Nerdfighters, as well as being made of awesome, are made of love
It started with a squirrel.
A friend of mine posted a link to the video: ‘Attacked by Squirrels and Neoclassicism: Thoughts From Places, Washington, D.C’. I watched it, which is something I usually don’t do with videos people post.
It began interesting and then DISASTER STRUCK!
I had to watch the video three more times before I finally made it past the conversation John had with the squirrel without laughing so loud that I couldn’t hear the rest of the video.
I started watching other videos, then I subscribed, then I knew enough to call myself a Nerdfighter, then I joined a Nerdfighter Facebook group, then I attended a Halloween Nerdfighter party (dressed as Slytherin and overjoyed when people got the reference), then I made friends who I am still friends with, despite a move across the country.
I gained a deeper understanding of some of the friends I already had, now knowing where some of their jokes and references came from.
I read more books - not only John’s, but those he recommended (including the Hunger Games trilogy which I’d previously disdained as being overrated).
I listened to music and found myself able to retain scientific facts (never my best subject) because I’d learned them from a song. Anglerfish became my new favorite fish and I was glad when someone else acknowledged that the epilogue of the last Harry Potter novel was crap.
I watched other YouTube vloggers they knew like Minute Earth, Emily from The Brain Scoop, and Hannah Hart’s drunken adorable face, and then went on to find others from there.
I’ve even started my own vlog for my family and friends far away from me, so they can keep up with what I’m doing.
I found a shiny corner of the internet filled with people who were, at once, the same as me and completely different. People who decided to take the word ‘nerd’ that had been an insult growing up and make it a badge of honor. A community of people who care about things, whatever those things are, and use that to decrease world-suck and increase awesome.
When I was very sick last year, I could rewatch a group of nerds taking over Carnegie Hall and even though my illness prevented me from smiling, I could bask in a warm glow, as though I were watching my close friends from the front row. I couldn’t move my mouth to form the words, but I wrote “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me” on my wall, so I could see it and find a way to believe it.
When I moved to California, I had room for one book, so I chose my favorite John Green novel (An Abundance of Katherines). The same novel I had John sign at the LA Times Festival of Books a couple weeks ago as I stammered my admiration and he smiled and thanked me. I realized then that his words regarding platonic affection in the book were right, “There are some people you can just love and love and love.” I feel like Nerdfighters, as well as being made of awesome, are made of love.
-Beth (@silverandgreen)