🙂 Adrienne Domasin. I currently live in Mission Viejo. Since completing my doctorate, I’m an independent scholar and professional writer. I’m the editor for a collection on The Last of Us due to be released in 2024 and I am under contract to publish a manuscript based on my dissertation on The Last of Us.

❓ Explain your history and involvement with SWPACA.
I discovered SWPACA in 2019 when I was writing a paper on Breaking Bad, which is one of my other media obsessions. I like SWPACA because the people are not as pretentious to those that I have met at other academic conferences that I have presented at. I also appreciate that I can present on various popular culture interests that I have.

❓ How did you become interested in The Last of Us?
I became interested in The Last of Us due to my fascination with post-apocalyptic narratives. I don’t know how, but I haven’t presented anything on The Walking Dead yet. I watched that series from day one every night the episode aired. In 2016, a very good friend of mine said, “If you like The Walking Dead, then you need to check out this video game, The Last of Us.” I was hooked from the moment after the first playable segment in the game ended and the screen read, “20 years later.” I came to the video game first and once I learned that it was going to be adapted to an HBO episodic melodrama, I modified my dissertation proposal to incorporate The Last of Us.

❓ What do you hope folks will gain from participating in The Last of Us in the future?
I hope that the folks presenting on The Last of Us will be able to continue the interest in this endearing story that offers audiences meaningful representations of people from various races and genders.

❓ What is your current pop culture passion/obsession?
My current popular culture obsession is actual gameplay of Part I and Part II on Twitch. While writing my dissertation on TLoU, I had little time to play the games. I hadn’t even opened Part II, which I purchased in 2020, until September of 2023. Since I defended my dissertation in July, I have finished both games, while live streaming. I’m still working on my streaming set-up and technology, but I plan to continue live streaming for fun indefinitely.

📢 Join Adrienne Domasin and The Last of Us folks at SWPACA24! Proposals now being accepted through 11/14 at https://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/