Nerding it up

When I was in high school, being a nerd was decidedly not cool. Getting good grades was lame, getting into good colleges was lame, liking school was really lame. While college was indeed a welcome change, I've really enjoyed the nerd renaissance of the past few years. Harry Potter brought science fiction to the masses. Bill Gates is the world's VIP. Comic book movies have become the biggest blockbusters. I can write a blog, belong to a book club, talk politics with my friends, and even read the Buffy comics, all the while maintaining my uber-cool rep.

So I must have had an amused smirk on my face when I read David Brook's op-ed piece today. He likens our current president to the high school dumb jock who doesn't think that being smart is cool. But because of his abomination of an administration, now all nerds can proudly and publicly unite, and claim Obama as their own. Bush has inadvertently given power to the nerdy people!!

And, by the way, a very big kudos to Dr. Seuss for inventing the word "nerd" in 1950.