Bio

Hey y'all! I'm Tatiana, an Alabama blerd in Germany, and I'm addicted to learning things. Reading random volumes of the encyclopedia gave me great pleasure as a child (God bless the Internet for enabling my 21st century knowledge-seeking binges). Things I like to Google: subcultures, storytelling, language acquisition, organized crime, blogging, literature...and anything else that catches my fancy. I used to try VERY hard to keep my nerd side hidden, but not only was that ish uncomfortable, it was ineffective. These days, I'll proudly go out rocking a One Piece tee, partly for me, but also for the 4-year-old blerd that I'm raising. I want to teach him to never hide his superpowers.

Favorites (hover / click to see name)

  • music

    • The Godfather Soundtrack
    • Tupac Shakur
    • Solange
    • Bohemian Rhapsody

  • movies

    • Kill Bill
    • Amelie
    • Lord of the Rings trilogy
    • Medicine for Melancholy
    • House of Flying Daggers

  • publications

    • Song of Solomon
    • Kindred
    • The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
    • The Sandman
    • Futureland

  • I am BlerdNation because...

    I don't have to compartmentalize myself anymore. I can be black AND nerdy AND a woman AND a writer AND... I love having a space where I don't have to leave my blackness (or anything else) at the door.

  • Who is your blerd role model? Why?

    Levar Burton, hands down! He did Reading Rainbow, Roots and Star Trek--three very different things that had a HUGE impact on very different segments of society. If I can do something to positively affect so many people, I'd feel like I haven't wasted my time here.

  • How do you stay connected to other blerds?

    Mostly via the web. The blerd friends that I have made are pretty far away from me, but thanks to (mostly) Twitter, we're able to stay in touch.

  • What’s your favorite word/phrase?

    "Read to your babies!" I grew up on a dirt road, far away from our town's library. And comic book stores, science centers, cons? Ha! Pipe dreams! But I was lucky to have a house full of books, and that made such a big difference in my life. So I'm always trying to force people to read to their children.

  • What are your goals/passions?

    I'd like to have a career like Neil Gaiman, Walter Mosley and Miranda July--that is, I'd like to be a writer who creates across various mediums. I've published a short story and have one forthcoming, but I'd like to do a children's book next. Any illustrators out there who want to collaborate with me?

  • What are you listening to, watching, or reading that impacts you or that is giving you a different perspective?

    I'm very into Japanese storytelling right now: anime and manga, fiction by Natsuo Kirino and Haruki Murakami, the "mono no aware" concept. I think Japanese storytellers have markedly different perspectives and come to very different conclusions than Westerners, and it's very inspiring.

  • Are there any famous, or not-so-famous, people that you think would be a great addition to BlerdNation?

    Levar Burton!

  • What advice would you give to other blerds?

    Don't be afraid to let all of your parts coexist. It's ok to like makeup and manga, science and sororities, hip-hop and Harry Potter. Life is not a game of either/or.

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