Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Endres.
Hi Thomas, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Though I was born in South Dakota and now reside in Colorado, most of my life and much of my heart resides in Minnesota. I graduated from Pacelli High School in Austin, MN, and earned my undergraduate degree at St. Cloud State University. In 1986, I earned my Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Minnesota. My first job was as Director of Forensics (speech and debate) at St. Olaf College in Northfield, and from there went on to become chair of Communication at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for roughly 13 years.
I am now a professor of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. No matter where I taught, my research line was always the study of people’s stories. Technically, I looked at rhetorical communities, that is, communities that are bonded not by geographic locale, but rather by a shared storyline – the same heroes, villains, plots, and settings. I have studied diverse groups such as single mothers, father-daughter dyads, lay people in the Catholic church, and tattooed people.
Twenty years ago, Kirk House Publishers in Burnsville published my first book of stories (photographs and interviews), titled “Sturgis Stories: Celebrating the People of the World’s Largest Motorcycle Rally.” In May of 2023, they published my latest study of a rhetorical community; this one titled “My Costume, Myself: Celebrating Stories of Cosplay and Beyond.” It started as a smaller project looking at cosplayers in the Colorado region but grew to look at costume usage across the United States in such diverse practices as historical reenactment, drag, celebrity impersonation, live-action role play (LARP), street busking, and even nudism.
My wife and I spent much of 2022 on the road, interviewing and photographing individuals and couples in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Chicago, Orlando, New Orleans, and the Badlands and Black Hills of the Dakotas. I presented the early phases of this work in a keynote address at the November 2022 MediAsia conference in Kyoto, Japan. While there, I had the opportunity to interview and photograph Nobuyuki Takahashi, the Japanese writer who first coined the term “cosplay” (costume play) in a 1983 manga magazine titled “My Anime.” Mr. Takahashi graciously wrote the foreward to my book.
The book is a combination of research, interviews, and photographs. Topics covered include the history of costume play, the use of costume in presenting cultural aspects of self (e.g. race, age, gender, gender orientation, religion, level of ability or disability), debates about degrees of accuracy to source material, costumes used for work or to represent lifestyle choices and rules for etiquette. Each of the six chapters ends with three “Costume Conversations” – in-depth interviews with a variety of costume wearers including steampunk couple Chaos and Lady Vo, drag queen Khrys’taaal turned professional wrestler Remy D., and Civil War and historical reenactment trainer John C. Luzader as Lewis and Clark expedition member Patrick Gass.
Perhaps the most sought-after story is that of Samantha Nord. Sam has Holt-Oram Syndrome, which means that her arms did not fully develop. Her popular cosplay outfit is that of Lady Deadpool. Since the Deadpool characters regenerate when injured, Sam wears a pair of severed arms at her waist, making it look like her hands and arms are now growing back out of her shoulders.
The book concludes by assuring costume wearers that, as long as they have a satisfactory answer to the question “appropriate or appropriation” when it comes to other cultures and colors, anybody is free to dress however and as whomever they want.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Most of my career has been as a quasi-administrator. Though I always taught classes, much of my job assignment was administrative; I was always the chair or director of one thing or another. Generally, a college faculty member is eligible for sabbatical leave (release from teaching to conduct research) once every seven years. Because of my administrative assignments, I taught for 40 years before I accrued enough classroom time to be eligible for a sabbatical leave. I took my sabbatical in the Spring of 2022, with the intent to meet and interview cosplayers who attended the FanExpo comic convention every summer in Denver.
It did not take long for that project to take on a life of its own. Every person I talked to discussed another avenue or another group (e.g. steampunks, cosplayers for a cause, Ren Fair attendees) that I should look into. When I saw this was going to explode into a book-length treatment, I contacted the folks at Kirk House to see if they’d like to work with me on another photo essay book. Fortunately, they issued me a contract immediately.
All told, the book was just under two years in the making. It was a long but enjoyable journey. Much of my life (including exercise and socializing) had to take a back seat, as I spent evenings, weekends, and every spare minute on the book. The effort, I believe, was worth it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Again, I’m a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. From 2003-2020, I was chair/director of the School of Communication, a multi-pronged unit that included the departments of Communication Studies (COMM) and Journalism & Media Studies (JMS), as well as a master’s program. Ironically, I decided to step down from leadership roles and back into full-time teaching just as COVID hit. Our university, like so many across the country, was deeply impacted and our enrollments dropped.
When we got the all-clear to return to campus, much had changed. Our MA program was disbanded, and the separate COMM and JMS programs were blended into a single and smaller department. Though my goal was to step out of administrative duties, the post-pandemic shuffling did shuffle me into some smaller administrative roles. At this time, I am the coordinator for both our department’s Online Degree Completion program and the university’s Leadership Studies (LEAD) minor.
I am perhaps most known for my public presentations. As an undergraduate at SCSU, I was the 1980 American Forensics Association national champion in After Dinner Speaking. I spent years as a speech and debate coach, and have delivered more than 250 presentations and workshops worldwide. I frequently attend conferences as a keynote speaker and have been fortunate to give talks in Barcelona, Anakara, Brighton, Osaka, Beijing, Bangkok, and – most recently – the 2022 MediAsia conference in Kyoto.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The face of higher education is changing rapidly. With factors such as a decreasing population and increased competition from online degree mills, mid-size colleges are needing to adapt in brand-new ways. My institution in Colorado is adjusting in healthy ways, such as making strides to become a Hispanic Serving Institute (HSI) and targeting our marketing strategies to first-generation students in our region.
To this, add artificial intelligence. We as teachers are scrambling to find ways to embrace and integrate the powers of ChatGPT. We cannot outlaw it, so we must evolve with it. Five years from now artificial intelligence will make much of the world, especially higher education, a very different place.
Pricing:
- $24.95 paperback
- $34.95 hardcover
- $6.99 Kindle or Nook
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kirkhousepublishers.com/product-page/my-costume-myself-celebrating-stories-of-cosplay-and-beyond
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBeyJJbLZ-A&t=7s
Image Credits
Maki Notohara Endres and Thomas G. Endres
