In 2011, I was coaching cross-country at
the school where I work teaching English.
And one day, Bryn, one of my runners, came
to me all out of breath, not from running,
but from excitement over the fact that
our school library somehow had an
autographed copy of John Green's Looking
for Alaska! She didn't know if she could
resist stealing it, because obviously, no
one else in our high school was ever
going to appreciate this as much as she
would. I convinced her not to do so by
pointing out that I could get it out and
replace it with another copy much easier
than she could, which I did. A funny story,
but I subsequently made sure I saw
John's talk at the LA Times festival of
books, but I didn't bother to wait in
line to meet him and get his autograph,
because I had other authors I wanted to
see. It was after reporting that fact
that it was Bryn who told me I had
made a grave error and that I should
check out the Vlogbrothers Youtube
channel. The first vlog I remember seeing
was Hank's Football For Nerds.
Before long, I had binged my way
through all of Brotherhood 2.0
and everything else they've produced. Here
were two guys, who shared my love of
knowledge and nerdiness, working to make
the world a better place without ever
becoming either preachy or cynical. They
were at the center of a community that
was filled with fun, but was equally
fueled by purpose. And soon I was
digesting all the related channels as
well. I was showing the Lizzie Bennet
Diaries to all my English classes,
calling on Crash Course and SciShow to
fuel my lesson plans and before summer
came around, I had almost on impulse
bought my first ticket to a VidCon.
I didn't know a lot of Youtubers at the
time and as a 55-year old man, I was kind
of out of place when I got there, but I
did get a chance to talk with Hank, and I
met Michael Aranda, and I found a whole
lot of other amazingly, creative, friendly
and open people, and I wanted to support
them anyway I could. That mostly meant I
just started to interact in their
communities as much as I could,
joining in the comments, dreams of their
videos. And that led to this: life-changing exchange.
Michael Aranda: "I know that guy." Hank: "Yeah? Steve?" Michael Aranda: "Steve Clark."
Hank: "I think I know who you're talking about. He's got a red hoodie in his picture?" Both: "Yeah!"
Hank: "Hi, Steve! [laughter] Everybody knows you!"
Somehow, I had connected to
Nerdfighteria. I made a video about
commenting, and Michael made some
comments about my comments, and now I
have my own community within a community.
My road to Nerdfighteria has led me
beyond that world, but I still owe so
much to it. I'm not a YouTube star by any
means, but I've gotten to know and
sometimes even work with the most
amazing people.
Maxwell Glick, Andrew Huang, Gunnarolla, Mary Kate Wiles
and Sean Persaud, Craig and Chyna Benzine.
But even better than being able
to drop a bunch of famous names are the
people I consider my closest internet
friends; the other small Youtubers I've
reached through Nerdfighteria: Susan, Rosa,
Nyla, Liz, Mya, Catherine, Ben, Abbie Chuck
Kevin and more! Far more than I can name
in a four-minute video! I've met some at
VidCon, at LeakyCon, and nerdfighter
concerts. My love for Lizzie Bennet led
me to Artists-At-Play in Los Angeles,
where we've sometimes been able to keep in
touch with Julia Cho, Daniel Betancourt, and Jessica Jade Andres.
And where I met one of my favorite
Twitter pals, Feodor Chin. It''s a
bizarre road, this path to Nerdfighteria,
with so many unexpected twists and turns.
This quest to run a literal 2016 miles
was prompted by Michael Aranda, but
that's just a small part of the journey.
I can't say how I wound up where I am
today, where John greets me with a warm
handshake outside any signing line, and
Hank asks me if i wanna hug after
another awesome concert. [Hank]: You wanna get a hug?"
But I know the road to
Nerdfighteria doesn't end with Hank and
John, they're only the beginning! I won't
be leaving them behind, but I'm now
bringing them along with me.
Well, those were the roads I was on this
morning. Had a bit about the roads I'll be on
tomorrow and for this foreseeable
future.
Till next time, don't forget to be
awesome, and I will talk to you again
soon as ever hopefully.