Greetings beloved nerds, and welcome to the 2025 Season of Nerd Nite SF! Get ready for your monthly dose of nerdy delight starting with our inaugural show! Seek refuge from the chaos of 2025 with fun, funny, inspiring talks about the art of a classic Nawlins dish, the future of healthcare, and the power of collective action.
Lawrence Mckendell – The Art of GumboThe origin, influences and styles of a delicious, metaphorical cuisine. Lawrence created this gastro-ed talk as an homage to his late mother, Helen McKendell, and the vibrant city of New Orleans. The talk explores gumbo’s origins, cultural influences, and why it serves as an iconic metaphor for the region.
Bio: Lawrence McKendell traces his roots back to New Orleans’ 7th Ward, a predominantly Creole neighborhood on the edge of the now-famous French Quarter. As an Army brat, he was raised in many states, but Louisiana. However, thanks to his mom’s culinary magic—boiled crawfish and shrimp, red beans and rice, étouffée, stuffed mirliton, and, of course, the crown jewel, seafood gumbo—frequently graced the family dinner table, allowing his taste buds (and waistline) to fully embrace his Creole heritage. When he’s not dreaming of New Orleans cuisine, Lawrence is an award-winning graphic designer based in Oakland, CA, and coaches Ultimate Frisbee at Albany High School in Albany CA. He’s lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 50 years.
Barbie Klein & Rosalyn Plotzker – The Virtual Approach to Gynecology
Whether or not you’ve had a Pap test yourself, have you ever stopped to wonder, “How do people learn how to do that before they start seeing patients?” The Virtual Approach to Gynecology Project was created for healthcare trainees to practice the steps of a gynecologic exam in virtual reality. Come learn how VR is being used to help future healthcare providers deliver sexual health services.
Bio: Roz Plotzker is the UCSF Baum Family Simulation Scholar, and an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. After doing a Preventive Medicine residency in New York City, Roz came to San Francisco for a fellowship in Sexually Transmitted Infections which led to her current non-monogamous job of teaching, research, clinic and public health work.
Ivy Anderson & Devon Angus – Red Light Revolt! How Sex Workers Fought Gentrification in 1917 San Francisco
1906: San Francisco has been leveled by earthquake and fire. As the city rose again from the ashes, opportunistic speculators and moral reformers sought to mould the city in their own image. This included the erasure of the Barbary Coast, the city’s legendary vice district. In 1917, 300 sex workers stormed the church of the Rev. Paul Smith, a notorious anti-vice crusader. Kicking the man of the cloth off of his pulpit, they pleaded with his congregation, demanding better wages for working women and a cessation of the mass evictions they faced. Join historians Ivy Anderson and Devon Angus as they discuss a brief history of sex work, suppression and resistance in San Francisco from 1849 to today.
Bio: Ivy Anderson and Devon Angus are historians, writers, and filmmakers based in San Francisco. Their book, Alice: Memoirs of a Barbary Coast Prostitute, won the California Historical Society Book Award, and compiles previously unseen first-person narratives from sex workers and other working women living in San Francisco circa 1913. They are currently adapting this work into a feature-length film.
Featuring Friends of the Show:
Musical Treats by DJ&Jelly