Don't Forget to be Awesome!

I really need to get to bed so I can get up tomorrow and take care of the kinds of things that I've been procrastinating for a few weeks. If you haven't figured it out, when I procrastinate doing homework, I also avoid blogging because I feel a bit guilty about doing something that I enjoy when I'm not doing things that I'm obligated to do.

Sometimes I still write things though, and I just don't post them. Like the following letter to Hank Green.

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An open letter (because I haven't showered and making a video would be a bad idea at the moment) to Hank Green regarding tribes.

I'd watched Seth Godin's talk before seeing your video, and I got a slightly different idea about the tribes he describes from that video. I have yet to go back and watch his talk again, and as such I may ultimately end up agreeing with your interpretation more, but right now I'd like to discuss the differences for a moment.

You mention that as Nerdfighters, we are a tribe. I get that, I like that, I'm behind it, but it's not what I initially thought Godin was referring to. Instead, I understood him to be pretty much different personality types, and the tribes themselves are the 5 types of people, or rather their outlooks.

I still agree that many a nerdfighter is in the 4th type and very supportive of the world around them. Go us! I just don't think that it's being a nerdfighter that puts us into that category, I think us being in that category allow us to be awesome nerdfighters. In some ways it's like the houses at Hogwarts. An individual's outlook and initial responses to something determine which tribe they belong in.

The great thing about writing and creating characters as JK Rowling has, is that she can allow many of her characters to actually be pretty awesome. I would argue that all three non-dark houses are at least level three tribe types, while to over simplify it Slytherin is a type 1. It is because these characters are already in these tribes that they are put together.



Having written this and thought about it a bit since I wrote what is above, I'm not so strong in my stance anymore. I think it's a bit of both views (and probably has aspects of other takes as well, I just haven't heard those ones yet)!

I would love to think about this more, and I probably will while in class tomorrow, but I'd like to get this posted before I totally forget about it. Also, seeing the video you shared on Twitter tonight made me think of just how great a type 4 tribe ALL of You Tube can be, posting now seems timely.

Any of your thoughts on this would be welcomed, with some luck I will be able to discuss this with you on Friday in San Francisco! (I'm a little bummed that I found out about this later than I wanted and wasn't able to contact you about the music store I work for near Sacramento who would have loved to have you come play in the store. If you're driving to SF, we'll be on your way, feel free to contact me if you're interested in possibly something last minute.)

DFTBA,
Katherine

PS. I really kind of wanted to sign that "One of the Abundance," but I thought that might be better in a letter to John.


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For those who are unfamiliar, this is the video he posted, and I can't wait to buy the song. Even if I only listen to it when I want pure cheese, that's not what this is about!