Let’s face it — it isn’t a real con unless people are chatting in the hallways after all the panels are done about their strong feelz about Steven Universe. Jason, Benny and Talon were more than happy to accommodate that need.

Organizers and hosts of the first OrbitCon hold a punchy post-mortem.

5 p.m. – whenever CDT, Sunday April 15

I mean, you can submit questions in the comments, but good luck getting much coherent out of us.

Speakers

Let’s just see who shows up, shall we?

The Super Serious Social Justice Podcast discusses current issues, ethics, social justice, and equality with a side helping of humor. Olivia, Courtney, and Brianne are delighted to record an episode on air with OrbitCon. Come Hang Out with us!

4 p.m. – 5 p.m. CDT, Sunday April 15

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

Brianne Bilyeu is a scientist and project planner who sometimes forgets that she is more than her job description. She’s a force to be reckoned with who loves to do things and get stuff done…except on the days when she’s feeling vulnerable, like an imposter or otherwise unmotivated and uninspired. Brianne loves new experiences, and her dream would be to travel the world learning new languages, sharing meals with strangers, scuba diving, and writing all about her adventures. She’s a fan of the Oxford comma, and seriously doesn’t care what you think about the fact that she once – not too long ago – watched so many episodes of Supernatural that the day started with a Christmas special and ended with a Halloween special.

Olivia James is an autistic, asexual goofball who loves octopuses, cats, and rock climbing. Born and raised in the great Midwest, she went to school at a small liberal arts college and in the process discovered that too much philosophy makes her depressed. She kicked the ass of an eating disorder, adopted some kittens, and found her true calling as a marketer in a local nonprofit (while writing, podcasting, and planning a wedding on the side). When not working too much, Olivia can be found on bullet journal websites, listening to far too many podcasts, or playing a great deal of Dungeons and Dragons. If you want MOAR OLIVIA check out autofspoons.com.

Courtney Kupfer hails from the suburbs of Milwaukee, where she grew up with a whole shit-ton of privilege, but thinks Minnesota is really where all the cool kids hang. In 2006, she graduated from a small liberal arts college in northeast Iowa with an extremely useful major in Theatre/Dance and a minor in Women’s Studies. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in counseling so she can help people deal with life’s utter bullshit. Courtney is particularly passionate about LGBTQ issues and women’s reproductive rights.

Science has profoundly altered the society we live in and allowed us to explore the world in many wonderful ways. Unfortunately, those outside of science can sometimes come to see it as an infallible panacea for any problem we may have, or the only epistemological tool we have at our disposal. In this panel, a small group of scientists will discuss scientism, misconceptions people have with science, and ways that scientific epistemology could be improved

3 p.m. – 4 p.m. CDT, Sunday April 15

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

Jeremiah Traeger expects to earn his PhD in Chemical Engineering from CU Boulder in 2019. Jeremiah’s research includes investigating single-molecule dynamics of DNA. He’s also co-host of the SJW Circle Jerk podcast and contributes to the A Tippling Philosopher blog.

Ari Stillman is a current psychology graduate student, and they appear on The Gaytheist Manifesto and The Cis Are Getting Out Of Hand podcast

Katie Marshall is an assistant professor of biology at the University of Oklahoma, studying the effects of repeated stress exposure.

Alix Jules is an activist in the Dallas – Ft. Worth area with a long history in issues and topics regarding the role of diversity in the atheist community as well as atheism in diverse communities. Alix has been featured in Ebony magazine, “One Man’s Journey into Atheism,” Godless – the documentary, and he has garnered national attention as one of the modern faces in Black humanism.

We see the Emma Gonzalezes out there, but what can those of us with a different skill set do to support the movements we love?

2 p.m. – 3 p.m. CDT, Sunday April 15

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

Nicole Harris does feminist and social justicey things, most recently in the sanctuary movement. She thinks hiking and backpacking are rad too.

Michael Cluff is the president of South Jersey Humanists, and worked for Atheist Alliance of America, where he contributed to the magazine and co-hosted the Secular Nation podcast.

Autumn Reinhardt Simpson is an author and feminist theologian who has been writing, appearing on television and speaking internationally about abortion rights and feminism since 2010 when she founded Richmond Clinic Defense to help escort patients past protesters at an abortion clinic in Richmond, Virginia. She has spoken to hundreds of people over the years and has written for numerous outlets both academic and popular. Autumn runs a one-woman ministry which provides women with transportation, housing, and accompaniment as they seek abortion care. She is the author of The Humanist Celebrant Handbook (Humanist Press, 2018) and is currently at work on her second book about nontheistic Christianity.

Heather Hegi is the longtime chair of Minnesota Atheists. She’s passionate about atheist rights and wants to make our voices heard.

The ability to legally solemnize marriages is, in many states, a privilege reserved exclusively for government officials and religious clergy. The Center for Inquiry has been at the center of challenging this privilege. Hear about the legal issues, past victories, and upcoming fights. Find out what you can do if your state law is discriminatory.

1 p.m. – 2 p.m. CDT, Sunday April 15

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

Nick Little is the Vice President and General Counsel of the Center for Inquiry. In this role, he oversees both the Center’s in-house legal work, and its outside litigation. He’s worked for the recognition of secular celebrants across the country, as well as submitting amicus briefs on CFI’s behalf to the Supreme Court in cases including Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, Obergefell v. Hodges, Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, Zubik v. Burwell, and Trinity Lutheran v. Pauley, as well as circuit and district court cases.

Reba Boyd Wooden is Executive Director of Center for Inquiry Indiana.She started The Humanist Friendship Group of Central Indiana in 1999 which became the Center for Inquiry Community of Indiana in 2005. She is co-director of CFI’s Secular Celebrant program and was the plaintiff in the case that allowed nonreligious marriage officiants in Indiana. She retired after 37 years in public education in 2005.

Galen Broaddus is a writer and a certified Secular Celebrant with the Center for Inquiry. As the child of a Baptist minister, and he served as a choir director and worship leader and even filled the pulpit on several occasions for a Baptist church before leaving religion. His lawsuit allowed nonreligious marriage officiants in Illinois.

Jennifer Beahan is the Executive Director for CFI–Michigan. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of CFI–Michigan and is working to build a secular community throughout Michigan. Her interests include volunteer management, program development and evaluation, secular activism, and women’s rights.

Stephanie Zvan is the associate president of Minnesota Atheists, on the board of Secular Woman, and one of the organizers of Secular Women Work conferences and workshops. She writes at Almost Diamonds on The Orbit network, and she’s not afraid to tackle the occasional taboo.

In the last dozen years, we have experienced New Atheism; contentious elections; the wide adoption of social media and other online tools; increased secularization of American society; and the emergence of MRAs, SJWs, Gamergate, the Alt Right, and more. How have these cultural shifts and trends affected local secular groups? Have members become more or less political or polarized? Diverse? Engaged? And looking forward, how should our groups’ priorities and function shift to account for the changes in our cultural landscape?

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CDT, Sunday April 15

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

Debbie Goddard is the Director of African Americans for Humanism and outreach director at the Center for Inquiry. Before working for CFI, she participated in local freethought groups in the greater Philadelphia region and helped organize and support campus groups internationally as a volunteer. She has also been involved with LGBTQ issues and progressive activism.

Jennifer Beahan is the Executive Director for CFI–Michigan. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of CFI–Michigan and is working to build a secular community throughout Michigan. Her interests include volunteer management, program development and evaluation, secular activism, and women’s rights.

Stef McGraw is a Field Organizer at the Center for Inquiry and runs CFI-Western New York. She has degrees in philosophy and Spanish from the University of Northern Iowa, where she first got involved in the freethought movement through the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers.

Monette Richards is the president of CFI-Northeast Ohio and of Secular Woman. She’s one of the co-founders of Secular Women Work. She describes herself as a “nobody” activist and gets a lot of work done from the cheap seats.

Debby Williams is a former board member of Humanists of Houston and was president of HoH during 2017. She spends her time smashing the patriarchy, playing with her dogs, and raising progressive sons.

Michael Cluff is the president of South Jersey Humanists, and worked for Atheist Alliance of America, where he contributed to the magazine and co-hosted the Secular Nation podcast.

Steven Pinker has been a popular figure in the atheist/skeptic sphere for some time, but if you take a deep look at that tapestry of his work you’ll start to see some troubling threads. In this panel, we’ll take turns seeing what happens when we give them a tug: do things unravel? Or does the tapestry stay together?

7 p.m. – 8 p.m. CDT, Saturday April 14

To submit a question for the Q&A of this panel, please leave a comment below. Questions that are actually questions will receive priority.

Speakers

H.J. Hornbeck is the Evidence-Based Feminism guy. He also yells at clouds! H.J. blogs at Reprobate Spreadsheet on Freethought Blogs.

William Brinkman works in logistics, and has maintained the Bolingbrook Babbler since 1998. (Now at Freethought Blogs.) He’s also been an editor at an alternative publication based in Iowa, and a contributor for White Wolf’s Demon: The Fallen game line. William’s has been active in the Chicagoland secular community, and is involved in a humanistic congregation.