HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE

GWE and our friends at Dege Time are teamed up to present an introduction to Role Playing Games that also presents insight into mental health!

This was a FREE event.

Hosting us was the amazing folks at Alpha Comics and Games!

Clink, designed by David Schirduan, is a simple yet robust RPG surrounding mysterious drifters. The narrative shifts at the whim of coin flips where there is no "wrong" choice. Players will reveal parts of their past to the group to drive the story and show off their unique skills. This game is amazing for newcomers to RPGs!

Roleplaying games have a myriad of benefits whether guided by a clinical professional or not. Clink in particular well simulates a group therapy approach. One could simply relax while escaping into a fantasy world or practice things in a safe space to take with them into the world. After the game we discussed concepts such as mindfulness, failing forward, behavioral conditioning, skills building, and more!

On March 9th, we are helping some wonderful young Disney fans who have been going through a difficult period in their lives. First, we will take them to Alicia's Salon and Day Spa to turn them into Disney princesses. Then we'll treat them to dinner and games at a kid-friendly restaurant. Finally, we will take them to the Altria Theater to see the live touring production of the Lion King musical!

 It became national news when the McMinn County School Board in Tennessee unanimously voted to ban the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel Maus from their curriculum. Objecting to a few curse words and a drawing of naked mice (???), the end result is that more people than ever are interested in this groundbreaking work.
Maus is the story of Jewish author Art Spiegelman's interviews with his father about his family's experiences in the Holocaust. To tell the story, the Jewish victims are portrayed as mice, while the Nazis are portrayed as cats. It is possibly the most important work ever published in the comics medium and has helped to enlighten millions of readers about the horrors of the Holocaust.

But...you know...it has bad words...so the school board chose the Orwellian tactic of banning the graphic novel from being used in classrooms.

We'll also discuss some of the history of censorship in comics, including Fredric Wertham's poorly researched and biased book Seduction of the Innocent, which led to Congressional hearings on comic books and the Comic Code Authority, which censored mainstream comic books for decades.

Joining GWE president David Lane to discuss this will be comic writer Gary Cohn, who is the creator of DC characters Amethyst and Blue Devil! Mr Cohn has also taught English and Social Studies on the high school and collegiate levels, making him a perfect guest on this topic.

For Star Wars geeks who live with anxiety and trauma, Geek Wellness Education presents you with an opportunity to discover how yoga, meditation and mindfulness can benefit you.

Jedi Master Nick Babin (personal trainer, martial arts instructor and yoga teacher from New Hampshire) will incorporate Star Wars concepts and characters into a fun and informative introductory yoga class. Whether you are an experienced practitioner of The Force, or an inexperienced Padawan, this class will have plenty to offer.

Yoga mats will be available to use at the event.

Cosplay is welcome (and encouraged)...but please understand that we will be moving around quite a bit (stretching, bending etc), so make sure that you are comfortable and able to move around in your cosplay!

Hosting us will be the Rebel forces at Mindfulness Bar (1307 E Cary St), a fun and adventurous place of yoga, meditation and self-actualization who seek to make silence sexy and mindfulness mainstream (and to restore the Republic, of course).

Space is EXTREMELY limited, so make sure to reserve your spot in advance!

And may The Force be with you!

GWE is honored to have been invited to host a panel at the Haunter Against Hate convention in Lexington, KY. HAH is a 501c3 Haunt organization that, with profits from t-shirts, calendars, and coffee table books, along with donations, gives back to LGBTQ groups across the U.S.

We will be discussing how people in the Haunt community use their careers to help cope with mental health issues. We also plan to world premiere our first mini-documentary film, which focuses on this subject, to be directed by Maddi Rose. 

GWE's Hall of Justice (cleverly disguised as a normal house) is based in Richmond, VA. We will be bringing superheroes, princesses and sci-fi characters together to visit (and donate presents to) local children who are recieving treatment for life-threatening illnesses. Our geekiness has helped us all through some tough times, right? So let's help some great, geeky kids have some fun during what can otherwise be a traumatic time in their lives! For this, we will be doing local toy drives, but it is a certainty that we will need money to buy toys and other essentials to make these events happen.