Arcadia Counseling student Anje McLish ’20M performed spoken word during the 2018 Blerdcon– short for “black nerd” conference, which in its own words, “celebrates our connection with LGBTQ, the disabled, POCs and the international community.”

Through her performance, “Cute and Depressed Black Girl Musings,” McLish expressed her belief that poetry and anime, while individual things, are very much entwined.

“Both are very powerful art forms that tell stories,” said McLish. “The stories in anime may involve friendship, hurt, grief and death, and the strong bonds between people. Poetry can also express that, as it is up to the poet in describing those thoughts and feelings that have impacted them and what kind of stories they tell in their poems.”

The panel where she performed, “Spoken Nerd – When Poetry Meets Geek Culture,” featured several spoken word artists, who described how they entwined their poetry work with their love of everything geeky.

Blerdcon, held in Arlington, Va. from July 27 to 29, revolves around the collectively shared experiences of people of color wanting to express their “nerdy and geeky selves,” but not commonly fitting in certain demographics.

McLish is the anime contributor for the online publication Quirktastic, which caters to and offers a community for nerdy, geeky, alternative people of color.