SRU Cosplay Club President, Kyla Jones a.k.a "Ely Renae", takes the cosplay world by storm.

     Aside from the shock of blue hair lying in layers around her face, you wouldn't be able to tell that art major, Kyla Jones, 21, was anything but an average SRU student.

Jones brother, Brent, Jones, and her boyfriend, Logan Veltre at a Penguin's hockey game.  (Photo Courtesy Kyla Jones)

Under the moniker, "Ely Renae,"Jones pursues a hobby called "cosplaying," a derivative of the words "costume" and "play," where people dress up as their favorite comic book and video game characters. Through her pursuit of cosplay, she drew a following of over 16,000 fans on her Facebook page, as well as getting mentioned by Kotaku, a gaming website, and the World of Warcraft official Facebook page.

Born in Fairbanks, Alaska, Jones' family moved her and her brother, Brent, to Pennsylvania when Jones was 4-years-old. She attended Grace Baptist School in Carlisle, PA, and was part of a graduating class of 12 students. After attending Carlisle High School for two years, she was diagnosed with Type III Hereditary Angioedema, which causes severe stomach pain, and Jones said that sometimes it was so painful she couldn't walk.

     Growing up, Jones said she was very artistic. She dreamed of designing her own jewelry, and had hopes of one day opening her own jewelry store. She came to Slippery Rock as a metal-smithing major, but she said she wasn't very passionate about it. From there, she changed her major to digital art, and said that she fell in love with it. Jones' interest in digital art is where she got her start in cosplaying.

A digital self portrait by Jones

     After attending her first convention where she didn't dress up, Jones said that she saw a very intricate costume and immediately was interested in trying her hand at cosplay. She created her first cosplay 1 year and a half ago, and portrayed "Katarina" from the video game, League of Legends. From there, she's cosplayed all different kinds of characters, from TV shows to video games. Jones said her cosplays usually take several months to make, and cost about $300 a costume.

Jones as "Katarina" from League of Legends
Photo Courtesy: Circle Cosplay

"Cosplaying is like any other hobby," Jones said. "It's a total money pit."

Jones as "Jinx" from League of Legends with her handmade "Fisbones" bazooka from the game. 

     Jones said that her favorite character she's cosplayed was Jinx from League of Legends. Jones said that Jinx's psychotic personality was fun to bring to life at the convention, and that a lot of people thought she had done the character justice in her portrayal. In the video below, Jones describes her Jinx cosplay. 

     Wanting to share in the creative process, and the spread the word about cosplay, she started SRU's Cosplay Club, which has 20 members who meet Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Art Sculpture Building. There, the group works on their original cosplays, and consult each other on the creation of the costumes.

     

     They've also done workshops on posing, featured below, to build up self-confidence, which Jones said is an integral part to cosplaying. Because most cosplays are networked through the internet, Jones said that people are quick to bully others' cosplays online. In an effort to combat that, Jones started an organization known as "Cos for Pos," or Cosplayers for Positivity. Members are instructed to leave three positive comments for every negative one online, so that the bullied cosplayer is encouraged to move forward.

SRU's Cosplay Club does a workshop on posing for photos in costume. (Courtesy Kyla Jones)

Below is an interview with Jones, wherein she describes how people are deterred from cosplaying because they fear negative feedback.




    Despite her strength in the face of online criticism, Jones boyfriend, Logan Veltre, said that she wasn't as confident as she is now before she started doing cosplay 1 year and a half ago. Veltre said that he was there before the Facebook page got famous, and attributed its success to the "real" personality behind the stage name.



     Jones has been to several different conventions to show off her cosplays, namely Pittsburgh's Tekko Con, National Harbor, MD's, Magfest, and Baltimore's Otakon. See her various cosplays below, and the specific conventions where she's modeled them.



Above all, Jones said that cosplay is about trial and error, and working to the best of your abilities.

"Cosplay is a way people can stay creative going into adulthood," Jones said. "It's an empowering thing to act and be exactly how you want to be. When I cosplay, I feel empowered and excited. I feel like no one can stop me."

Dr. Laux's Road to Happy Talk

In his 26th year at Slippery Rock University, professor, Dr. James Laux, succeeded in bringing the first happiness class to the university, but this was not granted without opposition. Based on Tal Ben-Shahar's successful "Positive Psychology" class, Dr. Laux first proposed "Happy Talk" in 2007. His class was rejected for several years, and on the year of his retirement, it was approved, and garnered the interest of over 90 students.

Despite having taught a similar class called "The Pursuit of Happiness" at Hiram College, Laux only taught between 5-26 students. On the enormity of Slippery Rock's Happy Talk class, he said that he was glad he could reach as many students as he did, though he does regret the loss of class discussion that comes with a smaller class.

The Road to Happy Talk Draft

Meograph Proposal: The Road to Happiness at SRU

Dr. Laux has been fighting for years to teach his happiness class at SRU. Already having taught at Hirum College, and inspired by Harvard University's class on the same topic called "Positive Psychology," I'd like to get Dr. Laux's perspective on how his first (and last) Happiness course at SRU went. I'll also be interviewing Dr. Flynn, who approved the course, a "non-traditional" student, and several other students who've taken the course.

"Positive Psychology" was taught by Tal Ben-Shahar, and became Harvard's most popular class, superseding even "Intro to Business." That inspired Dr. Laux to not only teach the course, but also to fill up the auditorium in Eisenberg.

This Meograph will be important to SRU students because people other than communication majors were interested in, and are enrolled in the course. Dr. Laux has also taught at the university for over 25 years, and recently the sorority AOII awarded him with the title of "Most Influential Faculty Member."

This story is relevant to timeliness in that the class is just about to end, and people will have concrete judgments about it by now. I think a lot of people will be interested in how the class went if they didn't take it, and if they did take it, how others' feelings compared.

In relation to significance, 95 people have enrolled in the course, and it's one of the bigger elective classes people have shown interest in taking. If people themselves aren't enrolled in the course, their friends have certainly talked about it and piqued their interest.

It's also a human interest story because a retiring professor stayed and extra year, and realized his goal course just as he was about to retire.

Native American Celebration Day kicks off with storytelling and traditional dancing

Smith Student Center Ballroom, Tuesday Nov. 4, 10:30 a.m.

 Traditional Jingle Dancing

            Slippery Rock University brought in this year’s Native American Celebration Day with cultural dancing, and craft making.

           The Pittsburgh-based Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center joined to bring the event together in the Smith Student Center Ballroom. The celebration began on the morning of Thursday, November 6th with Native American storytelling that began at 9:30 a.m. SRU invited local elementary and middle school students to this event and those students were invited to stay for the Native American jingle dancers

            The jingle dancers introduced the story of their origin, which began when a man’s granddaughter became sick. He then dreamt about women adorned in silver dresses, and constructed his own dress out of lids of tobacco cans. He folded each lid into a cone, and sewed them on to a dress for a dancer. The first time a dancer danced with the dress on, his granddaughter became conscious. The second time a dancer danced, she sat up. The third time she stood, and the fourth time she danced alongside the other dancers.

            Crafters were able to display and sell their wares throughout the day. The setup included various stands displaying traditional jewelry, dream catchers, and arrowheads. Students were also welcome to participate in crafting dream catchers.

Sophomore Alyssa Pauletich, 20, art education and special education major, said that the social aspect of Native American Celebration Day was what drew her to the event.

“I like how interactive these cultural events are,” Pauletich said, “I’m especially excited about making a dream catcher. It’s too often that cultural events don’t go out of their way to involve participants.”

            Junior Haley Cardwell, 20, said that she went to the event to check out the jewelry and to make a dream catcher. Cardwell said she’s also part Native American, and that drew her to the event as well.

           "It's really interesting that people are still so connected to their culture," Cardwell said. "It makes me want to be more connected to mine as well. 

Why Cardwell came to Native American Celebration Day.

Students making dream catchers

RockOUT's annual Drag Show draws largest crowd in history.

The annual Drag Show at SRU, hosted by RockOUT, gets the largest crowd in its history after moving its location to the Smith Student Center ballroom. Local Drag Queens, and two SRU students participated, and got cheers and laughs from a generally receptive audience.

Kettlecorn Video Proposal: Pride week

My proposed KettleCorn video project will focus on the events during Pride Week, hosted by Rock Out. I want to focus on the drag show primarily, but also want to include the candlelight vigils and speakers.