Home Episodes Semantic Shenanigans Episode 12 – Nepotism

Semantic Shenanigans Episode 12 – Nepotism

Janet Gershen-Siegel

Jespah (Janet Gershen-Siegel) has been a fan of Star Trek since probably the first set of reruns of The Original Series. She has an eclectic background, including an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, a JD (she practiced insurance defense law for a few years in New York and is a lot happier since she retired from that in 1990), and a MS in Interactive Media, which is a real-live social media degree.

Along the way, she has about a decade and a half of data analysis work under her belt and currently works as a blog coordinator for a high-end wedding blog and also as a blogger for hire (topics include diverse subjects like ad retargeting but also the nursing job market), and has a shingle out to work on social media presence, with a focus on independent authors as she is also a published science fiction author. Plus, she has been a community manager for a large Q & A website since 2002, which is before that existed as a job title.

She was raised on Long Island so, when she is riled up, the accent gallops back out and she can sound like Fran Drescher with a law degree. She lives in Boston with her husband of over 20 years and more computers than they need.

She can always be bribed with pie.

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Semantic Shenanigans Episode 12 – Nepotism

Nepotism? Well, maybe a little bit….
Semantic Shenanigans Episode 12 – Nepotism

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Social Stuff

Shanna

Shanna just returned from the Midwest Popular Culture Association conference, where she presented a paper on Pussy Riot fandom. Plus she’s all excited because Stranger Things 2 just dropped! Time to binge watch! 

Janet

Janet is right in the middle of house renovations, so there’s a toilet in her dining room (don’t ask). Money is flying out the door, fast and furious! She is also looking forward to starting NaNoWriMo in four days, and is only panicking a little bit. Also, she has been hired by her biggest client so it’s all business credit, all the time now. She blogs for them and handles a lot of their social media help desk issues.

Seuss v. ComicMix et al

First of all, there has been some activity on a motion to dismiss. Also, a hearing is scheduled for November 28, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Janet does not honestly expect a lot of activity due to the holiday.

Who Back When Podcast with Ponken (Leon Terner)

Semantic Shenanigans | Episode 12 - Nepotism | Leon (Ponken) from Who Back When

Leon (Ponken) from Who Back When

Next, we were thrilled to welcome Leon from the Who Back When podcast! Leon and his fellow ‘casters are in Oxford, England. They are running two separate podcasting series. One is to review the older Who episodes (Tom Baker, etc.) and the other is for reviews of the newer Who episodes (David Tennant, et al). As for the nepotism, Janet and Leon tried to figure out exactly how they are related. Their fathers are cousins, maybe third cousins? And does it still count as nepotism if you have no idea how you’re actually related? Asking for a friend.

Who Back When all over the internet

Semantic Shenanigans | Episode 12 - Nepotism | Who Back When

Who Back When

You can find Who Back When in all the usual places online. They are on Twitter of course, and so is Leon (under the name @Ponken, which is Swedish for ‘little boy’). And of course they are on Facebook.

Dr. Who and the new Doctor

So, similar to the kerfuffle in the Trek fandom vis a vis two female characters in positions of power who are also persons of color, there was quite the brouhaha in the Who fandom with the hiring of Jodie Whittaker. Some fans were quite vocal in their displeasure that a time lord could somehow be played by a woman. Never mind that this is a shapeshifting alien who really shouldn’t follow a human gender construct at all. However, many more fans were thrilled with the change and excited for the new places where the show will take them with Whittaker as its lead.

In addition, recent doctors such as Peter Capaldi and Matt Smith praised the choice of Whittaker. She has impressive credentials on IMDB, and you can check out the story of how she got the part. Capaldi has also made public how he cleverly figured out the thirteenth doctor would be of the distaff persuasion.

A lot of the issues with Whittaker seem to come from a similar gatekeeping mindset among (for the most part) longer term fans. Which sounds awfully familiar to fans of Star Trek Discovery and fans of the JJ Abrams reboot films (the Kelvin timeline).

We are all fans. Nitpicking about that seems downright unsporting.

How do you, as a fan, react to the addition of Jodie Whittaker to Doctor Who as the Thirteenth Doctor? Tell us in the comments, if you like. Or send us a note!

Thank you!

Thanks for listening! Our show would not be possible without the help, kindness, and generosity of some truly wonderful people. First of all, we would like to thank Busy Little Beaver Productions and more specifically the G & T Show for giving us this great opportunity. We would also like to thank our music providers, Cerys and Kailani of Invocation Array. Thank you, ladies!

So our biggest thanks go to sound engineer extraordinaire, Michael Medeiros, and his niece, Katie, our announcer girl. Yes, we have the only announcer who has to take a break and study fractions and the times tables.

Furthermore, we would also like to thank our families for instilling in us our curious and creative impulses, and for encouraging us in all we do.

Finally, thank you, our audience. Because you’re why we are here. We do this for you.

Our Next Show

It will definitely be after Thanksgiving so we can be with our families. However, we will be releasing an extra in the middle of November – in case we get into such incredible turkey comas that we can’t podcast a week after turkey day.

Busy Little Beaver Productions and The G & T Show

While you’re here, please check out our parent show and the links to our sister shows.

Invocation Array

Thank you SO much, Cerys and Kailani!

Mike & Announcer Girl Katie

And Mike is a published author, too! Please check out his work. It’s just wonderful.

Related Posts

Janet Gershen-Siegel

Jespah (Janet Gershen-Siegel) has been a fan of Star Trek since probably the first set of reruns of The Original Series. She has an eclectic background, including an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, a JD (she practiced insurance defense law for a few years in New York and is a lot happier since she retired from that in 1990), and a MS in Interactive Media, which is a real-live social media degree. Along the way, she has about a decade and a half of data analysis work under her belt and currently works as a blog coordinator for a high-end wedding blog and also as a blogger for hire (topics include diverse subjects like ad retargeting but also the nursing job market), and has a shingle out to work on social media presence, with a focus on independent authors as she is also a published science fiction author. Plus, she has been a community manager for a large Q & A website since 2002, which is before that existed as a job title. She was raised on Long Island so, when she is riled up, the accent gallops back out and she can sound like Fran Drescher with a law degree. She lives in Boston with her husband of over 20 years and more computers than they need. She can always be bribed with pie.

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