Embracing the True Nerd In You



People live to impress. We live to impress ourselves and others. Why? Because after impressing someone, we feel about 0.0001 percent better about our existence as human beings on this planet Earth. Impressing others has become so ubiquitous that we try to alter our opinions if it means that at least one out of those 3.5 billion people on this planet will notice us. I searched up on google, “do people live to impress,” and I wasn’t surprised to see at least ten articles on the first page about how to stop impressing others. But how can we stop doing something when it’s simply intertwined in the human nature to try and look good in front of certain people?

I am a member of the Shakespeare For All support club. And I’m not doing it just for the fun of saying, “ Oh, yeah. I’m in a club.” I do it because I’m truly interested in trying to help people enjoy this kind of difficult literature. Of course, the reason why we may first pick up a Shakespeare play could be that we are trying to impress someone, but after awhile, I think that a handful of people may actually start to enjoy reading it.

In the SFA club, we don’t worry about what others think. Yeah, we read Shakespeare and there’s nothing that can stop us. We don’t listen to the stereotypical ideology stating that if we read Shakespeare we become “nerds.” The members and I join together every Saturday to enjoy another class of deciphering the difficult Shakespearean language. But during the summer times, we head out to different parks and enjoy the live performances of actors acting out the entire play. We each bring small foldable chairs or blankets to be comfortable during the performance. As the members lay huddled together in the breezy summer night, we are all intrigued by the actor and actress’ abilities to express the character’s emotions so precisely.

This doesn’t have to seem like a boring school field trip. It can be exciting as well. I know for a fact that everyone in my club is always waiting for that time of the year when we can escape the stuffy classroom and enjoy some fresh outside air with friends and family. We bring food, warm tea, and simply enjoy ourselves. With these small moments, I feel that everybody can communicate with each other and erase that thought of Shakespeare being boring.

<Alison Moon, 8th grade, Palms Middle School>