The Foundling Home for Orphan Socks & Misbegotten Gonks

Don’t toss your single socks – upcycle them into a gonk friend! In this workshop, we’ll transform trash into treasure and give sentience to socks through a family-friendly make-and-take activity. I’ll have plenty of wayward socks to use so attendees can adopt as many gonk or gnome orphans as you’d like – or bring your…

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“Lust, Dust, and Steam: Norse Goddesses in the Steampunk Psyche

This presentation explores the Norse goddesses Freya and Hela through a psychological lens, interpreting them as symbolic embodiments of Freud’s concepts of Eros (the life drive) and Thanatos (the death drive). This psychological duality is then connected to the aesthetic and philosophical values of steampunk, a genre that romanticizes the tension between life (innovation, beauty,…

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The Folklore of Scandinavia

Scandinavian folklore tells the tales of gods, giants, trolls, elves, gnomes, and other mythical creatures–good and malicious–across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. While there are common themes and mythical beings across Scandinavian folklore, each country and region has its own variations and unique stories and traditions. Many folk tales are cautionary tales or teach…

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