Nerd Lessons: Fall down Seven times, get up Eight

We love our fandoms. For those on the outside looking in, it may be their impulse to discount our devotion as superficial or childish. That’s because they don’t understand or see how nerdom has effected us. At BNP, we know that comics and movies and anime and cosplay does so much more than entertain us, it shapes us; we learn what kind of people we want to be—and who exactly we are fighting against becoming. We sent out that bat signal, we sent out notice for an open call for submissions on what nerd lessons you learned and y’all answered the call. The Author of This Piece and Teacher for This Nerd Lesson : Ava Jarvis, @AvaJarvisArt   [dropcap1]I[/dropcap1] didn’t grow up Christian, and that’s a terrible thing in the Midwest, especially if you happen to be non-white living in a majority white town. Not being Christian is yet another reason for white people to other you, a problem when you’re of “East Asian” descent and already treated as a constant foreigner on your own birthland. The thing is, I’m not much for authority. I’ve an ornery streak in me 300 li wide, despite looking like a “nice Asian girl” because I don’t have a colored streak in my hair. Most of my life, I considered myself an atheist, but I never fit in that mold. I don’t believe in whatever God that Christianity believes in, yet I also believe that there really are supernatural forces in our world, due to weird childhood experiences. But I didn’t think there were any other options with regards to belief s…