Kellen Aguilar
Whether you seek a writer to research and write compelling copy, or a detail-oriented copyeditor to proofread documents for publication; a web designer to craft a website tailor-made for marketing and selling your products and services; a graphic designer to create elegant, effective branding and collateral for your business; a social media specialist to strategically promote your brand on social media; a photographer to capture striking, memorable moments from an upcoming event in photos and video; a teacher and mentor to help improve writing skills through in-depth instruction in composition; Kellen Aguilar Consulting produces results on time, before the deadline!
  • Whether you seek a writer to research and write compelling copy, or a detail-oriented copyeditor to proofread documents for publication; a web designer to craft a website tailor-made for marketing and selling your products and services; a graphic designer to create elegant, effective branding and collateral for your business; a social media specialist to strategically promote your brand on social media; a photographer to capture striking, memorable moments from an upcoming event in photos and video; a teacher and mentor to help improve writing skills through in-depth instruction in composition; Kellen Aguilar Consulting produces results on time, before the deadline!
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Kell 'n' Tell

A space for sharing.

This essay demonstrates how Alan of Lille’s The Plaint of Nature and merritt k.’s Lim — a medieval poem and a contemporary queer video game, respectively — deconstruct the binaries of heteronormativity through the particular ways that each deploys allegory and enacts queer failure. By relying on Jack Halberstam’s theorization of “queer failure,” I read Plaint through Lim in order to argue that whether accidental or not, the contradictions/glitches inherent to Plaint and Lim perform queerness despite both works’ ostensible anti- or non-existent queer elements. Observing the contradictions/glitches in these works reveals fruitful avenues for comparative reading — that is, the contradictions of a medieval poem as “glitches” in the poem’s “code” and the glitches in a digital game as “contradictions” in the game’s binary (i.e. 1/0) “language.”

Glitched-Out Fiction Part I: Hermaphroditic Hackers in Alan of Lille’s The Plaint of Nature

Kellen Aguilar March 18, 2019 Academia, Essay, Graduate School, Video Games Leave a Comment

This post is the first of a two-part series in which I analogize the contradictions or elisions in works of literature to the glitches in video games. The series draws …

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academiaEssayfailureglitchlimliteraturemedievalnaturequeerqueer game studiesqueer theoryresearchvideo games
Video games have developed into a rich, growing field at many top universities, but they have rarely been considered from a queer perspective. Immersion in new worlds, video games seem to offer the perfect opportunity to explore the alterity that queer culture longs for, but often sexism and discrimination in gamer culture steal the spotlight. Queer Game Studies provides a welcome corrective, revealing the capacious albeit underappreciated communities that are making, playing, and studying queer games. These in-depth, diverse, and accessible essays use queerness to challenge the ideas that have dominated gaming discussions. Demonstrating the centrality of LGBTQ issues to the gamer world, they establish an alternative lens for examining this increasingly important culture. Queer Game Studies covers important subjects such as the representation of queer bodies, the casual misogyny prevalent in video games, the need for greater diversity in gamer culture, and reading popular games like Bayonetta, Mass Effect, and Metal Gear Solid from a queer perspective. Perfect for both everyday readers and instructors looking to add diversity to their courses, Queer Game Studies is the ideal introduction to the vast and vibrant realm of queer gaming. Contributors: Leigh Alexander; Gregory L. Bagnall, U of Rhode Island; Hanna Brady; Mattie Brice; Derek Burrill, U of California, Riverside; Edmond Y. Chang, U of Oregon; Naomi M. Clark; Katherine Cross, CUNY; Kim d’Amazing, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; Aubrey Gabel, U of California, Berkeley; Christopher Goetz, U of Iowa; Jack Halberstam, U of Southern California; Todd Harper, U of Baltimore; Larissa Hjorth, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; Chelsea Howe; Jesper Juul, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts; merritt kopas; Colleen Macklin, Parsons School of Design; Amanda Phillips, Georgetown U; Gabriela T. Richard, Pennsylvania State U; Toni Rocca; Sarah Schoemann, Georgia Institute of Technology; Kathryn Bond Stockton, U of Utah; Zoya Street, U of Lancaster; Peter Wonica; Robert Yang, Parsons School of Design; Jordan Youngblood, Eastern Connecticut State U.

Review of Queer Game Studies (2017)

Kellen Aguilar January 18, 2019 Reviews, Video Games Leave a Comment

2014’s Gamergate controversy — a concerted effort by ultra-conservative gamers and critics to attack what they perceived as the feminization of gaming culture — put a spotlight on the toxicity …

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queerqueer game studiesreviewvideo games
Being a graduate student isn't easy. You'll need a lot of time and energy to understand your lessons. You'll have to endure longer classes and more complicated requirements just to get over it. Most of the time, you'll feel overwhelmed and frustrated.

Protected: Some Very Candid Reflections on My First Quarter of Graduate School

Kellen Aguilar December 27, 2018 Academia, Graduate School, Humor, Personal Leave a Comment

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

adviceFunnygraduate schoolHumornonfictionpersonal reflection
A six-paneled comic that was part of a composition exercise I completed for the Spanish Language Diagnostic Exam at Northwestern University. Essentially, I had to write a narrative based on the comic. The result was equal parts cringeworthy and hilarious, but I still managed to pass the exam.

Una cuenta bien que escribí en español por un examen para evaluar cómo escribo en español (“An Okay Story that I Wrote in Spanish for an Exam to Evaluate How I Write in Spanish”)

Kellen Aguilar October 15, 2018 Family, Humor, Personal Leave a Comment

Some people get their kicks from going to the movies on a work night. Some people get their jimmies rustled by jumping out of an airplane at 18000ft without a …

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The introductory image to the infographic entitled, "The Long and Winding Road to a Ph.D"

Protected: How I’m Feeling Right Now, At This Very Moment, About Going to Graduate School in English

Kellen Aguilar September 23, 2018 Academia, Career, Graduate School, Humor, Personal Leave a Comment

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

academiaadvicecareerFunnygraduate schoolHumorjob marketMellon Mays
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