#old nerdfighters

[road2nf]

Nerdfighteria Story

I won’t lie, at 39 I feel like an ancient Nerdfighter. I remember last summer getting a hand on a free copy of The Fault In Our Stars from a lady at my therapist’s office who was getting rid of some books and I read it. I also loved it.

I knew of the Nerdfighter community for years but I always felt I was too old for it. I remember once saying I was in my 30s and reading The Fault in Our Stars and asking people not to judge me. Then someone was like, “Why would we judge you? John Green is around your age.” I Googled it and sure enough, he is only seven months older than me. So I then went off to find other Nerdfighters. Didn’t find that many offline but that’s mostly because I’m an introvert of sorts but I did find a bunch online and yep, I found some that were over the age of 35.

And truth is I don’t feel ashamed that I am an older Nerdfighter anymore. I volunteer at a local hospital and I remember one day I was in the cafeteria reading The Fault In Our Stars and a nurse in her 40s came up to me and said, “That book made me cry so much.” She even told me about how her husband and kids bought her all this TFIOS related memorabilia for Christmas one year.

Also, recently I was reading Looking For Alaska in my doctor’s office and one of the medical assistants was like, “I loved that book!” And I knew she wasn’t a 20-something. So yeah, being an older Nerdfighter isn’t too bad.

I found Nerdfighters who are in my generation, who know what it’s like to be disabled or chronically ill (I have CRPS: Type I), who live in my area, and even Nerdfighters who are Christian like me and they actually have very intelligent conversations on religion and Christian life which is great because in 2015, I converted to Baptist and I felt so very lost in the faith because my knowledge of the Bible was lacking. These people actually helped me learn more and made me feel like there is nothing wrong with being a Christian Nerdfighter (some conservative Christians made me feel like it was worshiping a false idol).

I have found that I can watch funny YouTube clips and have a diverse music selection without anyone thinking I am weird. I can admit to watching things like old epsoides of Studio 60 and other smart TV shows and no one thinks that’s out of the ordinary. I don’t have to act like the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan is relevant or be judged because I don’t find certain shows to be funny or exciting because this is a group that encourages intelligence and being awesome. Okay, I can’t argue there.

I don’t really blend in that well and I don’t find a lot of places to fit in. I fit in here and the best part? I don’t have to change who I am. So I guess being closer to 40 and being a Nerdfighter is actually a good thing. DFTBA!

via @mystic-perrian-nerdfighter

[road2nf]

My Road To Nerdfighteria: kujmous

How did I find Nerdfighteria?

Greetings. My username is pronounced “kooj-mouse.”  I am probably older than you. I will turn forty this July. My time on this side of the internet started a few years back. I believe the first YouTube channel that I regularly watched was Hannah Hart’s with “My Drunk Kitchen.” As I watched her from week to week, she had some collaborations. It seemed every time I saw another collaboration, I subscribed to somebody new. Through Hannah, I found Andrew Huang and Meghan Tonjes. Through them, I found Gunnarolla and Mike Falzone. It kept going. Somebody at one point mentioned Twitter. I was aware of it, but didn’t have an account. That then changed, as I started following more and more creators on Twitter.

That was when Project For Awesome 2012 happened. I had no idea what was going on, but my Twitter feed was abuzz with post after post after post about this charity. What was it? What did it support? There was a live stream! “I’ll watch that,” I said. I was instantly confounded. I had never heard of Worldsuck or French The Llama or Pizza John or any of the many things that are such an intertwined part of the community. What in the world was Nerdfighteria? I was lost on every joke. But then they started naming charities, and I was floored. Videos were played for Cancer research, starvation, water wells. There were perks, too. I donated before I really understood how everything worked. I saw that this was a way to put so much positive change into the world, and it was an easy decision. It was from there that I found Crash Course, Sci Show, Vlog Brothers, and I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for the selflessness of making educational, soulful, thoughtful, and kind messages. I remember John and Hank breaking videos down into “lean forward” and “lean back” content, but thinking they’d missed the “lean together” content. I remember Dr. Doe’s first Sexplanations video saying “denim, denim, denim.”  I had found a place that inspired me and entertained me.

What does it mean to be a Nerdfighter?

As an older Nerdfighter, this community brings me a sense of purpose. The creators are already being awesome humans, so what it means to me is supporting and patronizing their content, leaving constructive comments, and generally looking after them as best as I can so that they have the best chance of putting their best selves into what they make. I had tried very briefly to be a creator, and I don’t think it was meant for me to be in front of a camera or to be artistic. Being kind is enough, though.

This community is mostly young whippersnappers and rapscallions, and I think Nerdfighteria is helping to keep them young where it’s most important.

[wimblywomblys]

I don’t want Nerdfighteria to become a place that’s just somewhere that teenagers hang out…I don’t want it to be about demographics that way, because I find those kinds of demographics to be really uninteresting.

John Green