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PixelPop 2019 marks my third time at the gaming festival, and my second time that I have covered officially for Black Nerd Problems. It’s one of my favorite events to attend for a variety of reasons. The fact that it’s in my adopted hometown of St. Louis. The fact that it’s an inclusive space that makes a concerted effort to make sure that its attendees feel comfortable. But mostly, it’s a very passionate community who want nothing more than to share their creations with other passionate folks.

As someone whose primary gaming focus can be a little bit myopic (okay, maybe I’m very very myopic), it sometimes feels weird attending. But the instant I get my press badge, wrist band, and pronoun button, there’s something about it that just makes the anxiety fade away. Between the wide variety of talks and panels on the Main Stage and the wonderful menagerie of games and game-like experiences in the Expo Hall, I guarantee you could have found something to latch on to whether you were an aspiring game dev or gamer.

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Another year, another @pixelpopfest that I get to cover for @blacknerdproblems

A post shared by Mikkel Snyder (@chimericnotion) on Sep 14, 2019 at 12:59pm PDT

Experimentation For All

Carol Mertz, the Executive Director of PixelPop, talks about how the last three years PixelPop has focused on becoming a festival that embraces the “experimental side of games.” This was omnipresent in the Expo Hall. The tables featured board games, tabletops, and video games that cross and transcended conventional genres. We should talk immediately caught my eye with its unique take on dialog-driven narrative story telling, while other games were attention grabbing due to their unique controllers including, but not limited to: a fish, buttons and a turntable, and a whole couch.

It's getting intense over here at @PixelPopFest. The slamming will continue on Sunday, see you there! #PixelPopFest pic.twitter.com/SfmFXNb3iL

— Sashimi Slammers ? BitBash (@SashimiSlammers) September 14, 2019

Summoned by @carolmertz & @ceschiii – once you sit on this possessed couch, it’s your duty to perform the sacred butt ritual to release the demon from its cozy couch prison, or keep it inside the Hellcouch for eternity! Play at #PixelPopFest Get tickets: https://t.co/JqdK6vbfeW pic.twitter.com/EGJNKdOEf4

— PixelPop Festival (@PixelPopFest) September 12, 2019

The Flow Gallery set up an entire art exhibit in the back corner of the venue called “Rules to Play By.” The installation featured a series of odd, interactive experiential games, ranging from meditations on permanence to walking games moderated by their artists to chess variants.

Hello PixelPop!!! I've been set up for a while and I forgot to tweet about it :/
Ossia Glow is on the far back wall to the left (next to the wonderful Bitsy Zone) and Everything is Connected is in the Rules to Play by section in the back left corner!! Come say hi!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/bcWzJBRIEI

— R25th ? PixelPop!!! (@R25th) September 14, 2019

Come figure out the rules for 8 unique variations on chess, in @pippinbarr's Chesses. Now at #RulesToPlayBy @PixelPopFest ! pic.twitter.com/LD37mwMrIZ

— theflowgallery ? PixelPop! (@theflowgallery) September 15, 2019

I even got to witness the return of some of my favorite games from last year back on the floor, namely Starcrossed (which in the intervening time had been successfully funded on Kickstarter) and Nour (which is still as wild and fun as last year).

Panels For All

Just wandering the floor was an experience unto itself. It’s very clear that PixelPop has fostered a community of gaming developers who are searching for their niches, making games that they want to play on their terms, and sharing their love and joy of games. But beyond that passion, there is also a strong drive to teach and inspire others. I spent most of my time at PixelPop 2019 listening to all of the talks in the main hall and it was refreshing in a way that I wasn’t ready for. As I was telling one of my friends, one of the best things for a creative is seeing another creative talking and doing what they love (and it’s not lost on me that this isn’t the first time this exact theme has come up this month). PixelPop’s panels were specifically curated to be an educational experience.

• Anya Combs, the Director of Games Outreach at Kickstarter, gave a brilliant overview of the inner workings of Kickstarter as well as fascinating statistics about board game and video game funding.
  
• Akash Thakkar, audio designer and industry vet, gave a candid talk about fickleness of passion and motivation, and how true success requires a level of resolve and perseverance.
  
• Tanya DePass critiqued the current usage of diversity in the gaming world and pushed the audience to think of ways for us not to be allies, but accomplices to other marginalized folks and go beyond the 101 level talks of inclusion and representation.
  
• In a similar (yet drastically different) vein, Bahiyya Khan presented her experiences as a WoC game developer in another country and the inherent bias of our western/white perspective.
  
• And to close out of the conference, Carol Mertz moderated a panel about Experimental games with Bahiyya Khan, Adam Schroeder, and Tj Hughes that just encapsulated the spirit of PixelPop.
  

These were just a few of the talks that I attended. With a mix of 20 minute and 1 hour long talks on the main hall, it made it easy to expose myself to a diverse list of speakers talking about an equally diverse range of topics. And the best part is all of the panels and presentations are going to be available online at a later point in time.

Gaming For All

I’m not a game developer. I’m a gamer with a very singular focus. But there’s something about PixelPop that excites me to my core. Something about being on the ground floor of experimentation, of the clash of ideas, and willingness and drive to be better. If you are a lover of games or a game developer, make it a point to find your way to St. Louis in 2020 for the 7th Annual Pixel Pop Festival. Make it a point to be inspired, to learn from a kind, nurturing community. You’ll find out a lot about games and yourself in the process. I did this year. And I almost certainly will next year as well.

See more about Pixel Pop here on their website.

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The post PixelPop 2019 – The Ground Floor of Experimental Gaming appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.

It’s been a little over two years since DeAndre Harris encountered a gang of violent white supremacists in a parking garage in downtown Charlottesville. Still, the events of the day continue to haunt him. In an interview with The Washington Post, the former educational aid said his mind constantly replays the beating that he received on August 12, 2017 and threats from neo-nazis have not ceased.

Harris, who relocated from Charlottesville after his attack, says that he has tried to re-start his life, but doing so has presented many obstacles. Harris told The Post, that white supremacists have found out where he works and have called in threats. In one incident, a man called the corporate office of his job using racial slurs and asking for the now-car salesman.

That same day, Harris received a Facebook message from a man whose profile photo was of confederate general Robert E. Lee and featured a quote of his saying, “Study hard, be always a gentleman, live cleanly and remember God.” Staurt’s message to Harris was, “I’m looking for a 2010 dark gray Dodge Challenger. Any suggestions?”

“I put two and two together and realized that was the car that killed Heather Heyer,” Harris told The Post. “I sent it straight to my attorney.”

Harris says he’s forgiven his assailants for what they did to him, but he will not forget. The PTSD makes that challenging, as well as being recognized from the widely reported case. In addition, he’s disturbed by the lenient sentences the men received.

“In the next six years, all these guys will be right back at it. I thought they’d be going to jail for a longer time,” Harris told The Post. “If it had been a white guy who was attacked, and it was all my friends beating him up, we would never have seen the light of day again.”

Though the events of August 2017 and the aftermath from it is still shocking to the 22-year-old, he focuses on the positive, saying, “Thankfully, I am still alive.”

The post DeAndre Harris Says He Still Receives Threats From White Supremacists More Than Two Years After Charlottesville appeared first on Essence.

Source: Courtesy of Cash Arroyo / CA

We spoke with a few women as part of PCOS Awareness Month to learn more about the disorder and the ways in which they manage it to live their very best lives. Cash Arroyo is one of those women. 

When Cash Arroyo was 18, that was the first time she’d ever really heard anything about polycystic ovary syndrome. The hormonal disorder came up in a conversation with her primary physician during a visit. She told him that her flow during her period had become increasingly heavy, and he told her that her condition sounded like it could be PCOS, that she could find herself struggling to conceive down the line, and that she should get on birth control. Still, he couldn’t say for sure that that was what she was dealing with, so that was as far as such insight went. It took another six years and suffering with some physically and emotionally crippling symptoms for the Jacksonville, FL resident to be diagnosed by an endocrinologist with the disorder.

While some might have been alarmed by the diagnosis, after years of dealing with a lot of pain and very few concrete answers, Cash was actually relieved.

“This is going to sound weird, but I was happy,” she said. “I had an actual confirmed reason for why everything was happening. It wasn’t me thinking I was going crazy or other people telling me it’s because I don’t drink enough water. It was literally because something was actually wrong with me, so I was happy. I was like, oh my gosh, finally, I can do research and figure out what’s going on. I can find ways to help myself.”

But the symptoms were still rough, and in fact, got worse through the years.

“My acne completely totaled my face,” she said. “It was coming in so bad, especially during my menstrual cycle. It would come in twice as worse. So my face, it was just riddled with cystic acne. I started getting facial hair. It was just really, really bad.”

“I shave every single day, she added. “If I don’t shave, a little stubble beard will start to grow in and cheek hairs will grow in. Every single day I have to shave, to this day.”

In an attempt to find relief, Cash, now 28, has spent years doing what doctors recommended for her situation, which included going to the gym and eating healthy. She tried various diets, including keto and vegan, but ended up finding her help in an unexpected place: through edible marijuana. She begrudgingly tried it for the first time after a friend told her it could help her deal with insomnia, a symptom of PCOS. She found that it helped with other things, too. Now she makes her own edibles, smokes weed and is an overall advocate for marijuana.

“I took some of the marijuana and I went to bed. I slept the entire night, which I thought was insane. I had never slept like that before,” she said. “Being that I slept like that, I decided that I was going to keep using it and when I kept getting it, that’s when I realized that my face started to clear up. My face was clearing up, I was getting sleep, I was just seeing a huge change in my health once I started using marijuana.”

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HOW MARIJUANA SAVED ME FROM MAJORITY OF MY POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME SYMPTOMS!

A post shared by PCOS, CANNABIS, &GYM (@casharroyo) on Apr 29, 2019 at 10:21am PDT

Being able to manage the acne and the sleeplessness through marijuana has been a huge relief, but there are some things attributed to PCOS that aren’t an easy fix for her. Cash still finds herself in the hospital at times due to debilitating ruptured cysts, and as previously mentioned, fertility issues are common with the condition. For Cash though, she’s been able to come to peace about everything, particularly the question mark concerning whether or not she will be a mother in the way other people expect her to be anytime soon.

“I have never really been a child person,” she said. “I have always wanted to adopt. It has always been in my heart to adopt a child. I was adopted when I was younger, so I’ve always, always, always wanted to adopt a child. I have never in my life wanted to be an actual mother. I’ve never wanted to be pregnant, I’ve never wanted to give birth, I’ve never wanted to experience those feelings. I’ve always wanted to adopt and give a child who doesn’t have any hope some kind of hope. That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

And while she does say the pressure people can put on her about having a child of her own can leave her feeling “defeated” at times, she financially doesn’t see it in the cards for herself, and that’s okay.

“I have accrued so many hospital bills, emergency room visits, cysts rupturing, just always having to go to the doctor and not having health insurance, not being able to co-pay. I have put myself in debt because of PCOS and I’m still paying hospital bills to this day,” she said. “Just recently, it was go to the emergency room or wait out the pain. I waited out a whole week and went through it because I didn’t want a hospital bill. If I’m in debt because of my PCOS, why would I want to spend thousands of dollars on IVF to have a baby? I would never put myself in a position to spend thousands of dollars on a treatment that may not even work. I can’t afford a baby.”

Cash is hopeful about adoption down the line, but for now, she says she and her boyfriend are focusing their love and attention on his 6-year-old son.

“He calls me mom. I love him. We’re good,” she said. “We’re happy with our lives. We don’t need another child to fill a gap or a void because there is none.”

Source: Courtesy of Cash Arroyo / CA

Cash doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on anything, nor is she downtrodden about the things she’s had to deal with and will face because she has PCOS. She started sharing her story with her thousands of followers because she was inspired to stop hiding her intense cystic acne caused by the disorder from family and friends. She posted a video about her struggles and got “so much love and support” from people, she was overwhelmed.

“I had no idea so many people were going through it,” she said. I was so glad that I posted it because it did wonders for me.”

She continues to share her story and maintains a sense of positivity and hopefulness about everything because it not only keeps her encouraged, but it also uplifts so many other women going through life with this disorder.

“I have come to terms with the fact that this is what I have and who I am,” she said. “The only way to not be so hard on myself is to understand that I’m not the only one, and know there are people who constantly look up to me and message me looking for advice. I have to remember that you have to push through it because at the end of the day, it’s what you have, no matter what you do. It’s your walk, it’s your journey, it’s what God wanted you to have, and it’s for a reason.”

“As hard as it is somedays, having to look in the mirror and see my scars on my face or to have to think about shaving every single day, this is the card I was dealt with and you have to deal with it and rock it the best way you can,” she added. “That way, whoever is watching me, they can say, ‘Wow, she’s handling it so well. Maybe it’s not that bad.'”

According to WWD, hip-hop superstar Onika Tanya Maraj aka Nicki Minaj is planning to launch a capsule with Fendi called “Fendi Prints On.”

 

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Here’s a sneak peak of just a taste of what’s to kome @fendi #FendiPrintsOn by #StevenKlein for #Elle AVAILABLE OCT 14th on FENDI.com & select boutiques. #FENDI #Ad

A post shared by Barbie (@nickiminaj) on Sep 6, 2019 at 11:45am PDT

The collection includes logo-printed reversible puffers, graphic tees, sequin dresses, and figure-hugging silhouettes in bold colors. It will also include accessories like handbags (Peekaboo, Baguette, Kan U, and a new belt bag), sneakers, sunglasses, and hoop earrings.

“This is an exercise we started a few months ago, we have a long relationship with music and interesting associations with Beth Ditto, Amy Winehouse, and more recently Jackson Wang, who wrote ‘Fendi Man’ that was so successful,” Fendi’s chairman and CEO Serge Brunschwig told WWD. “Nicki was friends with Karl, she is a friend of Silvia [Venturini Fendi] and of the house. For a long time we’ve wanted to do something together and we’ve been busy following up on what Karl wanted to do with us, such as the couture show in Rome. She is a great artist and one of the best rappers. Fendi shares great affinity with her. She represents one of Fendi’s dimensions, the fun aspect of the brand and she will present it extremely well.”

Minaj gushed on her Twitter account, “Don’t you ever doubt yourself. If anyone would’ve told me as a lil girl from Trinidad that grew up poor that one day my face would be on a piece of @Fendi clothing, I would’ve laughed. Your support for #ChunLi led to this. A song I made up off the top of my head as a joke. ILoveU.”

This announcement comes days after the 36-year-old rapper tweeted that she was retiring to start a family. She then apologized to her fans less than 24 hours later for causing confusion.