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And The Lovelace Poster Goes To…
She’s Such a Geek! Editors Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders finally picked their choice geeks. They were even responsible enough to put together some criteria: 1. Was the person involved in one of their chosen geeky activities in the photo? (using a computer wasn’t enough) and 2. Was the photo recent and well composed?
So that’s how 31-year-old life sciences teacher Valory Thatcher gets to take home the poster of super-chic geek Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (we stand humbly corrected on the exact order of the “Lady” and “Lovelace” parts), and place it in her geeky office at Mount Hood Community College. But the competition was stiff, and beautifully geeky brave souls came pretty darn close. We pestered Valory with some questions to suss out the depths of her geekiness. We were very impressed and can rest easy knowing Ada’s going to a good home.
What is your most formative geek memory?
Pong. I was hooked instantly! Those paddles, those sound effects, those vector coordinates! I knew absolutely that the universe was filled with magical things.
And your most formative young geek toy?
Shout out to the Cube – a toy that is not simply 8 corner cubies, 12 edge cubies and 6 middle cubies that twist around the fixed center. Geeks anywhere will tell you that it’s deeper than that – mesons and quarks and never an isolated twist! Don’t believe me? Check it out: “Rubik’s Cube and a Model of Quark Confinement” Amer. J. Phys., 49 (11) November 1981. Nuff said.
Tell us about your most painful geek moment.
A cloudy night on the best Halley’s comet pass in 1986. I’ve spent every starry night since getting ready for the next perihelion drive-by (that will be in 2062).
Being geeky is utterly natural for me, like breathing – only better because I can tell you how breathing works! And I’ve never been or will be shy about it.
What’s your personal recipe for geekery?
I have a real Mary Kay pink lab coat – No joke! I put my name right over the Mary Kay. It has deep pockets, enough to stow my laser pointer, my iPod and my brain squishy. Oh yeah, and I’m one of those Mac Book Pro bar girls too – I mean, nobody else is using the wireless!
Lots of people shy away from their inherent geekiness. When did you first come to embrace your inner girl geek?
Physiology can be crusty, no doubt about it. As a fearless girl geek, I can certainly play at that table but I also do things a little differently. That creative geeky passion has worked for me – I’m the youngest (by a lot!) life science instructor at my institution. I am the first science guru to podcast all my lectures here – and that is sooo nerdy cool! And I coadvise the science club and represent to all the fledgling young geeks out there. I embrace my geekiness every day, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How do you feel about geek becoming synonymous with cool these days?
I wouldn’t want to be famous for being anything other than geeky. And that’s cool. As for the rest of the world? It’s about time. Girls rule! Science rules!
