Nerd

Definition: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits; etymology: perhaps from nerd, a creature in a children's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950) by Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) -- [Merriam Webster] "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo and Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo a Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!" (The nerd is a small humanoid creature looking comically angry, . . . ). [The American Heritage Dictionary]

I am a nerd.

At times in my life, I have been slavishly devoted to the piano, all things Scottish, rocks and minerals, folk music, acting and theater, classical archaeology, geometry, Bernini, genealogy, the teaching of writing, . . . .Today, I became nerd reborn: I bought the Audubon Field Guide to Insects and Spiders and joined BugGuide.Net. Why the sudden impulse?

I want to name the insects I photograph.

Yesterday and today I spent more than three hours trying to capture an elusive flying beauty. Yesterday I called him a dragonfly. Today, I know him as the black-winged damselfly or ebony jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata). I know which is male and which female. I know they can be found by still water in the woods. I know that to photograph one takes patience and a willingness to dare poison ivy and mosquitoes.And I know that naming begins the process of understanding.

Welcome, nerdism!