My Stories from Nerdfighteria
Last week I conducted a (very) informal Twitter poll asking nerdfighters what has held them back from contributing their #NFstories to @road2nf.
If that last sentence made no sense, let me explain: my friends and I run The Road to Nerdfighteria, a worldwide multimedia project in which nerdfighters share their stories on how they found Nerdfighteria and what the community means to them. Nerdfighters can share their stories in the form of videos, blog posts, artwork, photos… basically any way you can tell a story.
It’s been going on for 11 months now, and as we near the one year anniversary of the launch of this project, I’ve started thinking about the people who have supported the project but maybe haven’t shared their story yet, and why that might be.
The part of the poll that surprised me the most was the 32% who felt like they didn’t have much of a story to tell. Admittedly, the sample size is rather small, but at least ten people feel like they don’t really have a story to share. To those ten people, I respectfully disagree: I think you do have a story worth sharing. It might just be different from the one you think you should share.
The prompts for this project are: How did you find Nerdfighteria? What does Nerdfighteria mean to you? I think people may get hung up on the first question because of one of two reasons:
2. Their story can be summed up in a sentence.
Honestly, it’s fine if you don’t remember. We’ve featured stories from people who don’t remember when or how they happened upon Nerdfighteria.
Others may feel like their story is pretty basic: “My friend showed me this video. I read this book. That’s it.” And that’s okay, too. We featured people whose stories could be summed up just like that. However, they chose to give more context to their story: they shared what their life was like before Nerdfighteria, how/why all the events in their life led to discovering Nerdfighteria, and how their life has changed since. Those stories can get super interesting.
But maybe you don’t have a life-changing story like that, with a big Before and an even bigger After. That’s okay. Your road to Nerdfighteria doesn’t have to be a novel.
In fact, the stories I’m most interested in don’t even answer the question, “How did you find Nerdfighteria?” The stories that fascinate me the most are those that come out of the question, “What does Nerdfighteria mean to you?”
When I hear that question, a number of stories immediately spring to mind…
Four years ago I took my first trip to Canada. I’d been quietly making YouTube videos for a year and a half, but I had no YouTube friends or any internet friends. At the time, the concept of making a friend through the internet was completely foreign to me.
I was taking this trip to Toronto to attend this new thing called Buffer Festival, the first film festival for YouTubers. As excited as I was for international solo traveling, it also terrified me. While I had traveled solo before, this was the first time I would be in a foreign country without knowing anyone there.
I needed to make friends there. A friend. I needed one friendly face.
Miraculously, I found this online group of solo travelers also attending Buffer Festival, and through this group of Lonewolves I was able to make friends. Not just internet friends but real life friends. People who were kind and friendly, people who went out of their way to make sure you felt included.
I later learned that the people who founded this group were nerdfighters, which of course made sense. They cared about community, about creating a space where people could find friends and help each other navigate Toronto. That was the first time I saw the kindness of nerdfighters in real life.
Two years ago, Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers were going on tour, and their first stop was in Chicago. At this point in my life, making friends through the internet was still a new thing for me. I’d made a few friends online, but it was not something that came naturally to me. I still felt clunky and awkward trying to initiate friendships online, so I wasn’t really good at the whole reaching out thing.
I didn’t know anyone else going to the concert, but I joined the Chicago Nerdfighters Facebook group to see if they were planning a meetup. Thankfully they were, and before the concert I headed alone to the meetup, hoping to make nerdfighter friends.
Most of these people already knew each other, and I wasn’t sure where to insert myself. After some awkward smiling and waving, I found myself sitting next to a young woman who also didn’t know anyone there. She was warm and friendly, and talking to her helped calm my social anxiety.
Later I ran into some old internet friends, one of whom I was meeting for the first time in real life. With my old friends and my new friend, we headed to the concert together and spent the evening rocking out to nerdy songs.
After the concert we headed our separate ways. It was late, and I was supposed to take the subway to a garage, where my car was parked. My new friend, a Chicago native, offered to ride the subway with me. (She was parked in that garage, too.) As we rode the subway, I started to get motion sickness, and she offered to keep me distracted by talking about our shared love of Doctor Who. (It worked.) When we got off the subway, she went out of her way to make sure I got to my car safely. We hugged like we’d been friends forever and parted ways.
That night, I learned that nerdfighters, regardless of whether they know you, look out for each other. It’s a very special quality, and I’ve seen it many times in Nerdfighteria since that night.
Two months ago I was at the cinema with a couple of coworkers to see Wonder Woman. One of my coworkers brought a friend of hers, because “I think you and she would get along.”
We were waiting in line at the concession stand, and her friend and I hit it off right away, talking about Harry Potter. At some point in mid-speech she gasps and points at my shirt. I happened to be wearing a DFTBA shirt that day.
Immediately it clicks, but I have trouble getting the words out. “Are you…? You know DFT…?? You’re a…???” For a solid minute we’re both just geeking out, unable to say actual words, only excited squeals and high fives. Both my co-workers are looking on with confused faces, but they know something special just happened.
We both tweet about meeting a nerdfighter in the wild because how often does that happen?? And right up until the movie starts, we go through each other’s Crash Course in Nerdfighteria involvement: how long have you been a nerdfighter? What nerdfighter things have you done? Which other YouTubers do you watch? Have you met Hank or John or Rosianna? Read the books? Gone to concerts? Harry Potter Alliance? Project for Awesome? VidCon? NerdCon?
You have to understand that where I live, it’s extremely rare to meet a nerdfighter in the wild, much less one you get along with so well. She was incredibly friendly and cool and did I mention she’s a Harry Potter nerd?
I was 100% comfortable with being incredibly nerdy with this awesome new person, which was a far cry from how I was when I first discovered Nerdfighteria six years ago. When I found Nerdfighteria, I was this super shy nerd who was struggling to find other nerdy adults in my post-grad life. Now, it’s easier than ever.
Nerdfighteria has shaped my adult friend group, taught me how to be kind and helpful, and given me so many cool experiences and stories to share. The stories I have because of Nerdfighteria are what make me the person I am today.
I think anyone who’s had a brush with Nerdfighteria has some story to share, something about it that has made an impression on you. Something that sticks. Maybe the story isn’t your road to Nerdfighteria, but it is a story about Nerdfighteria that has some personal meaning to you.
That’s the story I want to hear.
(As always, you’re welcome to share your story with The Road to Nerdfighteria. I promise we will love it.)
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