"Sin, Sin, Cosine, Pi! 3.14159!"
If you heard that chant at ASU’s Homecoming Block Party, you likely heard the most enthusiastic nerds walking the Tempe campus.
The 4th Annual Eight, Arizona PBS Nerd Walk traveled with the Homecoming parade on Saturday, Nov. 1, and celebrated scientists, mathematicians, Whovians, Cumberbabes, those “Down for Downton Abbey” and more. The crowd of gold shirts, costumed heroes and cosplayers were led by a team of unicyclers in a show of nerdom appreciation to the students and parade watchers on University Drive.
The Nerd Walk began in 2011 as a contribution to the parade, and has continued to appear in each one since. Bob Beard, the energetic Walk organizer and Promotions Coordinator for PBS Arizona, says that the Walk is all about nerd enthusiasm.
“Everybody’s a nerd for something,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you’re a nerd for, if you have a passion for chemistry, if you have a passion for vector calculus, if you have a passion for comic books…everybody’s a nerd for something, we think that’s something to celebrate.”
But what does it mean to be a nerd? For a group such as this, the answers came easy. Beard says that it’s about embodying your fandom. “You can be a fan of something, but if you’re a nerd for something it’s embodied — it’s part of your identity. You wear your fandom, you wear your nerdom and your knowledge of those things."
Nerd Walkers and ASU students — undergraduate Graphic Design student Ashlyn Van Benschoten, 19, and business law undergraduate Chelsea Van Benschoten, 21 — have similar tastes in their own fandoms. Styled in a dress emulating "Doctor Who's" 11th Doctors outfit, Ashlyn said that she enjoys comic books and the anime program "Black Butler." Chelsea, cosplaying as Batman’s sidekick Robin, said she’s a fan of “tons of things,” including "Doctor Who" and the anime "One Piece," on top of comic books.
Ashlyn related being a nerd to being part of a group of fans that share the same tastes. “You can have multiple fandoms, and you have a community you can talk to that will totally understand,” she said.
Chelsea agreed with her sister, “You can just talk to multiple people; different connections that you have for anything, and it’s just tons of fun.”
Cosplaying as "Doctor Who" companion Amelia Pond, nerd walker Andi Mueller, 21, says that it’s about “Unironically doing the things I love."
She went on, saying being a nerd is about, “Not really being too concerned if you are really into writing fic(tions) about characters. You do it, you love it, you don’t second guess yourself on it.”
Mueller said that she is a fan of the Marvel cinematic universe, but wasn’t too keen on the recent casting choice of Benedict Cumberbatch as “Doctor Strange.” “I was hoping for Ethan Hawke,” she said.
Beard, who just finished his Master’s thesis on nerd culture through ASU, said that nerdom is at a time where it’s accessible. “Whereas before, it was a category that you were put in, it was an ‘other’ sort of status. Now, it’s easier to opt into it and to access the objects of your fandom." He continued, "Where it used to be a point of subjugation, now it’s a point of pride.”
Nerd out with the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @legendpenguin.
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