Nerdjutsu
I received my Boken the other day. That's the wooden sword-like tools one uses to practice kendo. I asked Stephen if he'd practice with me and he said he wasn't really into the nerd arts. He wasn't rude about it or anything, of course. He's always sweet and caring about my interests, even if he doesn't share them. I just replied "But chics like men with skills, ya know".
I'm such a nerd. No, I don't run around in a black mask pretending to be a ninja, but I do find world culture fascinating. I saw a flamenco group play in Louisville last night. I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced that... for whomever hasn't heard the spanish gypsy music, watched the elegant slow arm movements showing restraint and grace while the feet stomp out a powerful and passionate primal percussion. The michi mentality of Japan is so fascinating... the skill that goes into a proper tea ceremony and the reverence it is given as an honorable path to enlightenment, right alongside Bugei, caligraphy, etc... I find it interesting that the Samurai were to keep the law, not just as policement, but by being living examples of morality and spirituality.
Yes, I find humanity fascinating, in all their diverse splendor. Our faults are always in easy view, but for all our selfish, brutish, moblike tendancies we somehow manage to erupt in living art, usually when most under pressure. I don't think that reading about what other's do is enough. I want to go and see and hear and taste what life is like around the world. I want to struggle diligently to learn how to handle a katana and know that, with all my effort, it is nothing compared to the dedication some have given it's study. I want to see the beauty of what mankind can do, to counteract the dispair of knowing the hate and fear they often cultivate.
My home will always be in the hills and woods of the land I have grown up in. I love the woods here in ways I can't begin to express, but I am a thirsty mind. I have to experience the art around me, not just glance at pictures, but breath it in deep, emerse my muscles and mind in them by doing, not just reading. It seems almost disrespectful, to me, to casually admire a picture of a kimono and not learn the complexities of how to wear a kimono and the complex methods of dying and weaving. I don't own a datejime or obijime or even an obi (not just yet, anyway), but I want to know the feeling of putting on all those layers and carefully tying every belt and knowing what kanzashi is appropriate with furisode and which with a regular kimono, etc...
Yeah... I'm a nerd, but I'm a living, glowing, moving nerd and I love my nerd arts. :)
I'm such a nerd. No, I don't run around in a black mask pretending to be a ninja, but I do find world culture fascinating. I saw a flamenco group play in Louisville last night. I feel sorry for anyone who hasn't experienced that... for whomever hasn't heard the spanish gypsy music, watched the elegant slow arm movements showing restraint and grace while the feet stomp out a powerful and passionate primal percussion. The michi mentality of Japan is so fascinating... the skill that goes into a proper tea ceremony and the reverence it is given as an honorable path to enlightenment, right alongside Bugei, caligraphy, etc... I find it interesting that the Samurai were to keep the law, not just as policement, but by being living examples of morality and spirituality.
Yes, I find humanity fascinating, in all their diverse splendor. Our faults are always in easy view, but for all our selfish, brutish, moblike tendancies we somehow manage to erupt in living art, usually when most under pressure. I don't think that reading about what other's do is enough. I want to go and see and hear and taste what life is like around the world. I want to struggle diligently to learn how to handle a katana and know that, with all my effort, it is nothing compared to the dedication some have given it's study. I want to see the beauty of what mankind can do, to counteract the dispair of knowing the hate and fear they often cultivate.
My home will always be in the hills and woods of the land I have grown up in. I love the woods here in ways I can't begin to express, but I am a thirsty mind. I have to experience the art around me, not just glance at pictures, but breath it in deep, emerse my muscles and mind in them by doing, not just reading. It seems almost disrespectful, to me, to casually admire a picture of a kimono and not learn the complexities of how to wear a kimono and the complex methods of dying and weaving. I don't own a datejime or obijime or even an obi (not just yet, anyway), but I want to know the feeling of putting on all those layers and carefully tying every belt and knowing what kanzashi is appropriate with furisode and which with a regular kimono, etc...
Yeah... I'm a nerd, but I'm a living, glowing, moving nerd and I love my nerd arts. :)
posted by TwistedNoggin at 12:08 PM
8 Comments:
How does any of this make you a nerd? If anything, it makes you an intelligent, cultured person. Sure, others might not be into it, but that just means they're into different things. Nothing on this world makes anyone a "nerd." Some people wear the word with a badge of pride, but nothing changes the fact that it's a derogitory term used by people to make fun of those who don't share their interests (which is a superficial and hypocritical viewpoint), as well as a word that you can't define or measure of any degree of agreement.
We want to be distinguished, of course, and we want to fit in as well - but we don't need labels to separate us, or place us in groups simply to fit in. I know who I identify with (which is a good variety of people), and I don't need to call myself a "nerd" to reinforce that (especially since I can't honestly say I'm ONE particular type of person). It always saddens me when someone will label themselves something just to have something to stand for, and to have others with them - when human beings are so much more complex than that. I've got a friend who's into video games and comics and anime, but he's also equally a sports fan. Those two don't usually go together, but who says he can't be both? Labels do.
I don't have a problem with people calling themselves nerds (especially when they know who they are, and know that they don't have to fit under a label to be who they are), because today, it represents confidence and comfort in oneself. But at the same time, I think using labels like these (self-imposed or otherwise) can -and does, more often than we might like - reinforce the generalizations people use to classify others. Seems like someone always wants to label you, and claim they understand you without ever seeing who you really are - and then label themselves to fit into a group as easily as possible, without ever looking at who they really are. No understanding. No communication. No respect. We're not in high school anymore.
I think you're turning into Ray, trying to find something to debate about. :P
You mention some negative examples of how the term can be used, but I don't think you'd apply them to me and I think you know they don't apply to my post.
If you are critisizing my usage of the term in my post, please be more direct and say so. If you are looking for something to debate because you just happen to enjoy that, send it to Ray, not me. I'm just not into that. If you are looking for a place to share your own thoughts on the word "nerd", completely unrelated to my post, then it belongs on your own blog, not mine.
If there is anyone who doesn't fit well into one category, I realize that would be me. But, does that mean I have to use a 3-page description instead of one word every time I want to make a lighthearted joke about my obsessively-interested-in-everything tendencies? Be realistic.
Get your own blog. They're free.
Oh yeah, and NO I do not think that this post in ANY way perpetuated the divisions caused by the term. If anything, it explained a trait many write off as "nerdy", but in a way that more people might understand. Undertanding why different people do what they do is the beginning of the end for stereotypical divisions.
No, of course I wasn't applying what I posted to you, or to your usage of the term. I should have been more clear, because even though you know I know you know who you are (heh), my post doesn't need to be misleading to other readers. Your post just sparked a thought, and I ran with it. Maybe you don't want that kind of thought-sharing on your blog, but I had no way of knowing. It reads like a rant, though, so I can understand if you don't want it there. Please delete it. I'll show more reservation in the future.
I know you know I know you know who I am
-I couldn't resist.
I said something because A) I think your thoughts are interesting and you should have a blog through which to share them.
b) I get frustrated when I'm not sure what the point of something is c) If your criticisms are not directed at the post, then you really need to specify that before ranting. As long as you are clear about such things, you can rant on my blog all you want. I mini-rant on Anonymous Poet's site sometimes, though not this long, but I try to remember to say that I'm just on my own random tangent.
It boils down to this:
A comment on a post should be about the post. However, if you have a random thought that just happens to be sparked by a word in the post and you want to talk about it, at least be clear of what you are talking about.
I have no problem with someone going off topic so long as you let me know what the topic is, especially when it is sort of a rant. If you are ranting at me, and I'm not sure why, it's gonna bug me a little.
Noted.
YOU! Nerd!? LMAO Twisted, I would've never pegged you for that. I thought all your hints were just bluffs, but I guess you are truly nerdy *swwoooooon* HA! I'll keep my nerd-tastic hobbies to myself for a while, just in case I have to run for political office or something ;-)
Hope you are doing well and "Chicks like men with skillz!"
j
Just a comment regarding a comment up a ways, I (Ray) don't really like debating for the sake of debating. When I debate, I argue the points I believe in, not merely play the opposite to provoke discussion or antagonize. I do like clarity, and I do like language to be used precisely -- again for clarity's sake. When someone states a conviction, they open their view up for scrutiny -- which is only fair. Sometimes people like to state their views without having to defend them or allow them to be challenged. I believe if I state an opinion or argument, then I also have to allow others to challenge that notion. I do enjoy a profitable dialogue where people strive for clarity even when they don't agree. I don't really like to argue for argument's sake. I'd just as soon everyone agree with me all the time...heh heh.
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