Protons and Neutrons
Posted November 19th, 2009 by Tawni AndersonProtons and Neutrons: A Song
So here’s something a bit unusual, inspired by several things that Doen’s talked about lately.
A few weeks ago, Doen was talking about how the generation a bit younger than I am is really going to shake up the world because it’s the first generation when it’s been okay–even cool–to be smart. That certainly wasn’t the case when I was young. A few like-minded geeks tolerated it, of course, but for the most part being nerdy was just, well, nerdy. Not in any way cool. Even the bookish nerds stayed away from the sci fi nerds who stayed away from the band geeks, etc.
That all led me straight to the Nerdfighters, and Doen’s recent comments about focusing on being yourself. Doing what you want. Knowing that whatever you are is good, even if there are ways you want to improve. Not caring what others think of you, but not being a jerk, either.
Wait–Nerdfighters? Yes, Nerdfighters. It’s an amazing community that was started (I believe) by two amazing men, the brothers John and Hank Green. John writes laugh-until-you-cry funny, sublimely beautiful novels. Hank’s a singer and an activist; his songs are geeky and quirky and not for everyone, but I really like him. Between the two brothers and the Nerdfighters community, they’ve elevated “making it okay to be smart” to a level I never would have imagined. They give amazing kids and young adults encouragement and space to be outrageously nerdy and geeky and whatever they are, and they bring a lot of beauty to the world in the doing of it. (You can check them out at Nerdfighters or their youtube page.)
Anyway, to bring the circle around: Doen talked the other night, as he so often does, of “now” being all there is. Just now. For me at least, that ties straight in to the practice of being fully aware. And tonight I heard for the first time one of Hank Green’s songs called “Protons and Neutrons: A Song.” When I heard it, and especially later when I watched the video, I felt very aware and in the now, awed by the world, completely nerdy, and very comfortable in my nerdiness. I could almost feel the protons and neutrons streaming through the photos and through the sounds of Hank’s guitar. And yes, I realize how dorky that sounds.
Perhaps you won’t like the music, but I doubt anyone will find it grating. Listen to the lyrics; they’re beautiful and point both to the beauty of being aware and our dizzying inability to see the full picture, at least when we’re not being fully in the now. I also think the video is gorgeous. I’m not well-schooled in the Minor White style, but many of the images in this video reminded me of his photographs.
I do hope you like it. (Full-screen is much nicer.)
(So, I’m not a computer geek, even though I’d like to be. I couldn’t figure out a way to embed the video in the blog so there’d be a cool image, or even how to copy the Nerdfighters logo. No pretty picture with this post, but really–the video’s worth the three minutes!)
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8 Responses to “Protons and Neutrons”
November 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Amazing post, Mum. Protons and Neutrons is such an amazing song, and this is a great way of describing it.
DFTBA! (Hoo! Ha! Nerdfighters!)
Love,
Daisy (nerdfighter and Secret Sibling)
November 19th, 2009 at 11:06 am
P.S. I’m linking to this in my blog. I hope you don’t mind. If you do, I’ll just delete it. xoxo
November 19th, 2009 at 11:27 am
[...] 1. My mom’s blog post about Zen, Nerdfighters, and Protons and Neutrons [...]
November 20th, 2009 at 2:38 am
I totally liked it, both the post and the vid. Thanx Tawni. Good point you make there about nerdiness. I remember when I grew up knowing stuff about computers was just soooo “anti-life”. Those who knew about how to install hard-drives, make music with a Pc or program little games were not only uncool, but also separated by definition from those aspiring-to-be-part-of-the-adult-world cigarette smoking and girl seducing cliques.
Who could have known, that nowadays if you DON’T know how to use your mobile phone and its advanced adress book function, your date could go downhill before it even started
iphones have become Fashion-Accessoires more celebrated than the mink-coat ever was. If you don’t know how to work with Excel, Word or Email, it’ll be hard to get a job…
but what do I want to say with all of this…
i am deeply amazed at how things can change, like doen said “change is the only thing we don’t have to prove”. When exactly did it happen that suddenly everybody had a cellphone? When exactly did geeky become the new cool? When did the Berlin Wall fall? For me, it’s impossible to say, when exactly, to point to the rapidly shifting moment..but maybe it’s besides the point?
Things are changing. So quickly and in undercurrents we don’t even notice. And suddenly there’s a new day, a new sky, a new person
either we accept the invitation, or we don’t
Thank you all for making Lost Coin possible
André
November 20th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Thanks for this great post, Tawni! It definitely hit home for me. I teach at a super-nerdy, techie school where the students actually have a kind of reverse snobbism against kids who aren’t nerdy enough. The closest I have ever come to experiencing this was when I found “the mothership of nerdiness” in the M.I.T. bookstore. It had the best of both worlds–a discounted bin of Springer-Verlag volumes in cognitive science and a young man who hit on me after I persuaded him to let me keep the volume with Daniel Dennett’s work in it.
November 21st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Daisy, Andre, Julie–I’m so glad you liked it!
Andre, I loved your comment: “either we accept the invitation, or we don’t.” Perfect.
To eveyone who reads the LCZ blog: you should check out Andre’s work–he does and collects some really mind-blowingly wonderful things. He’s on facebook, twitter, everywhere under his name and unter teelanovela. Andre, maybe you could post links?
And Julie, you out-geeked me. I don’t even know Springer-Verlag, but I’ll look into it for sure.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:37 am
Dear Tawni,
“collecting beautiful things” may just be the best summary I have ever heard about my webtivities
recently i updated my webpage http://www.andreklein.net with a top-menu that leads you to all the arms of the network. If anybody’s interested why teelanovela, or what(?) you are most invited to read here: http://teelanovela.de/about-us
Again, I deeply appreciate the Lost Coin. Not only for its integration of very delicate streams of inner knowledge, but also for its immense openness to the infinite configurations of experiential worlds in each single moment !
this is it…i guess
greetings from
“the Great Wow”
P.S: my wife always says that the only place where people really can meet is “in understanding”. So it’s not really the physical socalled “meatspace” which is our true home, but we find rest inhabiting the understanding we share with each other. ain’t that cool?
November 25th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Julie, which books did you get in the M.I.T. bookstore? I’ll have to hit on you, too, when we meet again.
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