One of the many reasons to heart Geek Feminism is that they come up with wonderful finds like this – The Nerd Anthem by Marian Call.
Check out this live version, complete with live typewriter (!) accompaniment:
This song makes me so proud to be a geek. It resonated with me from the very first lyrics, because they put words to a phenomenon that I have experienced for as long as I can remember: “All the cool kids keep enthusiasm rationed / Right down to the last explosive ounce.” Being “too into” the many things I liked as a kid – especially the nerdiest things that I enjoyed, like Hebrew school or literature – was emphatically NOT OKAY with many of my peers, and they had no problem telling me so. I love it that this song starts out by taking this narrow-mindedness to task by brazenly asserting, I’d rather be interested in the world and the many things that I appreciate about it than be cool, or as Call puts it: “But I’d rather indulge my many passions / Even if my squaritude’s a little too pronounced”
The long, slow process of becoming the proud, happy adult nerd that I am today is the result of making precisely this kind of choice over and over again. Each time I have decided to rant instead of dissemble, to explain rather than let it go, to research rather than take something at face value, to learn for fun because I want to, to care and game, to read and write and opine – all of these moments contributed to the satisfying, passionate interests that make my life so full and interesting.
Many thanks to Marian Call and Geek Feminism for making me feel so glad to be a geek today, and a pleasant Hobbit day to everyone!
