True Blood Studies Deep in the Heart of Texas

I can hardly believe a little more than a month has already gone by since the Pierced Pomegranate Tavern set up shop in the Lone Star State, and there's only one thing I miss about Texas more than the amazing food, gorgeous weather and uniquely Tex-Mex culture...

Nope, sorry - it's not you, Stan.

the trigger-happy Texan vampire of Season 2

It's the opportunity to mix and mingle with pop culture scholars investigating all things True Blood!

We already knew the show loomed large in the cultural zeitgeist; the amount of air time dedicated to True Blood at the SW/TX PCA-ACA & National PCA-ACA joint conference held in San Antonio last month proves that it's also captured the imagination of the academy.

The Science Fiction & Fantasy: True Blood subject area alone boasted four separate panels in addition to the one I chaired on feminism & femininity!

But first things first...

This is a tavern, right? So...

...you won't object to me sharing some pics of me enjoying that most San Antonian of adult beverages - the margarita!

 I actually hate margaritas, I hate anything with tequila, really...

 ...except for the classic frozen margarita

 and the prickly pear margarita...

OK, OK, I guess I don't actually hate margaritas - usually I do, I promise. But I guess they are just so expertly made on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, and the balmy weather just lends itself so superbly to the sipping of these icy concoctions that, let's just say, I've gained a newfound appreciation for them.

Along with some excellent local microbrews...

pictured are the 1st three brews listed below

...imbibed at the oldest saloon in Texas where, legend has it, Teddy Roosevelt recruited his rough riders and Pancho Villa fomented revolution...

  

Oh, wait a second, didn't I make mention of True Blood studies - or something to that effect?

Sorry about that; when the PPT takes us afield I like serve up a taste of the local flavor from where we've been...

mmm...vegetarian fajitas

...sometimes quite literally!

And I will get back to that travelogue element of my trip, but for now, let's return to the meat-and-potatoes of this post!

As you know, I gave a visual talk entitled, "True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality".

I had the privilege of chairing the Science Fiction and Fantasy - True Blood: Femininity & Feminism panel and as such was able to share the podium with two other gentlewomen and scholars whose work made for stimulating post-panel discussion:

Genevieve Garcia de Mueller, doctoral student at the University of New Mexico, presented the paper, "Hey Sookie Sookie!": De-fanging the Rhetoric of Gender in True Blood".

Marquita R. Smith, doctoral student at McMaster University, presented the paper, "I Got a Right to be Hostile: Tara Thornton and the Myth of the Angry Black Woman".

My husband and I arrived at Salon F in the San Antonio Rivercenter Hotel where my panel was taking place early; we were there at 1PM, just in time for the Masculinity & Queerness panel (and to scope out the space and the technology available to make sure my presentation came off without a hitch!). 

The Science Fiction and Fantasy: True Blood: Masculinity & Queerness panel included the papers:

"Bon Temps and Beyond: Queering Time and Space in True Blood" (Lenora Perry-Samaniego, University of the Incarnate Word)

"Fluid Nightmare in HBO's True Blood" (Natalie Wilson, Cal State San Marcos *she operates a Twilight blog focused on things other than "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" which I hope to link here; her paper focused on issues surrounding blood and the "menstrual monster" - a topic I myself have had swirling ideas about, ideas I will be fleshing out here soon!)

"Sex, Drugs, and Golden Do-Rags: Gender Performativity in True Blood" (Jeromy Miller, University of Arkansas)

Since Bobby and I wanted to make the most of our short stay in San Antonio we were unable to attend any other True Blood panels, but I think you'll agree that the breadth and scope of paper topics represented by these other panels: Sex & the South, Politics & Identity, Love, Literature & Xenophobia - not to mention the countless other areas and tracks not expressly True Blood-oriented but addressing the show nonetheless - illustrates the extent to which Alan Ball & Co. have infiltrated the academy.

Bring it on, I say!

There's nothing like a little True Blood studies served up with a side order of some local flavor, so now, back to the travelogue of your salonnière Rachel's first-and-only trip to San Antonio!

the Alamo

Rachel with cacti outside Alamo

view of conference hotel from the San Antonio Riverwalk sightseeing barge

flowering cacti; we bought a clipping of this cactus now have a piece
of the Alamo on Long Island! 

another Alamo flowering cactus

100+ year old Live Oak on Alamo grounds

view from inside the Long Barracks - where the deadliest hand-to-hand combat took place during the siege of the Alamo 175 years ago this year

I hope you've enjoyed these photos and my rundown of  True Blood studies deep in the heart of Texas.

The only way the trip could have been better is if Rebecca had been able to come!

Adios for now, Amigos!

~ Rachel

Sexual Consciousness - The Forbidden Fruit - Sookie's Orgasmic Awakening

(the following is excerpted from the presentation embedded in the post below)

“The power of the erotic is acknowledged in many cultures” (p. 110); Shakti is the Sanskrit term for the erotic as female life force (Austen, 1991). Audre Lorde (1989) poetically describes the erotic as a kernel within herself that, when released from its intense and constrained pellet, flows through and colors her life with a kind of energy that heightens and sensitizes and strengthens all her experience.

Regrettably, in our culture the erotic has been misnamed, made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation (Lorde, 1989); perverted by ideas associated with pornography (Martin, 1995). In euro-Western culture, the erotic has been denigrated and relegated to so few areas of life that its remaining expressions are overloaded and distorted (Austen, 1991).

We are taught to separate the erotic from most vital areas of our lives other than sex - and to take the true erotic out of our sex; "to fear the yes within ourselves, our deepest cravings" (Lorde, 1989, p. 211).

Women empowered with the erotic are seen as dangerous (Lorde, 1989); the Hebrew Lilith's exile for her sexual independence is emblematic of the Judeo-Christian suppression of women (Austen, 1991). 

How would our society differ for women and men if the erotic's true psychic and emotional components were fully integrated into our lives?

Let's look back to mythology for such a model...

Persephone's pre-Olympian initiation would have been fertile in that it was a complex, transformative experience of the erotic.

^{Death, life, male, female and, above all, the irrepressible power of reproduction—all are found in the image of the pomegranate seed. It is this seed that Persephone takes within her body—literally incorporating it into her own being. With this seed, she becomes a new person: whole, mature, fertile, and infinitely more complex than before. Having tasted it, she has crossed a barrier from which there can be no turning back. (Gadon, 1989, p. 159).}

Sookie’s emergent erotic life has been cited as a central theme of True Blood. Vampire fiction often reflects the fear that such strong, independent, sexual  women will disrupt the fabric of society (Parlour, 2009). For McCabe, Dracula’s worst sin may have been not only rendering women capable of enjoying sex, but transforming them into sexual aggressors.

The legends of the Sumerian Innana contain some of the most erotic, female, and eros-positive literature known (Austen, 1990); she takes an aggressive role in the sacred marriage. Like Innana—and certainly no Virgin Mary, Sookie initiated with Bill, encouraged him along when he faltered, offering her neck, asked him to bite her, signals Bill with her eyes when she was ready to be penetrated – on HER terms. As Brace & Arp (2010) write, when Bill and Sookie consummate their relationship, he penetrates her simultaneously with both penis and fangs, heightening the pleasure for both of them.

HERE YOU'LL SEE THE BRIEF YET POTENT VIDEO - BEST EXPERIENCED WITH SPEAKERS ON - THAT SHOULD APPEAR ON SLIDE 125 OF THE PRESENTATION BELOW (it was part of the original conference presentation but didn't translate in the conversion from PowerPoint to Blogger): 

The ancient initiates to Persephone’s mysteries experienced a special seeing, an “opening of the eyes” (Gadon, 1989); might Sookie’s eyes snapping open in her moment of orgasmic awakening depict “the disturbingly powerful potential of women” (Amador, 2003, p. 1, ¶5) in touch with Eros, sexually sovereign?

Thirsty for more? View the whole presentation posted below!

(citations correspond to reference list posted here)

~ Rachel

...tough time syncing up the paper and PowerPoint from the PCA/ACA conference? Here's the two married - paper, image-dense PowerPoint, teaser & credits reel...user-friendly, easy to follow, and ALL IN ONE!

You've all seen the disclaimer; as wikipedia points out, to announce a film's modification, a format screen will state: "This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit this screen." Depending on content and time, the disclaimer will add: "...to run in the time allotted and for content.", or, "...and to run in the time allotted", or, "...and edited for content". 

 

The same applies here. This presentation has been modified from its original version; it was FIRST given as a visual, multimodal, experiential talk at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association joint conference as part of the Science Fiction & Fantasy: Special Area: True Blood panel on feminism and femininity. 

 

It's the very same presentation I posted a few days back in two, no, actually three parts (because the reference page that appears just below this post corresponds to the presentation as it's formatted here), only better. Better because it's all-in-one. No more inconvenient shifting back and forth between paper, to PowerPoint, back to paper, etc. to follow along with the content.  

 

This new-and-improved version is as close to the original as I can get using the Blogger platform since it integrates the paper and PowerPoint content in a way that flows just about as seamlessly - albeit in completely written as opposed to verbally delivered form - as it did at the conference. 

So, if you're thirsty for a fresh, feminist spin on scenes from Seasons 1 & 3 of True Blood exploring:

 

...a world where Bon Temps is the setting for a modern day epiphany of the Demeter-Persephone myth in which we viscerally encounter its characters & themes “like they are real, not just an archetype or a symbol, but a psychic force still making their way in the world today” (Ward, 2006, p. 146) in two sexual story arcs – one centering on Tara Thornton, the other on Sookie Stackhouse - both culminating in scenes featuring a white nightgown reminiscent of a wedding dress......

...each bearing both similarities and marked differences & resonating in different ways with the classic story of descent, death and rebirth from 7^th-5^th century BCE (Austen, 1990); both versions of it...

...the well-known patriarchal Greek version of Persephone's abduction and rape (Austen, 1990) and the feminist reimagining of the original pre-Olympian sacred story in which the Goddess had a joyous and free sexuality (Gadon, 1989).

LOOK NO FURTHER!

Cycling between True Blood and the mythology it enlivens, the presentation below looks at a few standout elements of both carnal encounters &  explores the charged concepts and themes of sex and sexuality they illuminate: 

• virginity
• sex-roles & stereotypes
• pleasure
• initiation
• the erotic
• violence, dominance and rape
• attitudes toward sexually autonomous women
• the sacred sexual

Persephone’s mysteries confront us with the divide between Goddess and patriarchal consciousness.

Drawing upon 800,000 years of art; a collection of the world’s images of the sacred feminine – both archaic & contemporary - and myth, histories, and poetry; prose, chants, guided meditations & ritual to help you experience this talk inwardly & respond with feelings and imagination, it will:

• introduce you to woman and sex-positive cultures
• contextualize modern notions about sex & gender revealed in True Blood within the shift from egalitarian to dominator societal structure
• identify models for sexual and body sacrality – both female and male

IT'S GOT HIGH-IMPACT IMAGES & CUSTOM ANIMATION!

IT'S GOT SHARP ANALYSIS & CREATIVE SYNTHESIS!

IT'S GOT WIT AND TRUEBIE HUMOR!

IT DOESN'T (UNFORTUNATELY) HAVE THE BILLY IDOL SONG - WHITE WEDDING - THAT ORIGINALLY PLAYED OVER MY RIFF ON TRUE BLOOD'S OPENING CREDITS WITH-A-TWIST (BOO, HISS)

So without further ado...

powerpoint and paper married for blogger

More PowerPoint presentations from Rachel

Here's the references for Rachel's True Blood panel presentation which was previously posted in 2 parts (paper & PowerPoint) below:

References

True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...Or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

SW/TX PCA/ACA Joint Conference

San Antonio, 2011 

 Abramowitz, M. (1996). Regulating the lives of women: Social welfare policy from colonial times to the present. Boston: South End Press. 

Amador, V. (2003). The Post-feminist Vampire: A Heroine for the Twenty-first Century. Journal of Dracula Studies, 5. Retrieved April 4, 2011, from www.blooferland.com/drc/index.php?title=Journal_of_Dracula_Studies.  

Austen, H. I. (1990). The heart of the goddess: Art, myth and meditations of the world’s sacred feminine. Berkeley: Wingbow Press.  

 Budapest, Z. (1992). Self-Blessing Ritual. In J. Plaskow & C. Christ (Eds.), Womanspirit Rising (pp. 269-272). San Francisco: HarperCollins.  

Brace, P. & Arp, R. (2010). Coming out of the coffin and coming out of the closet. In Dunn, G.A. & Housel, R. (Eds.), True blood and philosophy: We wanna think bad things with you. (pp. 93-108). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 

Burkert, W. (1996). Creation of the sacred. Tracks of biology in early religions. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.  

Christ, C.(1997) Rebirth of the goddess.  New York: Routledge. 

Cranton, L.E. & Jonell, K.E. (2010). “I am Sookie, hear me roar!”: Sookie Stackhouse and feminist ambivalence. In Dunn, G.A. & Housel, R. (Eds.), True blood and philosophy: We wanna think bad things with you. (pp.  109-122). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  

 Dashu, M. Icons of the Matrix. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from: http://www.suppressedhistories.net/articles/icons.html   

Gadon, E. W. (1989). The once and future Goddess. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco 

Gatta, J. (1997). American Madonna: Images of divine woman in literary culture. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Goerner, S. J. (20021). After the clockwork universe: The emerging science and culture of integral society. Charlotte: Baker & Taylor, Inc. 

Hirchbein, R. (2010). Sookie, Sigmund and the edible complex. In Dunn, G.A. & Housel, R. (Eds.), True blood and philosophy: We wanna think bad things with you. (pp.  123-138). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  

Kimmel, D. M. (2010). Vampire Porn. In Wilson, L. (Ed.), A taste of true blood: The fangbanger’s guide. (pp. 3-18). Dallas: Smart Pop. 

Lorde, A. (1989). Uses of the erotic: The erotic as power. In J. Plaskow & C. Christ (Eds.), Weaving the visions: Patterns in feminist spirituality (pp. 208-213). San Francisco: HarperCollins. 

Martin, M. (1995). Introduction to the photographs. In Mariechild, D. & Martin, M. (Eds.), Lesbian sacred sexuality. (pp. xi-xiii). Oakland: Wingbow Press.  

McCabe, J. (2010). Pure blood. In Wilson, L. (Ed.), A taste of true blood: The fangbanger’s guide. (pp.  101-110). Dallas: Smart Pop. 

Mendel, H. (2009). Dancing in the footsteps of Eve. Washington: O Books.  

Morin, E., & Kern, A. B. (1999). Homeland earth: A manifesto for the new millennium.  Cresskill: Hampton Press. 

Nicolescu, B. (2002). Manifesto of transdisciplinarity. Albany: State University of New York Press. 

Noble, V. (1991).  Shakti woman: Feeling our fire, healing our world. The new female shamanism.  San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. 

 Parlour, S. (2009). Vixens and Virgins in the Nineteenth-Century Anglo-Irish Novel: Representations of the feminine in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Journal of Dracula Studies, 11. Retrieved March 30, 2011 from: www.blooferland.com/drc/index.php?title=Journal_of_Dracula_Studies.    `

Plumwood, V. (1993). Feminism and the mastery of nature. London: Routledge. 

Poole, C. (2010). The Ego, the Id, and Sookie Stackhouse. In Wilson, L. (Ed.), A taste of true blood: The fangbanger’s guide. (pp. 75-88). Dallas: Smart Pop.   

Razak, A. (1991). Toward a Womanist analysis of birth. In Diamond, I. & Orenstein, G.F. (Eds.), Reweaving the world: The emergence of ecofeminism. (pp. 165-172). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.    

Rivera, R. Z. (2003). New York Ricans from the hip hop zone. New York: Palgrave.  

Rogers, P. (2010). To live and die in Dixie. In Wilson, L. (Ed.), A taste of true blood: The fangbanger’s guide. (pp.  45-60). Dallas: Smart Pop.  

Rubin, J. (2010). SOOKIE! Bee-ill! And the downfall of William T. Compton. In Wilson, L. (Ed.), A taste of true blood: The fangbanger’s guide. (pp.  19-32). Dallas: Smart Pop. 

Sanchez-Grant (2008).  The Female Body in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and Lady Oracle. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 9, #2, 77-92. 

Spretnak, C. (1989). The Myth of Demeter and Persephone. In Plaskow, J. & Christ, C. P. (Ed.), Weaving the visions: New patterns in feminist spirituality. (pp. 72-76). San Francisco: Harper and Row. 

Starhawk (1982). Dreaming in the dark: Magic, sex & politics. Boston: Beacon Press. 

Stone, M. (1976). When god was a woman. New York: Harcourt, Inc.

Ward, T. (2006). Savage breast: One man’s search for the goddess. New York: O Books.   

Wilshire, B. (1990). The moral collapse of the university: Professionalism, purity, and alienation. Albany: State University of New York Press. 

Wilson, N. (2010).  Who’s the best vampire dad? Ms. Magazine blog, June 20, 2010. Retrieved March 29 from: http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/06/20/whos-the-best-vampire-dad/

Here's the True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality conference paper; you can view it in fullscreen mode by clicking on the 1st button on the left-hand side of the Scribd taskbar below

PCA ACA True Blood Conference Paper With Citations and Corresponding Slide Numbers

How To Access the True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality PCA/ACA joint conference visual talk

Pop Quiz:

What do the Alamo, Downtown Riverwalk, Tex-Mex, and the one-and-only airport where I have personally witnessed a pair of underwear & two pairs of socks endlessly circling - unclaimed - on the baggage carousel have in common?

They are all things I experienced for the first time in the host city for the 2011 PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture joint conference: San Antonio, Texas!

I gave my visual talk entitled, "True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality" at the conference on April 20th.

As the chair of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Area: True Blood Feminism & Femininity panel, I was honored to share the spotlight with two other gentlewomen and scholars who also delivered fascinating papers that will, no doubt, be of interest to you. I met True Blood scholars on other panels whose work was quite intriguing. I will discuss this further in a later post.

 For now, since I promised panel goers that I would post my full presentation here at the PPT, I am most concerned with getting my material up and accessible. Believe it or not, it's taken me two full days to pull off the conversion necessary to post my talk here - and some of its nuance has been lost in the translation :-(

Here's my plan:

In the next 2 consecutive posts, the following will appear, in order:

1. conference paper with citations
2. interactive PowerPoint slideshow with hyperlinked text & images *you can play the slideshow in fullscreen mode or in the window within which it appears on the PPT; simply hover your cursor over images and when a hand icon appears, you can click on the image to learn more or be brought to its source site. You must click to advance most of the slides; a few of the early slides (credit reel) self-advance on a timer  

*these two formats (paper & PowerPoint) are meant to go together; the paper lists the slide numbers that correspond to the text throughout.
**please note that audio and video elements of the original presentation were unfortunately disabled in the conversion to Blogger - the credit reel was accompanied by Billy Idol's "White Wedding" - when you see it you'll understand why ;-)

I'll follow up with a full reference list for both paper & PowerPoint.

Please don't hesitate to e-mail us if you have any questions or you'd like more information!

Enjoy!

~ Rachel 

Whew!!! So much to serve up...

Whew! We hope you're thirsty, because after a whirlwind last few weeks, we here at the PPT have lots to serve up!

You know how True Blood goes on the road, leaving the comfort and familiarity of Merlotte's and Bon Temps (sans maenad-induced frenzy, of course) in the dust for points unknown, like Dallas, & Jackson, etc.? Well, the PPT has been on the road too; we've been beating down a footpath in such places as San Antonio, Texas, Harlem & Tribeca, NYC...and boy 'o boy, do we have some catching up to do!    

OK, OK, hold your horses; no pushing or shoving please, there's plenty of room at the bar for all. Here's a taste of what's on the menu:

• We met and chatted with True Blood's very own Tanya Wright (Deputy Kenya Jones)!

• Rachel delivered her visual talk True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality" at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture joint conference and will be serving it up here just for you!

 followed by...

a chaser of a run-down on what was seen and heard at the conference relating to True Blood

along with a splash of...

some San Antonio local color for good measure!

• We spent Friday night in the company of greatness at the Tribeca Film Festival where none other than Mr. Harry Belafonte validated and reinvigorated our focus on the arts (we're lookin' at you, True Blood - particularly in light of our conversation with Ms. Wright!) as a medium through which change can be leveraged! 

 So without further ado...

Here's a sneak peek BEHIND THE SCENES: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

It's 4:23AM. Rachel sits alone on the couch. The house is quiet except for the furious clacking of her fingers on her laptop keyboard. Her eyes are blurry and close involuntarily from time to time, but she is determined...

So how'd you like my spoof of the True Blood S4 teasers HBO has been releasing? So far we've had brief scenes of amnesia Eric, Eric & Bill, Jason & Crystal, Sam & new female character (sorry, don't recall her name) and Pam, Tara, Jesus & company introduced by the disembodied voice over orienting us to the action I tried to mime above. Did I miss any?

So what's my teaser all about? I mentioned a while back, I'll be presenting a visual talk exploring issues of sexuality and representation through the lens of True Blood at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations joint conference, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Area: Special Area: True Blood track in just a few weeks...(wipes sweat from brow, assures self presentation will be ready in time...steels self for 2 more weeks of living the vamp life by default, working on prepping my talk all night, in bed with the sunrise).

Now, this may seem like a pretty cool rock-star lifestyle and all, except for the fact that I don't have the luxury of going underground or hunkering down in a coffin all day...so the whole sleep deprivation thing is rather bothersome and the bleeds are sort of difficult to explain when working 9-5...


we were 1st introduced to the phenomenon of the bleeds during this scene, S2

...But anyway, I digress...the real point of this post is to pull the veil back a bit and give you a sneak peek of what is to come at the conference next month.

You may have noticed that we put out a teaser of sorts via Twitter with some shots of Neolithic goddess replicas I've been sucking up for the presentation.

My talk is entitled: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality. What do you think these images may have to do with it?



Persephone's return



Willendorf



Green Gulch Tara

 Oh well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out, won't you?

;-0

And please do stay tuned for the frothy confection on groupies & fangbangers that Rebecca's mixing up, to be served here at the PPT soon!


~ Rachel 

We're (still) getting the hang of this technology thing...

You'd think we were raised in the dark ages but I can't tell you how tickled pink I am with myself that after a mere three hours yesterday spent attempting to dowload and install the amazing True Blood font created by SpideRaY - after which I had a crushing tension headache and a sinking sense of personal failure - plus another hour or so tonight, I have finally been able to access the program that creates lettering just like the opening credits sequence on the show! Not that I can manage to apply it here...but maybe in due time...at least I can count on using it in my presentation on True Blood I'm giving in San Antonio next month!

I'm also proud to point out the True Blood ticker you see to the left; it's a Season 4 countdown clock we created just for the PPT...again, not that I can get it to pop up on my Facebook page or anything, but this is a start...

...and don't even get me started about Twitter!!!

Rebecca & I attended a social networking for business seminar last month with the stated purpose of conquering the Twitter hashtag situation, but for some unknown reason we still cannot get any of our tweets to upload into any hashtag feeds, i.e. #trueblood, etc.

What can I say, we're working on it, and I give us an "A" for effort ;-)

Any technophiles passing through the PPT may want to help a sister out!

We'll be back soon with some material on Women's History Month (yup, it's March) and our blogging intentions for the remaining months before Season 4 premieres.

So please stay tuned!

~ Rachel

Another Quickie!

Just enough time for another quickie...wink wink ;-)

The Pierced Pomegranate Tavern will be opening up shop for a limited time (kinda sorta) in San Antonio, Texas from April 20-23rd, 2011.

I'll be presenting an academic paper exploring issues of sexuality and representation through the lens of True Blood at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations joint conference, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Area: Special Area: True Blood track.

The paper's entitled, True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

Here's a summary:

HBO’s hit series True Blood is not only wildly entertaining; it is also a potent medium through which to explore the human condition and to critically engage the cultural currents and provocative sociopolitical issues of today. With the surging movement of contemporary women’s studies as its guiding framework, this visual talk revolves around two True Blood sexual story arcs—one centered on Tara Thornton; the other on Sookie Stackhouse—both of which culminate in scenes featuring a white nightgown reminiscent of a wedding dress. Although similarities exist between these narratives of carnal encounter, they differ markedly; each can be seen as paralleling one of two versions of the Demeter-Persephone myth—the first being the well-known version of Persephone’s abduction and rape and the second being the feminist imagining of the original pre-Olympian sacred story in which the Goddess enjoyed a free and joyous sexuality. Cycling between True Blood and the mythology it recapitulates, we will explore the charged concepts and themes of sex and sexuality they illuminate: virginity, sex-roles and stereotypes, pleasure, initiation, the erotic, violence, dominance and rape, attitudes toward sexually autonomous women, the sacred sexual, etc. Persephone’s mysteries confront us with the divide between Goddess and patriarchal consciousness. Drawing upon 30,000 years of art, myth, histories and poetry, we will contextualize modern notions about sex and gender revealed in True Blood within the shift from egalitarian to dominator societal structure, explore woman and sex-positive cultures, and identify new models for sexual and body sacrality – both female and male.

My main challenge will be fitting all my content into the 15 minutes presenters are allotted! Think I can do it? I'm not convinced!!!

Feel like joining us deep in the heart of Texas this spring? Here's a link to the conference website for more info: http://www.swtxpca.org/

Back later...

~ Rachel