Are You a Nerd Like Me?

Theme song: Wishes and Stars

I am not totally sure, but I might be a nerd.

I never aspired to be anything, eschewing labels when possible with the exception of "mother," a label I bear naturally and proudly. Most labels ooze either exclusivity or downward mobility. In the world of label, very little is neutral and neutral itself is, in any case, nothing to which I aspire. So labels, though ultimately unavoidable, have been something to aggressively avoid.

But this nerd thing! I lately attended an evening workshop the topic of which was "Google Analytics." If I hadn't been there to support the speaker, drum up business for my own upcoming workshop, and network with millennials, attending an analytics workshop would in itself be a strong sign of nerdism.

When I go to meetups or workshops in my field I am often a) the one person over thirty b) the oldest person in the room or c) old enough to be everyone's mother and usually all three. Although my generation coined the term "nerd," I don't associate being a nerd with being over 40 because, for one thing, being a nerd has become cool--and often quite lucrative in ways I had never imagined in high school. In fact, I lately read an article in More stating that, for women, intelligence has become a new form of beauty--as has earning the better wages that ostensibly result. Fancy that! Women are now wanted not just for their looks but for their money.

The millennials I meet at digital marketing events may intimidate with their brightly unformed minds, smooth faces, and hipster affects, but I look at them across a 20-year gap and don't quite know what to think. For all their youth and beauty, I'm glad I'm not them. This isn't because there's anything wrong with them, it's just I know that, inevitably, life will bring them the rich mix of boredom, pain, and joy that makes living so poignant. Are they strong enough to take it--like I have had to be? In any case, they are not nerds. They are digital natives.

So, zooming back to the meat of this analytics workshop and what it meant for my identity: There I am, nestled among the natives, pondering the fate of millennials, learning about Google Analytics, and paying attention because I believe the topic is good for me professionally when, all of a sudden, like a bolt of lightening, this idea, cut from whole cloth, comes: I can't wait to go home and check my analytics!

W, as it were, TF?

Google Analytics, of course, didn't exist when I was a sweet young thing and, if it had, it would have been something mathy I would have imagined I'd hate. Instead, there I am thinking, with the kind of gung-ho usually reserved for nerds, analytics are so cool!

The real question may be, as my friend Cynthia says, "Where's my friend Anna and what have you done with her?"