Volume 124 Issue 118
kansan.com
Thursday, March 15, 2012
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Geek culture is becoming one of the most influential cultural trends of the 21st century, says geek scholar Lars Konzack. Some people can't even bother taking a break from it to eat.
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--popular in our culture; they're actively creating it.
FEATURE
With an idea of how the modern geek pulled himself up from the bottom of the social ladder to a more comfortable position, I began to examine just who this modern geek is.
advanced level geek
My search begins with Rod Landreth, a 40-year-old senior from Sherwood, Ark., who towers over me. When I ask if he considers himself a geek, he looks me straight in the eye from behind a pair of black-framed glasses and says he knows more about Godzilla than most people know about anything.
He's been playing Dungeons and Dragons for 30 years, loves Star Trek, Star Wars and Star Blazers, and shows up to our interview wearing a crimson polo with embroidered with the image of Bun-Bun, a knife-wielding rabbit from the cult comic "Sluggy Freelance."
Landreth calls himself a "geek evangelist," and wants to spread the word about the goodness of geekdom, which includes acquiring an encyclopedic knowledge about whatever interests you and getting to use your imagination as an adult.
One of Landreth's favorite parts about being a geek is that "you can't be stupid and be a geek." TV shows with geek followings like "Star Trek" and "Firefly" rarely write down to their audience to make them easier to follow, they just force their audience to rise to the challenge.
For this reason, geek culture might survive longer than most other counter-cul
ture movements, Landreth predicts.
It might never become totally accessible to the public, but the web has helped level the geek playing field. With websites dedicated to everything from "Star Trek" to iPhones to beauty products, it seems like everybody is a supergeek about something, says Genevieve Valentine, co-author of the book "Geek Wisdom" and a writer for several prominent sci-fi and fantasy magazines.
It gets lonely at the top of the Galactic Empire for Darth Vader. Fortunately, geeks have plenty of ways to socialize, including role playing games, video games or even just watch Star Wars.
"I think that geek has only ever had one meaning, and that is someone who gets super excited about something," Valentine says. "But people who were geeks about sports never got labeled in the same way as people that were geeks about building model trains, for some reason."
Unfortunately, for decades mainstream culture wasn't accepting of geeks. As a result, geeks withdrew and it became harder for the average Joe to feel accepted in traditionally geeky environments.
Today, geeks aren't just becoming more popular in our culture; they're actively creating it.
Nowhere is this more obvious than a comic book store — geek mecca. As a child I begged my dad to take me to the comic book store, but when I finally got there as a teenager, I was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of comics, yet ignored by the teenage boy behind the cash register who seemed to actively try not to help people.
Joel Pfannenstiel noticed this problem, too.
"You'd have to fight your way around these guys playing "War Hammer" on top of the back issues," Pfannenstiel, owner of Astrokitty Comics and More, says of his early experience in stores.
When he moved from Wichita to Lawrence to attend college, he had a series of bad comic buying experiences that forced him to stop reading entirely for several years. But he eventually returned to his roots and started working at Mass. St. Comics, a now-closed store where employees and the owners shared a vision of creating a comic store atmosphere that would appease both devoted fans and newcomers.
Posters weren't plastered over windows. Employees were friendly rather than antisocial. Neat rows of carefully selected materials replaced overwhelming stacks of unorganized comics. It was a store where comic lovers could feel at home and comic virgins could come in without feeling out of place.
It's a philosophy Pfannenstiel incorporated into his own store when Mass. St. Comics closed in 2005. Painted sky blue with sunflower yellow stars, Astrokitty, 15
People who onlone the women's basketball team placed a de facto ultimatum on Henrickson this season. If the Jayhawks failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament this season, Henrickson should lose her job.
You could sense the excitement and relief from Henrickson and her team. The Jayhawks finally earned their moment of glory.
Kansas can build off this. Say what you want about how the Jayhawks have performed since Davis's injury, but for them to clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament after losing its star player is impressive and a testament to Henrickson. Kansas finally reached its goal of making it to the NCAA Tournament, but now it must strive for bigger goals and build for the future. Henrickson could and should be the coach to lead the Jayhawks.
Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
into Thursday's game has not changed.
"When you have a bad outing like that, and he's a highly competitive individual, he's looking for a chance to redeem himself." Price said. "I was really pleased with his performance in that first start, and I know him well enough to say that he wants this chance to redeem himself."
"Strike one," Morovick said.
"Strike one and that's all I need."
Morovick and the Jayhawks face an Indiana State team that is riding a seven-game winning streak. The Sycamore's 8.7 runs a game leads the Missouri Valley Conference, and Thursday's starter Dakota Bacus is 2-1 with a 2.32 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched. Coach Ritch Price says that Morovick's competitive nature will be crucial in the freshman's rebound start.
A key aspect of the jayhawks' success in the nonconference has been the near-flowless defensive. The Kansas defense ranks ninth nationally with a .983 field percentage, and out of the 58 runs allowed this year, just three are
"I thought we had a chance to be good defensively, and it all starts with the kid at short-stop," Price said. "Kevin Kuntz along with the second baseman Eldredge have played exceptional on defense, and anytime you're solid up the middle like that, you are going to have a great defensive team."
being down only one run at the end or the fifth inning.
unearned. The strong defensive play enables the pitching staff to attack the strike zone more effectively, but the middle infielders' performance has taken the defense to an elite level.
The defense even stepped up to the challenge of playing at the MSFC Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn., last week. While the white roof and indoor balcony could cause many college fielder's to lose sight of the ball, Kansas handled to new element well. Freshman center fielder Connor McKay said that his prior experience in indoor venues helped make a difference.
"About a year ago, I had the chance to play down in Florida
Offensively, the Jayhawks are showing more signs of improvement. Sophomore second baseman Ka'iana Eldredge led the Jayhawks in Big 12 batting average last season, hitting .356 in the final month of the year. However, he is off to another slow start with a batting average of .190. Eldredge recorded a multi-hit game against Minnesota, and Price is optimistic that the sophomore can find his swing heading into Thursday's game.
at Tropicana Field," Mckay said. "So I had been in a dormed field before, and I liked it. The field was nice and the lighting wasn't too bad."
"For us to be good, he has to be productive," Price said. "He's been a good hitter as by his First Team All-Big 12 Conference selection as a freshman a year ago, so we need him to keep making progress."
"They have had an awesome year," Jacobs said. "Every year for me we would be the team that was always on the bubble and Monday would come and we wouldn't make it. So I was so happy to see that."
- Edited by Pat Strathman
Jacobs and 2010 graduate Porscha Weddington keep in touch almost daily and they connected after the announcement. Jacobs said Weddington has been trying to get her back to Lawrence for an alumni weekend and this announcement made it seem more urgent.
It has been 12 seasons since Kansas made the tournament, so this experience is uniting the alumni who still describe the team as "we" and started planning reunions by catching up through texts and tweets over the last several days.
LaChelda Jacobs, a 2010 graduate, wasn't watching, but found out through a tweet from fellow 2010 graduate Kelly Kohn. She grabbed her phone and sent coach Bonnie Henrickson a text.
Jacobs said the memories of her playing days came rushing back when she thought of the struggles the team has faced this year.
Weddington is finishing up graduate school at Kansas and has been
All three players said they would tune in on Sunday night to watch the game. They will continue planning a reunion and cheering for the current team who carries the legacy of their program.
They were also entertained with the assignment to play Nebraska, a former Big 12 bird, in the game. Weddington talked about how assistant coach Tory Verdi coached at Nebraska for five years before coming to Kansas. Jacobs talked about the recent records like splitting the series last year and described the game as doable. Morris turned to strategy outlining the familiarity of the coaching staff and players.
bonnie is a great colleen, worris said.
"She came here to turn the program around and that's what she's doing."
From the early excitement of the tournament selection to the return of a series that has been played every season since 1974-75, these proud alumni are still cheering for their younger Jayhawk counterparts.
"It is definitely a doable game and I see them advancing on to the second round so I definitely have my fingers crossed," Jacobs said.
Edited by Amanda Gage