Revenge of the Nerds
October 27, 2012
Revenge of the Nerds
A new party on this year’s Fantasy Fest calendar is the Nerd
Party, hosted by the Porch on the Thursday evening prior to the main Fantasy
Fest weekend. This night, traditionally dominated by the Toga Party at Sloppy
Joe’s with Duval Street blocked off and the hoards of out of-towners beginning
to show up, marks the real start of the public mayhem that has marked much of
the festival for the past few years.
Looking for a fun, local friendly, somewhat lower-key party
to counterbalance the craziness that is found on Duval Street, the folks at the
Porch have used Thursday night as a chance to enjoy the spectacle without being
overwhelmed by it. The last two years they have hosted a wonderful 1920s themed
party on that night, but they opted for something new and different this year
with the advent of the Nerd party.
A nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a person, typically described
as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend
inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities,
which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or
fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Additionally,
many nerds are described as being shy quirky, and unattractive, and may have difficulty participating in, or even
following, sports. "Nerd" is a derogatory, stereotypical term, but as
with other pejoratives, it has been reclaimed and redefined by some as a term
of pride and group identity.
I think the reclaiming the term as a term of pride was what
this party had in mind. After all isn’t there a little bit of nerdiness in each
of us, certainly some more than others. The nerds of your high school years are
now the successful, artistic, intellectually stimulating and fun people of
adulthood, which many of the popular jocks and socialites are still trapped in
their dreary existence in which their high school years were the pinnacle of
their lives and they spend most of their time wishing they would return.
Not so for the group at the Porch, where life is for the
living and enjoying and celebrating the very nerdy characteristics is now the
best revenge. The party was wonderful and it was so cool to see so many friends
dressed up in their nerdy best. Some went all out such as our friends Esme
& Cayman who had easily the best costumes, but also stayed in ultra-nerdy
character the entire night. They were fabulous.
My friend Lee was down visiting from the University of West
Florida and she showed up with her mother Sandy. How cool of a town and party
is it when you can go out and celebrate nerdiness with a mother and daughter at
the same party. I am not sure this is usual in many places, but in Key West,
this sort of thing happens all the time and people don’t give it a second
thought. Barriers of age, gender, sexual
orientation, religion, race and whatever else just don’t apply so much here and
you will find all types enjoying most functions here. This is one of the
reasons that we love it here so much
The party was so fun and went late in to the night, It was a
rare occasion in that somehow the Porch was able to get permission to serve
alcohol stronger than beer and wine in the courtyard and so there was a new and
added dimension to the fun. I must say the shots of cinnamon whiskey provided
by our bartender friend Nick were yummy- like drinking red hots candy.