Emily+T's+Op-Ed+Article

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** Why Being a Nerd is Great or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Homestuck **

Emily Annamarie T.

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 My name is Emily Annamarie Turnage, and I am 100%, unequivocally, irrevocably a nerd. I have been for as long as I can remember, and I will be for as long as I live. And I love it. I love being a nerd – because, as acclaimed author John Green states, “ nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff. We don't have to be like, 'Oh yeah that purse is okay' or like, 'Yeah, I like that band's early stuff.' Nerds are allowed to //love// stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can't-control-yourself-love it…when people call people nerds, mostly what they are saying is, 'You like stuff', which is just not a good insult at all, like 'You are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness'. ” And that I am. I have a love of computers – specifically, software and 3D design; I have a fondness for a certain massively multiplayer online roleplaying game known as World of Warcraft; I rave excitedly about things like the latest episode of Supernatural I’ve watched, or the possible consequences of the most recent Homestuck update. I don’t understand how people can live lives of half-interest. If I get into something, like a show or a game, I get //into// it. Like drawing fanart and shipping characters (//shipping// 1. //v.// supporting relationships between fictional characters) and thinking about it pretty much constantly. Sure, I might be a tad eccentric, but I love it nonetheless, and my friends are certainly just as wonderfully excited about these things as I am. So yes, I am strange - but no stranger than any one of you, of course. I have just chosen to be a bit more... vocal about it. It's fun. You should try it sometime.