My birth name isn't The Undercover Hipster. My parents didn't have a fascination with detective stories and the beatnik subculture. I came to call myself it because it's literally how I have come to think of myself. How I have come to see myself in this ongoing debacle in a subculture I grew up in.
I grew up a nerd. I grew up playing video games, reading comic books, and watching anything from sci-fi to fantasy to dystopian mutant apocalypse horror. I cosplay and attend conventions whenever I can scrape enough money together. And my fangirling abilities are over nine-thousand. Nerd culture gave me an armada of worlds to escape reality. I have even found family and friends all over the world through being a nerd.
I have been solid in my identity for a while, but that wasn't always the case. In the past, there have been times when I have faltered. If drama arose in the community, I was the first one out. I would go undercover, donning my best hipster, goth, jock -- really, anything -- persona to escape the canon fire.
In recent years, I have changed. I thought that by going undercover, I would be safe. But, I was wrong. I realized that doing nothing was going to accomplish just that: nothing. I decided to use my talents of disguise to help. By donning my invisibility cloak, I am able to quickly and quietly collect evidence.
And this is where you find me -- at a chapter in my life where my identity has shifted. Where it's no longer a banal social label, but a badge of camaraderie and change. A badge that has been tattooed on my soul: hidden from view, but burning brightly.
I have been solid in my identity for a while, but that wasn't always the case. In the past, there have been times when I have faltered. If drama arose in the community, I was the first one out. I would go undercover, donning my best hipster, goth, jock -- really, anything -- persona to escape the canon fire.
In recent years, I have changed. I thought that by going undercover, I would be safe. But, I was wrong. I realized that doing nothing was going to accomplish just that: nothing. I decided to use my talents of disguise to help. By donning my invisibility cloak, I am able to quickly and quietly collect evidence.
And this is where you find me -- at a chapter in my life where my identity has shifted. Where it's no longer a banal social label, but a badge of camaraderie and change. A badge that has been tattooed on my soul: hidden from view, but burning brightly.
