This Be a Memoir Post

One of my early obsessions was westerns. I remember sitting with my father, Big Hunk candy bar in hand, watching reruns of How the West Was Won and Bonanza. Audie Murphy, Randolph Scott and the Duke were household names. I had read most of Louis L'Amour's westerns by the time I was seventeen and the decor of my home today reflects my life-long love of all things cowboy.

Juxtaposed with my love of westerns was my obsession with science fiction, fantasy, comic books and action. Odd, you'd think, to have the blending of such seemingly opposite genres. Especially when given that the enthusiast in question was a teenage girl.

I was the only fifteen year old girl I knew with the entire collection of Ninja Turtle action figures. I owned more comic books than most guys, and I could quote almost any science fiction or action movie verbatim (of course, the favorite being Star Wars). My Saturday mornings didn't see Rainbow Bright, Jem or My Little Pony, but instead were dominated by Transformers, Voltron, Thundercats, He-Man and G.I. Joe. My walls were covered in Starting Lineup action figures, my shelves littered with microscope slides and GoBots. Had they been available in girl's, no doubt my Underoos would have been Superman, rather than Strawberry Shortcake.

I am still a nerd, though I have walked upon a long road to appreciation of that fact. When once I was ostracized, bullied and tormented for my differences, I find now that such differences are embraced. The internet has given "weirdos" like me a cause for celebration. We now have a means of connection and we can share our obsessions with those like ourselves. Had I grown up today, with access to the internet and other nerds, perhaps I would have taken comfort in the fact that I'm not alone.

My interests haven't changed all that much. I still love comics. I still love scifi, fantasy, action and science. But now I can add anime and manga to the obsession list.

The purpose of this blog, which I have struggled with, will likely involve my reviews of nerd stuff. Maybe a western or two thrown in somewhere (if someone will bring out another damned, western, that is). And, for the anime freak in me, I'll definitely be jabbering about otaku matters, as well.

Stay tuned. I gotta think up some nerdiness worth talkin' about. There's aplenty out there, just gotta pick what's worth my jabbering time.

Untag My Life

In the modern world of technology, we label our posts, our pictures and our files for easier organization and search purposes. Everything fits into our little data file nice and compactly, which we tag and bag.

We do this for our lives, as well. Slap a label on everyone, categorizing them as though they should fit the tag as nicely as our blog posts do.

What happens when we don't fit perfectly into the prepackaged label that is chosen to describe us? We are seen as oddities, as eccentrics, as nonconformists. This, but also that. A juxtaposing of dissimilar ideas.

Just as in political parties, people want to believe that you have to conform to fit the group. You're not "one of us" unless you fit every point. You can't be a true Republican or a true Democrat unless you believe x, y, z, and there's little room for argument or moderation. They try to pull you toward the extremes, as the water in a bucket being spun is drawn to the base by gravity.

Americans want so badly to squeeze stories into a nice little labeled box. You can't have a comedy AND an action, it must be one or the other. God forbid you make a sci fi with a western feel (read: Firefly). It's taboo, even if it works.

I love westerns, but I also love sci fi. I love history, but also science. I am a conundrum, as I follow both, almost as religiously as a Catholic follows Christ. My love of westerns does not bely my love of anime; to the contrary, it compliments it.

When it comes right down to it, what I love is a good story. You don't have to fit into a perfect label to be such. When will Hollywood come to understand this? It's the unique stories that take us outside the perfect little standard box which become classic. Those are the ones that inspire. The ones that would challenge us to scrape off the adhesive and look beyond the tag. Beyond the labels to which we are stuck.

A genre of my own

My mix of eclectic tastes and interests, many of which seem to have little connection, might lead one to believe that I have no concrete identity of my own. I would argue that identity is not concrete.

Part cowgirl.

Part nerd.

A genre of my own. I am the Westernerd.