Embedded Files
My research concerns gender, film, horror, rock music, and performance. This is an overview of some of my projects and presentations.
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Angst, Transgression, and Care: Transgender Community in the DIY Rock Scene of Tampa, Florida
This project documents and analyzes transgender participation in Tampa, Florida’s DIY rock scene through the lens of cultural studies and trans care. This thesis is situated in subcultural studies on rock music genres and performance, using ethnography to examine the DIY rock community in Tampa, Florida. The researcher’s positionality within the community and challenge to traditional ethnography presents the emergence of a punk ethnography that explores stylistic and emotional themes of rock music and subcultural communities concerning gender and resistance. Ultimately this thesis demonstrates the congruencies between subcultural and trans resistance.
Successfully defended March 3rd, 2025.
Conference Presentations
Conference Presentations
The Industry of Dr. Caligari:
Retelling The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) with rock music
2025 Paper examining how the visual aesthetics of Cesare recreated in Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Living Dead Girl (1999), and Queen of the Damned (2002) expose the music industry's dominating force on musicians, presented at New York University's Music and the Moving Image Conference XXI.
Angst, Transgression, and Care:
Transgender Community in the DIY Rock Scene of Tampa, Florida
2025 Virtually presented at Beyond Reflection's Trans+ Research Conference hosted at Bournemouth University in Bournemouth, England.
Cult Film as Community:
50 Years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
2025 Presented at the Southeastern American Studies Association Timely Reflections Conference in honor of the film's 50th anniversary.
Awarded the Barbara Stevens Heusel & Dennis Moore Graduate Travel Grant.
I am Frankenstein:
Transgender Acts of Creation
2025 Paper theorizing transgender creation claiming both Frankenstein and the monster presented at the University of South Florida's Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Care & Joy in Precarious Times Conference.
Developing Resistance in a Neoliberal State: A Case Study on Repo Man (1984)
2025 Paper applying Merton's typology to the characters of Repo Man to demonstrate neoliberal rebellion presented at the University of South Florida's Graduate Humanities Symposium.
Cesare Is a Glam Rocker:
Allusions to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) in Rock Musical Film
2024 Presented at the University of South Florida's Humanities and Cultural Studies American Horror Graduate Symposium.
Emo Through a Transgender Lens
2024 A look into the emo genre through the lens of the trans community presented at 13th Annual Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Research Colloquium.
Transgender Embodiment in the Classroom and Impact on Youth
2024 Part of the LGBTQ Caucus: Trans and Queer Existence in a Time of Rising Authoritarianism at WGS South's Care Feminisms, Crip Futures Conference.
Awarded the Marilyn Myerson Student Success Fund Scholarship.
Virgincore: Alt. Rock for Nerds
2024 Paper theorizing the "virgincore" genre and exploring alternative rock nerdy masculinity, presented at University of South Florida's Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Thinking Sex Conference.
“You should have raised a baby girl, I should’ve been a better son”:
My Chemical Romance as transmasc culture
2023 Presented at WGS South's Weaving Just Futures: Feminist Coalition and the Cultivation of Long Memories in the South Conference.
Smash the Cis-Tem:
Trans, Punks, and Monsters
2023 Paper connecting trans theory with punk and monstrous non-conformity presented at the University of South Florida's Undergraduate Humanities Conference.
Invited Film Panels & Lectures
Invited Film Panels & Lectures
Cracking Death's Design: Celebrating 25 Years of Final Destination
2025 Panel at Tampa Bay Comic Con talking with Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick as we celebrate a quarter-century of dodging Death's design.
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again! 50 Years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
2025 Lecture at Tampa Bay Comic Con covering the inspirations, production, and impact of the film. Followed by a shadowcast Q&A that I moderated.
A New World of Gods and Monsters:
90 Years of The Bride of Frankenstein
2025 Panel at Tampa Bay Comic Con discussing the rich story of The Bride and all it has to offer.
From Eraserhead to Twin Peaks and Beyond:
The Art of David Lynch
2025 Panel at Tampa Bay Comic Con celebrating the strange and wonderful life of a singular filmmaker and as we explore his truly weird work.
Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back Into the Water: Jaws Turns 50
2025 Panel at Tampa Bay Comic Con taking a look at a horror movie that reimagined the genre and inspired several generations of filmmakers to join the industry.
Goo: From The Stuff to The Substance - You Are What Eats You
2025 Panel at Tampa Bay Comic Con highlighting Hollywood's fascination with slimes and goos as go to terrors— where nature, science and our own desires scare us silly.
Zine Workshop
2025 A zine-making workshop led by me and Dr. Todd Jurgess at the University of South Florida. Sharing my experience making my zine, Transylvanian Horror, I created a template and helped the class make a film zine as a group.
Continue the Conversation: Emilia Pérez
2025 Panel of leaders in Tampa's trans community at the Tampa Theatre following a screening of Emilia Pérez.
Transness in Film
2025 Lecture at the University of South Florida's Trans+ Student Union discussing the history of transness in film.
Party and Sounds of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
2024 Panel at Sunshine City Scare about the music, sounds, and audience of the film and screening experience.
Trans+ Representation in Media
2022 Co-written and presented with Marble Long at the University of South Florida's Trans+ Student Union. This presentation covered an array of media including film, TV, music, literature, and video games.
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