Life with your own kind

A few nights ago, I had a revelation of grandiose proportions. I was finishing up a calculus assignment due the following morning, along with my roommate who is in the same class. We were poring over one problem in particular, and both of us were writing furiously as we tried every method of integration known to man in order to appease the fearsome gods of math enough to bless us with a correct, or even just reasonable, answer.

Pages and pages we filled with equations, utilizing enough algebra to make Pythagoras cringe, only to be brutally rebutted when we checked our responses with those in the back of the book. And suddenly, there it was, the shining beacon of inspiration, the light at the end of the tunnel, the moment of dawning comprehension. As I pressed my pencil to the paper with renewed intensity, I said out loud that if I got the answer to this problem, it would be the most satisfying thing I've done in a long time. Actually, neither of us got the answer, and after that, we gave up, but that's not the point. The point was that in this crazed, calculating frenzy, I realized that if I was indeed doing this much work to gain the answer to one basically insignificant problem, and enjoying it in the process, and believe me, I was, then I am truly, in heart and mind, a nerd.

So is that it, you ask? You might be thinking, "Well, so what, she's a dork. I already knew that, I saw her fall down the stairs in Frist the other day." (Author's Note: Sad, but true.) But that isn't it, you see, it's much larger than just that. It's no secret that I'm a dork.

...What suddenly occurred to me that night was that I'm no longer of the minority, or at least, the minority of people aware of and proud of their dorkage. I am not alone in feeling great pride in conquering a math problem and having fun doing it (or in this case, not doing it), or finding joy in reading and understanding the directions for a Molecular Biology lab, or even passing up going out to read a good book. In high school, these things might have made one an object of ridicule, but here, chances are if you stay in to read, you'll find plenty of company.

I think part of this has to do with the fact that we all had to be a little nerdy to get in here. I hate to generalize, but yes, nerds tend to be intelligent, and yes, you have to have intelligence to get into college, especially Princeton. We're all here because we have something about us that is a little nerdy, and we should not attempt to shirk this truth. I was speaking to my friend and hallmate the other day, and she shared with me how wonderful it feels to be part of community where you can share your knowledge and passion with pride, however random, without fear of being looked down upon. I can remember how unfortunate it was in high school when I felt too timid to say I knew the answer, or that I had fun reading a text. These inhibitions can trouble us no longer. We are all "dorks" or "weird" or "brains" in some way, shape or form. These words, these titles no longer hold any negative connotations. We are in a place where the enjoyment of learning is part of the job description, and that knowing the answer or sincerely wanting to holds no shame for anyone. It is a beautiful thing.

This is the time for us to be proud of our dorkage, to celebrate it and to nourish it. Don't be afraid to let your pocket protector show, be it filled with pencils or paintbrushes! If you've ever used a chemical equation as a metaphor in everyday speech, do not be afraid. If you've ever looked at a fractal and tried to imagine its equations, have no fear. If you've ever looked at a Slinky™ and thought of a) a DNA double helix or b) the wave/particle duality of light, you are not alone. You are among your people now. Enjoy it.

Noelle Muro is a freshman from East Haven, Conn.