Summer is nearly over (and I have yet to write about the adventures and catch up on all the things), like the successful second annual Wyrd Words workshop:
While it was full and happy, I’m eager for the renewed routine that Autumn brings. I’m home from a trip overseas with the kids to visit friends (more on that hopefully soon), with enough time to do laundry, buy school supplies, and pack once more…this time for DragonCon (my first time)
The beautiful Gullfoss waterfall, Iceland.Landscape outside Reykjavik, Iceland.Hever Castle and Gardens, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.
Now it’s time to try on things and decide what to pack for DragonCon 2016. (I may have picked up an accoutrement or two in recent travels.)
If you’re attending DragonCon, my co-author Stephen H. Segal and I will be talking about and reading from Geek Parenting on Sunday at 2:30pm; we’re also on a panel about “How Horror Fans Raise Kids” on Saturday at 11:30am.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for ideas for your own upcoming adventures, here’s a piece on travel that Stephen and I wrote for Quirk:
“Geeks seek to boldly go where no one has gone before, right? Sometimes that means studying artificial intelligence or genetics or astrophysics. Sometimes it means reading sci-fi and fantasy novels or playing mind-expanding videogames. And sometimes it means getting in the car, picking some quirky destination that connects somehow to all that beloved magical stuff, and driving across state lines to explore the strange new worlds that await out there among our fellow Americans.
Every nerdy family, after all, needs to get away sometimes…”
Looking for fish in the crater lake. (Kerið, a volcanic crater lake in Iceland.)
For those of us who grew up in the 80s and early 90s, the brainy Encyclopædia Britannica kid from the tv commercial was an iconic image of what a nerdy kid looked and sounded like. For those of us who *were* nerdy kids in the 80s, it was an extremely familiar image. (I certainly had the big glasses.)
It’s likely no surprise that my Geek Parenting coauthor, Stephen H. Segal, was also a nerd; and when he was young, he shared enough of a physical resemblance to the Encyclopædia Britannica kid (played by Donavan Freberg), that he was quite often mistaken for the awkward commercial know-it-all.
Much later, Stephen met and befriended his adolescent doppelgänger, and Donavan turned out to be a kindred spirit. We hear enough about how people fall from great heights and notoriety, but sometimes the story is better than that. Sometimes people take the gifts they have been given and work to make this world better and more beautiful.
(Be sure to also follow the link in the story to read the entire interview with Donavan about his legendary comedian/ advertising creative director father, Stan Freberg.)
I love the way that Donavan’s story shows how creating a space for your kids to figure out who they are can help them to eventually embrace their authentic selves. It’s a valuable reminder, and it’s a really good story.
When I was little, books lived mostly at the library and occasionally came home with me by way of treasures ordered from Scholastic flyers we received at school. I loved those days when the teacher distributed the neatly rubberband-bound piles topped with order slips bearing our names. I don’t think I ever verbalized it to my parents, but even then I was consciously building a library.
My family had a few books and a collection of encyclopedias that I adored on shelves on the back porch, but the only people in my extended family who had anything close to what I envisioned as a proper library were my Aunt Natalia and Uncle Wasyl. The shelves in their family room were filled with what looked like ancient and exotic Ukrainian books.
I loved the places that brought me books, but they were not really gathering spaces for book-loving communities. The tiny chain bookstore at the mall lacked designated seating spaces, so my best friend Cheryl and I would sit on the floor in the metaphysical section reading about dream analysis and palm reading, trying to find ways to predict or control the future.
Somewhere around junior high, I discovered the used bookstore on Addison Street, situated on the end of the block where we lived– past the Superette, past the bakery, but just before you reached the corner bar. It barely had room for customers; its narrow aisles were filled with classics and pulps, dusty shelves and tables overflowing. That’s where I would take my babysitting money and buy science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, sometimes filling a brown paperbag for $2. I still have some of those early purchases, and they are like old friends in my bookcase.
I discovered the Book Cellar not long after it opened in 2004. Serving good coffee AND wine, it was a community hub with excellent books and literary events. After having launched both Conclave: A Journal of Character andThe Silence of Trees at the Book Cellar, there was no question in my mind where I wanted to celebrate the Chicago release of Geek Parenting.
Photo by Mary Anne Rooney.
We had a wonderful turnout on April 16th–a beautiful, warm, Chicago Spring afternoon. I was overwhelmed by the number of friends, family, and strangers who came to listen as Stephen and I read from Geek Parenting, answered questions, and signed copies.
Photo by The Book Cellar.
Out of the corner of my eye, I kept seeing passersby stop and peer in the windows to see why such a large crowd had assembled. It’s one of the charms of a neighborhood bookshop–the neighbors come by. Some even came in to listen, joining the lively audience who filled all the seats and stood in between the stacks. We answered a few questions; and then my sister cut the cake while Stephen and I signed books and chatted with people.
Photo by Ellen Prather.
Sincere thanks to Suzy and her wonderful staff, to everyone who came out to the Book Cellar or has attended events in Seattle or Philadelphia, to everyone who has bought our book, has given it to friends, or has helped to spread the word.
Photo by Ellen Prather.
Thank you. So much.
It has been a wonderful beginning to our Geek Parenting book tour, and we’re excited about the next few stops on the East Coast in two weeks (click here for dates and more information), as well as those still to come.
Delicious cake from Dinkel’s. Photo by Ellen Prather.
Geek Parenting is a celebration of the lessons we learn from some of pop culture’s most famous families, but it’s also a book about the different ways we share and shape our visions for a better future. We do it with stories and imagination, and we do it with friendship and community.
