Nerds

The Chicago Tribune wrote a feature on "nerds" in Tuesday's paper.

Nerds are perceived as authentic because they're unable to follow trends. Authenticity is always in–or a gesture toward authenticity is always in. Nerds are perceived as people who just have to pursue what they're interested in and ignore what's supposed to be cool.

Yeah "authentic," that's what I was in high school. Don't miss the photo gallery of fictional nerds. They forgot to mention the classic movie Revenge of the Nerds.

Fun fact: A nerd first appeared as one of the strange animals in the Dr. Seuss book If I Ran the Zoo. The expression was popularized by the Fonz on Happy Days, a popular TV show when I was growing up. Certainly I exemplfied nerddom in my high school (captain of the chess team, president of the computer club, ugly glasses and socially awkward). I grew out of it a bit, but anyone who writes (or bothers to read) this blog must have some nerdiness left within them.

Is being a nerd cool now? TV shows about nerds—Numb3rs, Chuck, Big Bang Theory, CSI—all got renewed. We have famous nerds like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. But once nerds are cool, they are nerds no longer.