Jada Pruitt

Grambling State University (GSU) – Destney Johnson

Kennesaw State University (KSU) – Imani Daniels & Jesse Agboga

LaGrange College – Issac Fuller

Texas Southern University (TSU) – Kingsley Edosomwan

The University of Texas at Arlington – Pearl Iyayi

Miles College – Robert Agee

The BCGA Success Scholarship supported by PlayStation Career Pathways Program awarded 32 scholars over $100,000 in scholarships during 2021. BCGA and Sony Interactive Entertainment will continue to present the scholarship this Spring during Black College Con (BCC), and We Got Game (WGG). 

In addition to scholarships, BCGA is hosting its second annual Black College Con (BCC) and Women Got Game (WGG) tours during Black History Month and Women’s History Month in 2022. 

The Black Collegiate Gaming Association was established to provide education, access, and career opportunities in the gaming and Esports industry to Black and women of color college students. BCGA offers virtual and on-campus curriculums; inter-collegiate video gaming competitions; internships and post-graduation job opportunities; team building and leadership training; professional development and networking events; scholarships and mentorships; and on-campus Esports and gaming labs. Founder and Chairwoman Keshia Walker launched BCGA in May of 2020 after more than 20 years of running successful celebrity events and experiential marketing firms. She made history herself by being the first Black woman to enter the male-dominated field of collegiate gaming & Esports. A two-time honors graduate of Florida A&M University, her goal is to diversify the corporate gaming and tech industry.

http://www.afronerd.com/2022/02/changeorg-campaign-vs-tina-knowles.html

 

Afronerd Radio can now be heard LIVE courtesy of Apple Music/Itunes

When Dburt holds "the microphone like a grudge" that must mean that it's time for Afronerd Radio's Mid Week in Review broadcast!  Listen to our weekly musings each and every Wednesday at 8 p.m. eastern on the BTalk 100 cyber-radio platform.  Listen to your Wakandan empowered AFROnerdists discuss the following issues:  we've been meaning to talk about Tina Knowles' Profiled: The Black Man documentary just as a matter of record but now there's a mounting Change.org campaign to cancel this much-needed focus on the damaging effects of stereotypes on Black male life;  comedic actor, Patton Oswalt has some thoughts/complaints about the recent structural changes with the digital comic book distribution  platform, Comixology and its merger with Amazon;  notable British actor, David Tennant may be reprising his highly-touted Kilgrave character (Netflix' Jessica Jones) for a future MCU related project;    

Another issue, we overlooked......another Dave Chappelle controversy, this time dealing with his cancellation of an affordable housing project slated for construction in his Ohio neighborhood.  Is Chappelle the villain or the savior?

 

So Marvel's Netflix platform is being removed only to reappear on Disney plus?  Hmm..what does that mean for the future of Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage?  Let's discuss.  So legendary actor, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Madalorian, The Boys) might be eyed for Marvel's Mephisto character?  Things are getting very interesting... And lastly, DC Animated Shorts may be getting its closeup and Constantine looks to be the first for consideration.

Oh and lest we forget...Godhood Comics IP, The Antagonists are getting the TV adaptation treatment.  A Black family of super-powered villains is garnering attention?  We're all ears (and eyes).

One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2022/02/10/sundance-tiktok-boom-review/

TikTok a social media app run by Beijing-based ByteDance is a fast-growing app stating it has a billion users posting short videos each month. TikTok Boom Shalini Kantayya’s documentary about the “booming” social media app rivaling Mark Zuckerburg’s empire examines both the good and the scary aspects of this popular app

The documentary follows three prominent TikTok users Feroza Aziz, Spencer X and Deja Foxx. Feroza was one of the few middle eastern students at her school. Feroza, teased at school and feeling a sense of loss with her community, turned to TikTok to connect. She found the community on TikTok to be more accepting than the community at her school. By posting videos of her heritage she quickly grew a following. However, using the platform to speak out about the disappearance of Muslims in China caused her videos vanished. She then began hiding her political messages within beauty tip videos to circumvent what she believed was censorship. Though it worked at first, she soon found her account banned.

Spencer X started beat boxing at 15. Despite the obvious uphill battle Spencer decided to forgo college and started performing in subways for money. Once he discovered TikTok he started posting videos and became an immediate success. He now does branding for companies and even appeared on award shows. He has been able to make a very good living due to the platform.

Deja Foxx became famous when a video of her grilling her congressman about her reproductive rights went viral. She uses the platform to bring awareness about politics to the people around her. She also founded an online community called the Gen Z gang.

While the documentary showcases how these Tik Tokers had success with TikTok it didn’t shy away from showing stories of burnt-out individuals, getting hate from viewers and needing to step away for mental health reasons. The documentary did mention that some people use TikTok to support themselves and family, so they do not simply have the option of deleting the app.

In addition to following these TikTok users, the documentary touches on the geopolitical landscape TikTok has to navigate. This including the fight over security concerns by the US Government, and the privacy concerns with minors. The documentary highlights clips of middle age men doing duets (a feature were you can take someone’s video without their permission and splice it with yours) with very young girls. This was a time before TikTok forced younger users to have private accounts.

The documentary touches on the algorithm and how it can feel almost intrusive. Unlike Facebook which uses groups and friends to determine what is marketable to a user, you do not have to follow anyone in TikTok. It deems its information based on the videos you watch. While this will allow for users to see content that is most interesting to them, there is a benefit to diversifying opinions. If you show a teenager video about how the world is flat and only allow them to associate with others that feel the same way that child is more than likely to accept this to be true. This could easily be used as a form of manipulation during political campaigns.

The term shadowbanned was brought up by several African American Tik Tokers stating that their videos would not get views. Shadow banning is banning a person social media without their knowledge.  While the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin has very strict rules about what you can wear, how you look and what you can say, showcased by TikTok user Jason Zhang (he is constantly cut off due to his tattoos) TikTok claims they do not censor people this way outside of China. The documentary gives us speculation however, that this is not necessarily true.

TikTok Boom is only 90-minute documentary, so it tries to touch on several subjects broadly, not giving us enough detail on either. While it is a good piece on the introduction to TikTok for people who know nothing about it, some of these subjects could do with more detail.

The post Sundance: TikTok, Boom Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.

https://www.thenerdelement.com/2022/02/10/sundance-2022-the-janes-is-an-important-documentary/

The Janes is a feature documentary about the Jane Collective, a group of women in Chicago in the late 1960s who helped women get illegal abortions.

Abortion was illegal in the 1960s, which didn’t stop abortions from being performed but rather made them less safe for the women having them. The Janes were a clandestine network, they used code names, blindfolds and safe houses in order to protect identities and the service they performed. The Janes were established to give women the option of a safer, somewhat more affordable procedure.

The film is co-directed by Oscar nominee Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water, Citizen Koch) and first-time director Emma Pildes (Producer on Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Spielberg).

The film implements the classic talking heads format of documentary. The footage they have from the late 60s is limited so their hands are somewhat forced. There is enough footage to give you a feel of the time period and the kind of conditions the Janes were operating in. They have interviews with a good number of people involved in the operation at the time who provide good insight.

There is good background of what 1968 Chicago was like in terms of the power the church had and the mob presence who provided a more expensive and dangerous abortion before the Janes came along. The lack of separation between church and state was a problem then, as it is now.

One of the women, Jody, gives her story of how she had a rare legal abortion during this time because she had cancer. Incredibly, she still had to get many doctors to write letters in order to be allowed to have the abortion she needed to continue her chemotherapy treatment. It serves as a reminder that many people need abortions for health reasons and how very few have one with no thought.

The Janes briefly talks about the lower income and women of colour they didn’t help. I felt like this section could have been expanded upon. The Janes did a lot of good and it was necessary to charge a price in order to fund the operation, but that meant some women couldn’t afford their abortions. The Janes were mostly middle class, white women and the same could be said of their clients. One of The Janes, Peaches, acknowledges that they may have offended the women of colour who came to them.

The Janes carried out roughly 100 abortions a week, it is incredible that they did this successfully in secret for so long. The Janes even carry out the abortions themselves once they find out that the doctor who was helping them, was not actually a doctor. He helped teach them the procedure and that allowed them to branch out and do it themselves.

The documentary goes from the formation of the Janes in 1968, through their arrests and up to the legalisation of abortion in 1973. With new abortion laws in some US states and Roe vs. Wade back under fire, The Janes is surprisingly relevant. Sadly, hitting at the right time. The doc certainly makes it clear that the legality of abortions isn’t going to stop them from happening. Desperate people do desperate, dangerous things. The need to provide safe abortions, provided by actual doctors is essential.

The Janes also inspired a fiction film Call Jane, that film also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Our review for Call Jane can be found by clicking HERE.

Before watching Call Jane during Sundance, I didn’t know much about the Janes. Watching the doc recently after watching the fiction film gave me a good education on the topic. The Janes use of interviews with the people who lived through the time period is what makes it work. Their recollection of events is so clear and detailed, that we can picture it perfectly. It may not reinvent the wheel but The Janes feels like essential viewing. The Janes will be distributed by HBO so keep on the look out for it.

The post Sundance 2022: ‘The Janes’ is an Important Documentary appeared first on The Nerd Element.