The other day I told someone that my comic book collection exceeds 1,000 issues, that my PlayStation 3 is never really shut off and that Stan Lee is my homeboy. Big surprise, right? It’s my basic, run-of-the-mill icebreaker I pull when meeting someone for the first time. Nothing too special -at least, that’s what I thought. Upon spelling out my undying love for all that is taboo within our culture, I was met with this curveball of a reply: ‘That’s funny, you don’t look like a nerd.’

Oh, really? Then what do I look like? ‘You look normal,’ was the answer from the stranger. Oh, normal. As in, nerds carry an image that is anything but normal. Now, I’m not stupid (at least that’s what my mother tells me) and I’m aware that nerds have a less-than-favorable image in our culture’s collective conscious. You know, that sweaty, slightly overweight poindexter whose pale complexion is a direct result of his lack of sun exposure. What I didn’t know, however, was that this image is still prevalent in the media. This is a problem because, you know, I fancy myself as a nerd.

This popular image of the geek has been drawn from years of misrepresentation and reinforcement. For some unfortunate reason, we nerds have endured (mostly) inaccurate portrayals due to a few unlucky representatives. Without a doubt, the biggest offender of the classic nerd is ‘The Comic Book Guy’ from ‘The Simpsons.’ He is complete with greasy ponytail, goatee and T-shirt that’s a few sizes too small for his rotund figure. Parading around Springfield as this generation’s purveyor of the un-cool, ‘The Comic Book Guy’ has given off a rather negative stigma of what comic book aficionados look like and how they behave.

Then there’s Kevin Smith, director of cult movies such as ‘Clerks,’ ‘Mall Rats’ and most recently, ‘Zach and Miri make a Porno.’ To call Smith Hollywood’s quintessential nerd would be a gross understatement. The man is the spitting image of the classic nerd stereotype, except he’s actually real. Not wasting a moment to further push the nerd’s image to the Dark Ages, Smith recently made headlines when he was kicked off an airplane for being too large and taking up multiple seats. Of course, he had to go and start publicly bashing the airline, drawing even more attention to himself and his physique. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Kevin Smith’s work like James Cameron loves alien Smurfs. But when the media starts negatively focusing on individual nerds like Smith, the rest of us take a hit.

I propose that we geeks gather and elect new public officials, ones we’re not completely and utterly embarrassed of whenever they make public headlines. Geoff Johns, who I have a huge man-crush on, is certainly making strides toward becoming that person. This geek is clean cut, lacks any questionable facial hair and, to my knowledge, can comfortably fit in one airplane seat. Other worthy candidates have cropped up, too, such as the aforementioned James Cameron, who has definitely showed us that geeks can dream of floating cities and blue people but still have guest appearances on ‘Entourage.’ So to the public: I ask you to take off the lenses you’ve been viewing us geeks with for so long. We are lovers of pop culture obscurity, we enjoy the sun, we go to the gym and on special occasions, we might even talk to girls. Let’s just hope we look ‘normal’ while doing it.

Flash Steinbeiser is a sophomore communications and rhetorical studies and writing major and the feature editor. As his headshot might suggest, he’s tall, blond and way too handsome to just look ‘normal.’ He can be reached at ansteinb@syr.edu.