Alpha Fandoms
Rush (the band), Final Fantasy IV and VII
20/20 Promise
Marc is a bit of an individualist, having been raised Republican, but rebelling to “Independent” status early. He recognizes and appreciates the ability to carve one’s own place through individual agency, as enhanced and aided by technology, to address systemic inequality. While he aggressively finds the “bootstraps” narrative to be bullshit, he also acknowledges that one cannot expect circumstances to change without personal evolution and alteration of tactics. Marc does, of course, acknowledge his privilege, and access to resources as he says that. An outcast in middle school, he rejoices at the recent embrace of “pop culture” and all things therein, as well as the increased access this provides to most, especially those in struggles for their own identity or to “make their own space.” All this influences his writing, and how he views media to this day.
Marc J. Dziezynski
Writer. Con Staff. Speedrun Streamer.
“Why? … Why not? … Why not you? … Why not now?” – Jim Rohn
In some ways, an artifact of an earlier age, Mr. Dziezynski spent most of his adult life at a single employer. Marc graduated Waterbury’s Holy Cross High School class of 2001 as a member of the National Honor’s Society, and winner of the Louis Armstrong Jazz award for his work with bass guitar. Dubbing himself “a Living epitome of the sports-writer Bill Simmons’ 90/10 Rule” he prides himself as someone who consistently analyzes the 10 percent of something done wrong, instead of the 90 percent done right. Having won the very best of lotteries, Marc met his wife-to-be in concert band, where they bonded over a mutual love of music and other geeky hobbies. Following graduation, Marc attended Franklin Pierce University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude and a member of the Alpha Kai honors society in 2005, majoring in Computer Science with a minor in music.
The summer of his college freshman year saw Marc working for his uncle in heating and air-condition maintenance. This “gophership” prepped him for later temping in a factory position. All that proved preamble for Marc’s actual career, in the Banking industry in one form or another, contracting in various positions at the same institution in the New England area. These roles have ranged from Systems Administrator to Systems Analyst/Programmer, a position he would maintain for the majority of his career across a number of groups. What followed was a permanent position in the field of information technology. Save for a 3-month layoff in the early 2010s, that would represent the longest running position of his career, transitioning from team to team. Since then, Marc has moved to a different firm in “Fin Tech”, where he has taken a role as an Application Analyst. He recently received his Amazon Cloud Practitioner certification in September 2020 and is working toward earning his Cloud Services Architect certification. Marc has also been a member of Toastmasters since 2019.
In terms of fandom, Marc has been a geek for much of his life. Like many his age, some of his first fandoms were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Super Mario Bros. The latter, in particular, set him up for a lifelong obsession with video games of all kinds. Not long after that, he discovered Nintendo Power, opening his eyes to a variety of other franchises. Soon after that, Dragon Warrior would make him a proper RPG addict. It was this obsession with video games, along with an enjoyment of writing, that inspired his “speedrun” blog, Emptyeye, which has since grown into a variety of topics, from music to Geek lifestyle. It has even expanded to include “The Divisive Albums” podcast, analyzing experimentation and departures from formula that certain bands’ following may find “controversial.”
What’s more, Marc involved himself in the convention scene for some time. Beginning as a panelist at GobbleCon, a now-closed local event in Connecticut, Marc expanded by leaps and bounds. As a staff member at ConnectiCon from 2011 to 2014, he began with oversight of the Rock Band tournament, working his way up to the Director of Digital Gaming.
Today, when not engaged in his day job, Marc flits across various creative projects. The fields he’s dabbled in span but aren’t limited to music, art, podcasting, live-streaming, and writing. Besides his digital anthropology series on the evolution of classic video game franchises “DiG Nation” for The Unconventional, Marc is in the process of revising his first book, a teen spy novella.