Geek Pride

Perhaps no other time of year is as highly anticipated, and secretly dreaded, as that festive family time known collectively as "the holidays." The clash of fake gaiety and togetherness around Thanksgiving time plus Christmas's unrealistic expectations of "perfection" can lead to a train wreck of emotions. We cope the best we can. Both poles of our Jekyll-Hyde personalities can be released. Sometimes we slip behind familiar masks. 

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Educators and parents, let's not unduly limit what or who kids can be at Halloween. We all need to tap into our scary sides. To be both scared and to frighten others. We need to know what it is to be freaked out, even to risk death (in a safe way), so we can understand what it is to be alive. Read More

Perhaps even a Saturday matinee western, disguised in the garb of a science fiction space opera, can make us believe in things and forces we can't see or understand. Or a game of make-believe knights in shining armor can instruct us how to be better people, not in a time or galaxy far, far away, but right here on planet earth. Read More

We watch fantasy movies with heroic characters for plenty of reasons: because they're fun, because they're exciting, because we need to tune out and decompress for a couple of hours, or because they show us places and creatures that could never be. But one essential reason is these heroes do things we can't do in real life. Read More