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The Goddess Speaks
Kristen Wong
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Girl geeks wait to be discovered
As I walked through the crowd of fellow anime fans at last weekend's Kawaii-Kon, I spotted the perfect shirt. Well, almost perfect. Black, simple, featuring my favorite anime character, Sasuke-kun.
But it a was size fit for a child. And that's ALL they had. This demonstrates reason No. 1 why it's hard to be an old geek. Further investigation yielded other designs of bigger sizes, but man-sized. It's even harder being a girl geek.
Let me use an example from cartoonist Bill Amend in his collection, "Orlando Bloom has Ruined Everything." His portrayal of googly-eyed girls at a "Lord of the Rings" screening represents my dual personality, one as woman and one as geek.
Sure, I was quite pleased that Orlando Bloom portrayed an elf in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but I also rooted for Middle-Earth and admired the lady warrior Eowyn for fighting with the men instead of hiding away with the other women. I longed for the armor and the chance to wield a sword. Surely had I been braver, I might have even dressed as an elf to see the movies. I am not solely a geek, and not solely a woman.
Marketers have thrown us female geeks a bone or two with their merchandise. I loved a shirt proclaiming, "I beat my boyfriend at Guitar Hero III." But I want more! More girl shirts, jewelry and other merchandise.
Perhaps if I were good at programming, I would have invented a Nintendo Wii version of the online game "World of Warcraft" -- "WoWii." For us geek girls who don't get out much, it would be a chance to have fun and get exercise. We could finally use our own arms and legs for running through fields or thrusting swords.
In an effort to keep girl geeks from falling into "WoW Addiction," I give you the world of scrapbooks. I found a love for scrapbooking last year but dropped it when I became addicted to "World of Warcraft."
But there is hope. I began merging the two hobbies, and have started a "Warcraft" scrapbook.
I've made a page for my warrior, my rogue, comic strips that pay homage to "WoW," and more. The scrapbook industry must step up! Give us "Alliance" and "Horde" stickers! Couldn't we have some "Silvermoon City" card stock? Blizzard (the lovely company that brings us "WoW") and scrapbooking merchants could do so much more in terms of merchandising.
Thanks to those who were already thoughtful enough to make baby-girl tees of my favorite geek themes.
And until the industry makes some additions, I will proudly wear my hand-drawn "Naruto" hairpin to work.
Kristen Wong works in customer service and reception at Midweek Printing.
The Goddess Speaks is a feature column by and about women. If you have something to say, write "The Goddess Speaks," 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210,
Honolulu 96813 or e-mail
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