Identification Please

Totes relevant... read on.

For some reason, I started thinking about who I am today. I had this rather profound thought while waiting for a burger at The Northside Convenience and Take Away shop (home of Dalby’s best burger). Who am I? Or more specifically, how do I identify? With what groups am I most strongly linked?

Some people first and foremost identify with their nationality. Which I understand; being Australian is great, and I really love living in this country. But I don’t think I’m particularly patriotic, I don’t think we’re *better* than others or that we should keep our stuff and our culture all for ourselves. I’m certainly not opposed to our culture changing or becoming “less Australian” and I couldn’t give a shit about any of our sporting teams.

Others feel strongly about their gender. Men are real men, women are real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri are real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri (with compliments to Mr Adams). Whereas I see my femaleness as a fact, not a lifestyle. It’s just a thing. A thing that I’m ambivalent towards. I don’t particularly love being a lady or doing “lady’s things” but I have no desire to grow an extra appendage and start loving aforementioned sports teams and other such “man things”. I’m a girl, but it doesn’t define me.

I think probably I most strongly identify with being Gen Y, which is a weird thing to say I guess, given that it’s often thrown about like a dirty word. But I like being young and I like being into technology and I like knowing about new things and trying new things pretty much just because they are new. I am not ashamed by my addiction to social media or my inability to do anything without telling as many people as possible about it. These are things I am, actually, proud of.

I also identify strongly as a nerd. I like things (books, movies, shows etc), and lots of those things are considered nerdy. But more than that my like of those things isn’t a passing, “oh yes I saw that it was good”, it’s more like “OMG DID YOU GUYS SEE THE NEW EPISODE SEND HELP IT WAS THE BEST THING OF MY LIFE I’M GOING TO WATCH IT AGAIN”. So yeah, I’m a nerd. It’s a good thing to be.

I guess I feel like I’m floundering a bit at the moment, because while it’s great to be a Gen Y nerd, I feel like I have a lot more in me; a lot more things I could be.

I care about the fact that our world is still filled with bad things like slavery, poverty and disease. I don’t like how we farm animals, or how we treat our environment. I’d like to do things about these things, I’d like to identify as the kind of person who takes action in the face of such things.

I’d like to identify as a writer, I’d like to be brave and stop making excuses and discipline myself to write.

I’d like it if the job I did was something I could identify as, and be proud of. And I’m hoping that as I embark on a new adventure of studying next year that “primary school teacher” can be a thing that skyrockets itself to somewhere near the top of the “things I identify as” list.

I want to be the kind of person who gardens, who keeps animals, who writes, who eats healthily, whose actions make a difference, who is conscious of the environment and the world, who has fun, who makes people laugh, who loves.

I did some gardening today. So I’m on my way. 

Nerdtopia

Hey there,

So I'm currently SWAMPED by preparation for the 2high festival so I haven't had any time for challenges, and nor will I until after it I suspect. So I thought I would entertain you this week with a blog post I did for the 2high tumblr. The marketing team asked each of the coordinators to write about what inspired us. Most of the other coordinators are really arty and linked amazing images or talked about art that inspires them (except Sam, who wrote an amazing story about a turtle for some reason). I thought long and hard about what to write and ended up with something that kind of represents my philosophy on life. Like, if I ever get famous, I want people to quote me on this. I feel like I will use these words for the rest of my life. I'm serious. I kind of want to edit it a bit and print it out and make posters. That's how happy I am with this philosophy. 

Hi there!

I’m Lizzy, one of the production coordinators on this year’s festival – shiny, no?

I’m currently at a different arts festival, This is Not Art in Newcastle, NSW. I’m having the best time, and it’s making me really excited for our own 2high festival at the end of this month! That’s right, the festival is so soon, which means we here at production central are working hardcore to get all the scheduling, tech requirements, backline etc etc etc ready in time for our artists so that everything looks and sounds and runs like an attractive, noisy clock.

I’m a massive nerd, so in times of stress like this, I like to take strength from my favourite fictional characters. When I need to be courageous, I wear my Gryffindor* shirt and I think, “what would Neville do?” When I need to be strong, I think of Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, because that chick is hardcore, and has dragons.

I love being a nerd; life is so much more interesting when you embrace your inner nerd. Being a nerd is just like being a normal person, except you’re really into stuff. You can be a nerd about anything, about movies or music or dancing or chocolate or tea. You can be a nerd about theatre and socks, if you want, or Star Trek and gumballs. You just have to really love something, and not be ashamed of it. What is the point of being embarrassed about loving something? This is probably the best thing about being a grown up. At school, someone might have punched you, or shouted at you for having a lunchbox with Doctor Who on it, but now that you’re a grown up you’ll probably just find someone with a Dalek keyring and become best friends.

I am a nerd about stories, mostly. I love good stories – books, movies, TV shows, plays, stand-up comedy, memoirs… I’m inspired by people who write and create these stories, and one day I’d like to try it myself. To me it doesn’t really matter if it’s the most expensive episode of Doctor Who or a student play put on for $50 and a box of wine, if it’s a great story, I love it, and if it’s funny, I probably want to marry it. I keep shoeboxes with souvenirs of good stories that I have experienced, some of them from my real life, but most of them from stage or screen. I have kept one box every year since I was 11… which means there are 13 boxes in my room. Every now and again, usually when I should be doing something else, I go through these and think about all the excellent stories in there (and some of the terrible ones… from my teenage diaries, shudder). I am looking forward to adding the souvenirs from TiNA and later, from 2high – I hope I have encouraged you to become nerdy about something, and maybe start your own collection. Maybe you can become nerdy about something you discover at the 2high festival?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready for a Big Top Ball… I have a sparkly sequined hat and socks for my arms. Winning. Tiger blood, etc.

Lizzy

*Did you know that Microsoft Word recognises Gryffindor as an actual word? I would chalk this up as a win to nerdkind

So much nerdiness! So little time!