Crazy Jerome
First Post
I would've been a (more of a?) nerd, but for a few key gaps:
1. I don't really enjoy most science very much, and this extends to a lot of science fiction--whether hard-core or the softer stuff that glories in the patina of science. I'll read National Geographic and the like to stay a reasonably informed citizen, but I'm not hankering to understand the intricacies of DNA or anything like that. I am interested in math quite a bit, and went very close to a math major in college. People often think one goes with the other, but for me it split.
2. That split occurs in other areas along similar grounds. I read a lot of philosophy, even in high school, and did statistics for fun, but I had no interest on the mechanical or engineering side, theoretical or practical.
3. Our grade school and high school was small, no more than 800 kids K-12. You weren't allowed to be completely a nerd. Pull your nose out of that book and go run the two mile--the track team needs you. By the same token, no one could be completely a jock, either. The math team and the college bowl teams had football players on them. Our D&D group was one of the two cores of the impromptu flag-football that happened every Sunday afternoon in the fall.
4. Even if your natural inclination is towards nerdiness (and mine definitely is), if you grow up in a rural community where you do farm work and wood working and help build houses and so on--you'll eventually learn a lot (practically and socially) despite your inclinations. Maybe if I had been born to an indulgent family in a prosperous urban home, it would have been different. Can't say.
1. I don't really enjoy most science very much, and this extends to a lot of science fiction--whether hard-core or the softer stuff that glories in the patina of science. I'll read National Geographic and the like to stay a reasonably informed citizen, but I'm not hankering to understand the intricacies of DNA or anything like that. I am interested in math quite a bit, and went very close to a math major in college. People often think one goes with the other, but for me it split.
2. That split occurs in other areas along similar grounds. I read a lot of philosophy, even in high school, and did statistics for fun, but I had no interest on the mechanical or engineering side, theoretical or practical.
3. Our grade school and high school was small, no more than 800 kids K-12. You weren't allowed to be completely a nerd. Pull your nose out of that book and go run the two mile--the track team needs you. By the same token, no one could be completely a jock, either. The math team and the college bowl teams had football players on them. Our D&D group was one of the two cores of the impromptu flag-football that happened every Sunday afternoon in the fall.
4. Even if your natural inclination is towards nerdiness (and mine definitely is), if you grow up in a rural community where you do farm work and wood working and help build houses and so on--you'll eventually learn a lot (practically and socially) despite your inclinations. Maybe if I had been born to an indulgent family in a prosperous urban home, it would have been different. Can't say.
