Helen Regis
Observer
DragonCon Parade
I would definitely not use the word inauthentic, is because I think that the Science In Vivo group, the planets were so joyful and sincere in their contribution, that I think people took that at face value, as like, "You're here, you're a part of it." It's already a given that you're a part of it because of your engagement, you're marching down the street with people. I think the one thing that was a little bit dissonant was that some of the groups marching were using more explicitly playful ways of marching, and our group was a little more serious. But to the extent that we were playful, I think it really worked. But I think that was potentially a little bit of a disconnect, but I think that sometimes that can work too, right? I think as long as you're sincere and you're engaging with people, people respond to that, and that's what I observed. So I think that what could make the engagement more successful would be to use more of the approaches to being playful that were already there, and to build on that, and just develop, that side of it. But I definitely didn't feel like it was outsiders inserting themselves,