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| Meet a Famous Person I Admire |
John Green is one of my favorite authors, and also one of the people I admire most.
I've been following him and his brother since they started the Vlogbrothers project back in
2007. I've always felt kind of a connection to him because we are almost exactly the same
age, and of course because of the unique intimacy that YouTube, Twitter, and the
Nerdfighter community enables. I have been blessed to have small interactions with many
famous people I admire, but I can't truly say I've ever felt connected to any of them. With
John, I honestly feel like I know him almost as well as I know most of my closest friends.
That's a strange thing to feel about somebody you've never met, but it perfectly
summarizes what makes this community so special. John and Hank don't create things for
us. They create things with us.
Today, I had the very good fortune to meet John Green in person, at the end of the
Portland leg of the Tour de Nerdfighting 2012. (For those not as immersed in the culture as
I am, the tour is one part promotional tour for his new book, and many parts John and Hank
meeting their fans to turn Nerdfighteria from an abstract construct into a physical reality.)
The show itself was all too brief, with John reading an excerpt from his book, saying some
wise and kind and true things, followed by Hank playing some songs, and ending with
questions and answers. It was followed up by a signing with both of the brothers Green,
and I'm pretty sure the entire maximum occupancy of the Bagdad Theater waited around
for their chance to meet both. I was one of the last people to arrive for the show, and I
definitely waited.
I spent a long time trying to think of something clever and concise to say, but I couldn't
possibly narrow it all down into 30 seconds, so I ended up mostly winging it. I told John
about this list, and I told him that he was number 25, "Meet a famous person I admire." He
liked the idea of 34 During 34, and expressed a desire to try it himself on his 35th birthday.
I also told him that his book was very important to me, for reasons way too complicated to
go into at a signing, and thanked him for writing it. I'm sure he has heard the same or
similar a thousand times during this tour, but he still managed to seem as grateful and as
touched as if he was hearing it for the first time, and that's more than anyone should ask of
an author who is severely sleep-deprived and has been on the road away from his family
for three weeks.
John, I see you favorited the tweet where I sent you the link to this site, and I hope that
means you will someday see this page. On the off chance you do, I'm going to tell the story
about why The Fault in Our Stars is so important to me. Very few people know this story.
If you want to read it, click here.
I've been following him and his brother since they started the Vlogbrothers project back in
2007. I've always felt kind of a connection to him because we are almost exactly the same
age, and of course because of the unique intimacy that YouTube, Twitter, and the
Nerdfighter community enables. I have been blessed to have small interactions with many
famous people I admire, but I can't truly say I've ever felt connected to any of them. With
John, I honestly feel like I know him almost as well as I know most of my closest friends.
That's a strange thing to feel about somebody you've never met, but it perfectly
summarizes what makes this community so special. John and Hank don't create things for
us. They create things with us.
Today, I had the very good fortune to meet John Green in person, at the end of the
Portland leg of the Tour de Nerdfighting 2012. (For those not as immersed in the culture as
I am, the tour is one part promotional tour for his new book, and many parts John and Hank
meeting their fans to turn Nerdfighteria from an abstract construct into a physical reality.)
The show itself was all too brief, with John reading an excerpt from his book, saying some
wise and kind and true things, followed by Hank playing some songs, and ending with
questions and answers. It was followed up by a signing with both of the brothers Green,
and I'm pretty sure the entire maximum occupancy of the Bagdad Theater waited around
for their chance to meet both. I was one of the last people to arrive for the show, and I
definitely waited.
I spent a long time trying to think of something clever and concise to say, but I couldn't
possibly narrow it all down into 30 seconds, so I ended up mostly winging it. I told John
about this list, and I told him that he was number 25, "Meet a famous person I admire." He
liked the idea of 34 During 34, and expressed a desire to try it himself on his 35th birthday.
I also told him that his book was very important to me, for reasons way too complicated to
go into at a signing, and thanked him for writing it. I'm sure he has heard the same or
similar a thousand times during this tour, but he still managed to seem as grateful and as
touched as if he was hearing it for the first time, and that's more than anyone should ask of
an author who is severely sleep-deprived and has been on the road away from his family
for three weeks.
John, I see you favorited the tweet where I sent you the link to this site, and I hope that
means you will someday see this page. On the off chance you do, I'm going to tell the story
about why The Fault in Our Stars is so important to me. Very few people know this story.
If you want to read it, click here.