Earlier this week we posted a photograph of Alexander reading the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan by the light of an iPad while listening to a one-hour YouTube version of Pachelbel’s Canon under bed covers. (It’s a loop. According to my son there’s also a TEN hour version. That’s a lot of Pachelbel’s Canon. Nice song, but ten hours?)
It prompted an extremely supportive conversation about geeks and geekiness. Needless to say, our audience essentially embraces all geeks everywhere with hugs and kisses.
Model Rocketry
Coin Collecting
Stamp Collecting
Sleight-of-hand magic
Escapology (Admittedly, a branch of magic but distinct unto itself.)
Houdini (Admittedly, a branch of Escapology but distinct unto itself. I have read dozens of books about Houdini.)
Chemistry
Making Gunpowder in the Basement (Admittedly, a branch of chemistry but distinct unto itself If for no other reason than it’s completely illegal. A pharmacy student at North Dakota State University was my main supplier of potassium nitrate. Long story, but when you put a match to a big pile of it stand back! I wasn’t smart enough to make anything actually explode. At the very least, it does raise some very SERIOUS parenting issues. I can remember my mother looking at my dad and saying, “Bud, do think this is a good idea? His response: I dunno.)
Kite Flying
Model Airplanes
Boy Scouts
The Hardy Boys
Barbara Johnson
Claudia Wanberg
Beth Stewart
Miss Tweet (She was blonde, Norwegian, Miss North Dakota, probably 20 years old, and my sixth grade student teacher. That’s a powerful combination.) When she sang her talent portion from the Miss ND contest at the class Christmas party the world stood still. I don’t remember the song; I’m not sure I actually heard the song. The fact that she was named Tweet was like something out of Charles Dickens or Harry Potter. I do remember, however, that Miss Tweet was all the confirmation I needed that I was indeed a full-fledged, life-long heterosexual.
Photography. I used flash bulbs but it stuck.
Me wearing the straitjacket my mother made for me as part of my Harry Houdini / escapology persona. I owned handcuffs, 100 feet of rope and a straitjacket and went door to door challenging my neighbors to constrain me, put me in their garage, and watch me escape for 25 cents. If I could not escape they received a refund. I never had to make a refund.
Noticeably missing from this list is anything that requires any type of athletic ability. That was commonly referred to in our family as Kelsh Male Disease. My two young sons don’t seem to have it. Their older brother not so much.
Just an FYI, Alexander told me this morning he’s going to fast tomorrow. Or at least breakfast. My advice to Alexander is that he fly the Geek flag high and proud.
