June 13th, 2024 doors 6pm, show 7pm at River Arts District Brewing Co.
Pre-sale tickets $10, door $15 (cash preferred, Venmo etc. available). Get your pre-sale tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/nerd-nite-asheville-june
Meet your presenters for June’s Nerd Nite:
Heather Edwards
Awkward Social and Sexual Interactions in One Handy Chart
Have you ever had a social interaction that you just couldn’t get the vibe right for? Or maybe you were really wanting to have some sexy time with someone and the chemistry was good, but you just couldn’t seem to be on the right wavelength? Fellow nerds, I’ve got a chart for you to help understand when this happens and how to avoid it!
Heather Edwards (she/they), author of June Full Moon (2023), is a nationally certified sex counselor and educator as well as a pelvic physical therapist. They utilize erotica and art as an extension of her inclusive sex ed mission. They founded Vino & Vulvas (sex-ed-in-a-bar) in 2015. They co-teach, along with Dr. Uchenna Ossai, medical sexuality counseling to provide comprehensive, inclusive sexual health care internationally. www.vinoandvulvas.com IG: @vinoandvulvas
Amanda Wray
“The Cage,” Hookups at the Grove Arcade
Built in the early 1920s, The Grove Arcade was considered one of the earliest shopping malls. Repurposed during WWII for war efforts, it became the Federal Building, and from 1951 to 1995 it was home to the National Weather Records. By day, that is. By night, this area of town was called “the cage,” a cruising spot for people (mostly gay men) that also became in the late 1990s and early 2000s a hotspot for harm reduction and AIDS prevention.
Amanda Wray earned a PhD in Rhetoric from the University of Arizona before moving to Asheville in 2011 to begin a career in higher education. In 2019, she launched the Blue Ridge Pride LGBTQIA+ Archive, which is a physical artifacts and oral history repository dedicated to LGBTQ+ history of the South. IG: @wnc_lgbtqia See our oral histories: https://specialcollections.unca.edu/collections/oral-histories/296-2/549-2/
Von Infinity
Ketamine Infusion Therapy and The Higgs Boson (in drag!)
About six years ago, Von spent $8000 on a relatively new medical treatment called Ketamine Infusion Therapy: a highly unregulated treatment purported to help with a variety of psychological and neurological symptoms. This presentation will give a patient’s perspective on being a guinea pig for the procedure, and a psychedelic retelling of Von’s experience listening to audiobooks about the Higgs Boson particle, rogue planets and other astronomical phenomena while in a medically induced K hole–featuring a performance the world’s first and probably only Ketamine Infusion Therapy and Higgs Boson themed drag number.
Von (they/them) is a local performer known for their radioactive style, political commentary, and inability to shut up about Star Trek. A lifelong nerd of both science and theater, they were an avid lover of Nerd Nite in Los Angeles before moving to Asheville and starting the local Nerd Nite Chapter.
Von claims this show for the Romulan Empire. (IG: @von.infinity)