It’s Time to Introduce the winners of the Geek Faith Tribe “Big Geek” Contest.
First of all, everyone who entered truly is a big geek. Most of you are bigger geeks than I’ll ever be. So kudos, my tribe. But here we go:
FIRST PRIZE: Asher Klassen
“I am a geek who was weaned on Lord of the Rings. My father read the Hobbit and Tolkien’s trilogy to me when I was but seven or eight years old, and the tales birthed in me a love of heroism. Years later I discovered comic books, and these things along with a god-given passion for illustration have led me to where I am today.
Now, I find myself in the third year of a major in Illustration, double-minoring in English and Art History. I would say that I am a geek, and beyond that I would say I am a storyteller; my passion lies in creation of the story, not just consumption. So while I love a good video game, and I hit the theater every Tuesday for cheap night, I am most at home studying and creating. Sunday mornings are for God, and Sunday nights are for stories. My friends and I huddle around a dimly lit table with dice and beer, and we become heroes. Sunday nights are for Dungeons and Dragons. My academic career has taken a concrete focus on comics scholarship, particularly in exploring the superhero genre as a cultural mythology, and analyzing the medium as it stands as a functional language in its own right. So, I read a lot comics, and then critique the crap out of them, and then proceed to cross reference them with translations of Beowulf and 10th c. Persian manuscripts. Being a geek and a scholar is the most fun I’ve ever had; my love of heroes has served me well 🙂
The actual focus of my degree, though, is Illustration. It’s where the stories of my English minor and the visual legacy of my Art History studies meet, and the geek comes out to play. My goal is a career in freelance illustration, working as a character designer for studios like Weta, Pixar, and Lucasfilm and publishing creator-owned comics through (with luck) Image Comics. The past three years have been a struggle for me, trying to wrap my head around the process of telling an effective story visually. there have been times where I’ve walked away from it and considered a career in something completely different. But my passion for heroes has always pulled me back to the drawing board to try again, and for that I am grateful. As I approach the end of my degree my work is started to solidify into a cohesive body, something that I can talk about confidently and be proud to present as a portfolio. But I’ll stop there, and let you read about my most recent foray into comic illustration for yourself: http://watercolour-horizons.blogspot.ca/.
– I’m top editor for the Comicvine.com wiki pages for Joss Whedon and Ed Brubaker (user name Vitaeleous), plus many more obscure pages of more academic interest to me.
– I most certainly consider myself a Browncoat, and would very much like a Moses Brothers Self-defense Engine Frontier Model-B of my own someday. That’d be shiny.
– I nearly missed my illustration critique this morning because I was still playing D&D at 2 am.
– I’ve been to the Emerald City Comicon (though only once, sadly) with my illustration portfolio, and was able to get critiques from some of my favourite writers and artists, Landry Walker and Scott Wegener included (Scott draws Atomic Robo, a series every geek should read)
– I’ve been a competitive archer for thirteen years; I dunno if that makes me a geek or not, but the thought of a vigilante career has crossed my mind at the range on more than one occasion…
- My truck sports the Zombie Response Team badge of service on both side panels: “To Protect and Sever”. My regular practice at the range (bow and gun) lends a little legitimacy to this 😉
My name is Asher Klassen, and I am a geek. Portfolio: http://vitaeleous.carbonmade.com/ And a (brief) Geek Documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veUU9-8Fmbs.”
SECOND PRIZE: Elizabeth Sanders Gillispie
“Can’t say I feel adequately geeky to post since I can’t name all the Doctor Who episodes or speak klingon. I’m more of a Geek of many trades master of none..
I grew up on classic Doctor Who (4th being my all time Fav), Quantum Leap and Star Trek, Star Wars, of course. In school I was always the keen science student, science fair winner, and opted to take the Newly offered Physics class instead of study hall even though I didn’t need anymore credits. Went on to get a BA in Geology in College where I met my soon to be Science teacher (all around geeky) Husband. We became avid MMORPG fans at the release of EverQuest, been gaming through Darkage of Camelot, WoW, Lord of the Rings online, Warhammer, StarWars the old Republic, and Guild Wars 2, ever since. During which I explored creative writing to give my online characters back story. I do so enjoy the writing of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. (we subject our girls to the audio books on long rides) I enjoy watching “geeky” shows with my husband like Merlin, Warehouse 13, Doctor Who, Battle Star galactica…
On our anniversary He takes me rockhounding in the mountains to add to my rock and mineral collection. *pushes up glasses* I also enjoyed alot of art classes and lessons over the yrs and every once in a while I get a rash of creative inspiration to create art. My geekyness spills into my spiritual life as well.. I tend to overdo the study part of Bible study and then have too much info to present in a timely fashion at small group. I also tend to draw connections or examples of faith/themes from things like Doctor Who, the Matrix, or Narnia to which I sometimes get that “you just grew a third eye” look from the ladies in my group. I enjoy reading Christian authors like Ken Ham and Randy Alcorn. Hubby turned me into a tech geek.. My iPad is my alram clock, devotion, Bible study tool, cook book, etc.. and I use it to airplay Biblestudy presentations to the TV for the small group. My parting plea.. I wear 10th Doctor Who inspired Converse shoes with a quote embroidered Exult in Hope.”
THIRD PRIZE: Colleen Heron Chapman
“Somehow, the idea of being asked to express my geekiness is almost cathartic. So, thank you for that Geek Pastor Brad!
Like most of us, my geekiness is something I was born with. I can’t change it anymore than I can change my left handedness. I wouldn’t want to even if I could. Ever since I could recall, I was a little out of the main stream. As a child, I didn’t enjoy pretending to be Ariel or Belle, I enjoyed pretending to be Gandalf, Spock (shout out to my Mom for watching Star Trek with me during asthma attacks!) or Lucy from Narnia. I constantly had books in my hand… or sometimes, they were knocked out of my hand by the cool kids. Being a geek wasn’t always “cool”, but somehow, I knew it was better than everything else out there.
My first loves were Tolkien and Lewis, but soon grew to include anything I could get my hands on. Now a days, my absolute favorite is George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire. It’s a great time to be a geek! Some current favorites: Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Marvel movies, Firefly, Merlin, Jericho, all of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Percy Jackson, the Hunger Games… too many to name really!
Being a geek has kept me safe, and out of a lot of things in the mainstream that are damaging to the soul. I met and married another geek, and we’re raising geek babies. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my kids climb out of their TARDIS tent with their toy sonic screwdrivers screaming “Run, it’s the Daleks!”. They have no idea who Sponge Bob, Snookie or the Kardashians are, and other than teaching them to walk with the Lord, that is my best accomplishment as a parent. I love to see imagination and creativity come out in them!
Geeks are cool now, and it’s a bit of a validation, and a bit of a shame. (Does that last sentence make me a hipster too?) I’m so blessed to have found this tribe that embraces Geek Faith!”
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Way to go, GeekFaithers!
Winners, I’ll contact you shortly about getting your prizes.