Today's entry was supposed to be about something else, but I went to the Geeks session last night, and I have much to say about it.
So, we're in the session, and it's pretty apparent that I'm the only Geek there. Now, I've never felt like an outcast. Coming from a school like Broken Arrow where there are enough people for any person to find people like them, I've never had to. I'm not the extreme of Geekdom by any means. Much less so than some of my friends and fellow students. But, last night, I was the sole defender of geekdom. I've never felt as much of the "Other" as I did there. It was a haunting feeling.
It began with a brief statement by each student about what they thought about the book. I said "Well, I'm a self professed Geek. As you can likely tell *points to laptop*" She said, "What is it that you're doing there?" I said, "Like the rest of the students in the class, I'm taking notes. It's easier for me to organize here, and, when I write my paper, I don't have to have random pieces of paper everywhere." She said, "Well *condescending* can you shut that and just talk to us?" Jordan: *blink* um, yeah, I can. *does so* It's worth noting at this point I have said more than anyone there. So I continue my statement and she interrupts me with, "Was that hard for you?"
At this point, everything in my body screams.."WHAT?!" It came out "No. No it's not hard for me. It will be hard for me to take notes now." So I borrowed a piece of paper and went on.
The whole evening I defended Jesse and Eric's actions. It seemed the whole class viewed the book as the salvation of these two geeks. When, in fact, the book was about the fact that they needed no saving at all. I defended their culture, their libertarian ideals, their love of the net and it's community. By halfway through the seminar, nearly everyone but the professor was on my side, viewing Baylor-at-large as a training ground for intolerance.
At the end of the session she offered two assignments. 1.) Define Geek, and write an epilogue telling where the characters are in Jan. 2010. Mediocre assignment. 2.) Personally, or via e-mail, interview Jon Katz, Jesse, Eric, and Mr. Brown. (2 of the 4). She scratched the assignment after realizing that there was only 1 week to do the paper.
In her amazingly annoying monologue concerning the "awesome things she does at Baylor." She mentioned that she would be going to Oxford's round table on Gender Issues. At the end of the session, she casually mentioned that she was interested in taking a student with her. My interest was sparked.
I went up to her after the session and told her I still intended to do Assignment 2. And that I would get it done in a week. If they wouldn't respond, I'd merely do the first assignment. I also said, "So, how much would that Oxford trip cost." She said, "I was directing that to you. It's Gender Issues and the Internet. I'd like for you to come...and I'm trying to get Baylor to pay for it."
We talked for a while afterwards and she asked for my vitae. She said she's going to pitch it to Baylor this week. From Oxford we would go to Geneva and conferr an honorary Doctorate upon the president of the World Trade Association. Awesome.
I swiftly deleted the e-mail I was penning in my head in which I was responding to her opening comments in the seminar. I wonder if she thinks that she's "saving" this geek. Either way, I may get the chance to go to the Oxford Round Table Debates this year, and to Geneva.
I'm excited. I'll let you know how it progresses. On a side note, I ran some stats on my data today and it looks like there's a correllation there! I get to write it up and try to get it published! I also got the go-ahead on another study I want to run. I'm really excited about the academic prospects of this semester. Just have the GRE to look forward to this summer...ick.