Geeks unite!

Organizer’s monthly event celebrates
the city’s proud poindexter community

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Alex Megelas

Age: 33

Occupation: Geek

Bio: This intrepid Pointe St-Charles stud had been touring New England with his bud Andrew Lindsay, checking out sites mentioned in the books of H.P. Lovecraft, when they stumbled upon a café in Montpelier, VT., “that was in the middle of something called ‘Geek week’—and it was really neat! A whole week of geekiness with different activities every day and night—traditional geeky stuff like role-playing games and videogames all happening side by side with crafty stuff, tech stuff and music too! It was a really neat hodgepodge amalgamation.” Inspired, the two decided to do something similar here at home and set about launching geekmontreal.com roughly one year ago. Once a month, they hold their Geek Out events at Burritoville on Bishop, where geeks of all shapes and sizes are encouraged to do their respective things in a supportive environment free of ridicule.

Do they do traditional geek stuff at these events as well, like bite the heads off chickens and throw excrement at each other? “Of course not, we’re not circus geeks at all. The idea is to kind of go back to high school, when people would tell you, ‘Stop geeking out!’ So we’ve reclaimed that and now have a space where geek becomes a positive moniker—where we can really have fun geeking out with other folks who like geeking out. Where we acknowledge each other’s geeky obsessions, knowing it’s all good.”

So the idea is to own the word “geek” and neutralize it, like homosexuals have attempted to do with the word “queer”? “Sort of. There’s something to be said for reclaiming a word, making it a positive thing, and being proud of it. Like, ‘Yeah, I am different from the folks who use that word to define me and I’m going to reclaim that.’ Being a geek is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a process that can be really educational.”

His personal passion: “I’m really into role-playing games.”

Like the obvious “I’m Dr. Mengele and you’re my Gypsy slave girl”-type thing? “Oh, absolutely, that too. But in this context I mean more the type of role-playing games where you sit around eating snacks listening to the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack—it’s great to listen to when you’re pretending to be a wizard or 17th level elf preparing to slay a dragon.”

Has he ever been victimized for being a geek? “Oh yeah, totally. When I was in middle school and high school, for sure.”

Is he at all concerned bullies might storm a Geek Out and give everybody wedgies or take them outside to pull their pants down in front of girls? Not especially.

Is it safe to assume the Geek events aren’t the greatest venues for those in search of female fuck friends? “Yes, I think you could say that. But there are a few girls, it’s probably 60/40 boys to girls right now.”

Are there any gay, lesbian or members of visible minorities currently hooked up with Geek? “Um, right now it’s predominantly white and more towards the hetero side.”

Last book read: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks.

Musical preferences: Os Mutantes, the Clash, Malcolm Bauld.

Words of wisdom: “If your best friend gets it, that’s all that matters.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net