It's academic

Really. That's the defense I use when I tell people about things like the upcoming SC3: Slayage Conference. (Fans of the television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer are suddenly paying attention.)

With keynote speakers such as Jeanine Basinger of Wesleyan University (not to be confused with Macon's Wesleyan College), Matthew Pateman of Britain's University of Hull, and Elizabeth Rambo of Campbell University, and sessions that will tackle gender issues, religion and literary themes in the series, I'm not only interested because I'm a fan of the series, but I'm fascinated because Buffy was one of the first television series' in which the lead role was a strong teen aged female. She saved the world (a lot) and still graduated from high school. She made friends, she made enemies, she dealt with love and loss on a level that teens and young adults could relate to.

As with Keith Murphy's course in comics here at FVSU, there will always be naysayers who believe this can't be serious study. But teachers, are your students going to better relate to Romeo and Juliet or Buffy and Angel? The story is the same, and hey - there's a five-paragraph essay in there somewhere.

http://www.slayageonline.com/SC3/index.htm

--Misty Cline works in the Office of Marketing and Communications.