The Origin of Geek Girl

So you're probably wondering what the name of this blog is all about.  I think we've gotten to know each other a little bit better over the past couple of days... I'll grab a couple of blankets if you get the chamomile tea brewin'.  Let's sit by the fire for this.  Or no, let's get in the jacuzzi.  Great, yeah that feels nice.

OKAY.

Almost sixteen years ago, I started a zine called Geek Girl from within the confines of my teenage bedroom in Lake Bluff, Illinois.  Well, actually the very first issue was called Geek Patrol!, and soon after I changed it to Geek Girl.  I used to glue the templates together using glue sticks and rubber cement, (before Photoshop, can you imagine?) and then sneak into my high school's copy room after hours to steal copies.  I would stay there into the night and staple each issue together, then pass them out to people in the hallway the next day like the dork that I was.  My Dean, Dean Hoffmann, who is now the Principal of that high school, still has signed copies of each issue on the shelf in his office.  And I met my best friend after I found a fan letter she wrote to me on my desk in Mrs. Gillespie's U.S. History class.  That's right, I had fans.  But don't worry, I never let the super-stardom go to my head.  Unlike Madonna, Britney or Lady Gaga, I never changed.  

If you don't believe me, just read a few pages out of one of these relics and you will see how unbelievably similar my writing was back then in comparison to what you are reading right now! Its like, we're the same person or something.  Wait, what?

 

But I digress.

After graduating high school one geeky year early at the tender age of 17, I began an illustrious career at Kinko's, where I further perfected the art of copying and theft.  Issues became fancier and more intricate: color copies, transparencies, bookletting, I mean, you name it.  There were no boundaries! Just as long as I didn't get caught with my hand in the copy jar.

There was even a fan club associated with Geek Girl, called the Secret Geek Society Internacionalé (or SGSI for short).  Hence, the name of the URL for this site and even my email address! If you joined the SGSI you even received a membership card in the mail.  Whether you were still in the closet or the "out and proud" type, it was official - you were a geek. Or was I? It was so long ago.

(Above: The official Secret Geek Society Internacionalé membership card you were required to have on your person at all times, in case you were to die suddenly and not want "Wind Beneath my Wings" played at your funeral.  Note: the wet spot pictured is from the card being rubber cemented to the back page of issue #4.  In retrospect, this unsightly stain was a design flaw, but Kinko's didn't offer any special stainless gluing services at the time.) 

Its hard to believe that its been over 7 years now since the last issue came out.  I really have been slacking.  But I thought it was about time to revisit Geek Girl, now by using the most easily accessible form of communication - the internet! 

So that's it in a nutshell.  This very blog, GEEK GIRL REVISITED, will be the new home for my thoughts, documentation, informative articles, weird shit, links to my photography, and whatever else I damn well feel like putting up.  Welcome.

Also, Geek Girl-story will be the tag for an ongoing series of blogs about my roots.  There will be more nuggets to come on Geek Girl (the zine), my past film and video work, writing, personal tidbits, photography, old toenail clippings or locks of hair... Hopefully I'll even find an old grocery list for you to enjoy.  It will be a blast from the past about anything I deem worthy of sharing with you, my fellow residents of Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy.  And I'd like to take the time to give a shout out to my peeps in the beyond, if you're reading this!

So you aren't left out, feel free to share your stories with me at secretgeeksociety@gmail.com.  This doesn't have to be the kind of relationship where I just give, give, give! You can give too if you would like.  

If you would like to peruse the very first issue of Geek Girl - Geek Patrol! - it can be viewed here.  Just look for the photo set called "Geek Girl Vol. 1 (Geek Patrol!)."  And before you start hatin' on it, let me remind you - I was only 14 years old when I made it.  Pretty cool I think!

xo
G.G.