Every Nerd is an Island

Art by Nidhi Chanani So I’m on the train with a friend heading into New Jersey. We’re talking right, and I spot this guy a few seats ahead of me. If I was to get my Sherlock observation on I’d say he was late 40’s, banker type, ivy league-ish, glasses and a long black coat, he probably reads Wall Street Journal and his favorite movie is Ghost. Typical guy (he looked like Tim Gunn), except for one thing. He’s wearing a scarf… a burgundy and gold scarf. Now I’m looking at this guy and debating with my friend if this man is a Harry Potter / House Gryffindor fan. I’m not big on Harry Potter but I like to think I’m well versed in fictional gang colors cause Nerd Recognize Nerd. At this point I’m literally debating aloud with my friend if my man is bout that life or if Johnston and Murphy just so happened to make scarf with the similar pattern by coincidence. Me being who I am, I can’t live on not knowing the truth, so when he gets off at our stop I ask him “Excuse me sir, you Gryffindor?” My man lowered his glasses, looked me straight in the brown stained glassed windows of my soul and nodded his head. To you that may be insignificant but to me (in the moment) it felt like….

It should be known that i hate talking to people because to quote Dr. Perry Cox “People are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.” So talking to a stranger really isn’t in my criteria but there is something about recognizing said stranger as a person into the same nerd/pop culture genre as you are…