In Search of an Identity
old family photos for both a project she's working on and to post to her
Facebook page to share with the nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and
grand-nephews scattered around the country.
It been like a time machine taking me back to some great times and relighting
memories of times and loved ones who have passed on.
Its got me looking at my past and where I came from and how I got to be
where I am today.
I'll write about some of those journeys during future posts.
One of the things I realized recently is that I was a geek (in the modern
sense of the word) before the language evolved to give that tag.
Wikipedia says:
Formerly, the term referred to a carnival performer often billed as a wild
man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat,
snake or bugs. The 1976 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary included
only the definition regarding geek shows.
The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or
otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed
with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics,
gaming, etc." The definition of geek has changed considerably over time,
and there is no longer a definitive meaning.
Julie Smith defined a geek as:
"a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little
kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented
by his favorite authors, who thought of that secret, dreamy place his
computer took him to as cyberspace-somewhere exciting, a place more real
than his own life, a land he could conquer, not a drab teenager's room in
his parents' house".
A derogatory reference to a person obsessed with intellectual pursuits for their own sake, who is also deficient in most other human attributes so as to impair the person's operation within society. Not me, really! And not most people I know that I would consider geeks. But, there are a few that are borderline....
A person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. GUILTY!
A person who relates academic subjects to the real world outside of academic studies GUILTY!
