I generally don’t get very personal in my writing. I mean, I’ll share my opinion or maybe a bit of my background, but honestly that is safe territory for me. But, earlier this week I had a chance FB reunion with an old friend who was digging my geek and mentioned a close friend we had in common and I was reminded of the impact that he had on me. If anything, he was the one who opened my eyes to the freedom of being true to yourself… This is for my friend, Brandon.
Growing up in a small West Tennessee town in the 80’s was a bit like life was portrayed in the original Footloose. No, I have not seen the remake, don’t plan to, but I know that there’s another out there, sooo…. We had MTV and were aware of some of the fashion trends and music and would drive around on the weekends and hang out with frie…wait, that was if you were cool, which I was not. Anyway, I spent a chunk of high school being called nerd and just counting down until graduation. I didn’t fit the stereotype of a black kid, I had none of the interests. I was into comics, books, games, and alt music, all a mixture for ridicule. I just wanted to be left alone. For some reason people liked my sister so much more than me, but whatevs. So, she starts dating Brandon, a football player…yep a jock! I was convinced that I was not going to like him at all… I mean Revenge of the Nerds told the classic tale, more or less. One day we’re talking and Sweet Child ‘O Mine comes on the radio and he’s rocking out to it, loud and proud! If memory serves me right Cult of Personality comes on next and now I’m grooving. Afterwards I remember asking him if he ever worried about people making fun of him for his musical choices. He said no, you can’t worry about what other people think. If you like rock and roll, like rock and roll and forget about everyone else. Music is sacred to me, so that was a real bonding moment. As our friendship grew I found out that he was a big comic geek, too. He LOOOOOVED Wolverine, I mean loved!! I’m pretty sure that when Logan was showing up in every other book in the 90’s Brandon was buying them up. A friend told me that he even had one of the early Big Books on Superman. This was while he was in college… still letting his geek flag fly before it was cool to do that!!
Brandon was a video game nut, too. He got the intellectual appeal of games, the geeky satisfaction that comes from beating a game or clearing a screen. I can’t help but wonder how much sunlight would he actually see considering how advanced games are now? And how cool board games have become and how much RPG’s have developed?
The short of it is that Brandon showed me that it is ok to be Black and be an individual…that I don’t have to talk, dress, or listen to the music that society says I should listen to. That if I’m a nerd own that, that if I’m inspired by fictional characters, embrace that… be true to who I am. On January 16, 2001 Brandon was taken away too soon, but that happens to all of the good ones, doesn’t it? I like to think that he’d be a fan of Geek Watch One, that he’d be a guest…heck, that we’d be going to cons together. But, that’s not what was given to me and those who knew and loved that magnificent brother. But, it is on me to let all of the other geeksters out there know that it is OK, be true to yourself. Life is too short to be stuffed inside of a box. Be weird, be an anomaly, add to the tapestry that is life. Brandon, I will never forget you…