Despite the early hour and cold temperatures, hundreds of people filled the green space of Centennial Plaza on Monday, Feb. 6. Comprising the crowd were students, parents, teachers, church members, and other community members drawn from across the St. Louis area. American flags, unicorn costumes, rainbow apparel, and Catholic school uniforms alike made their way to the front yard of CHS.

Officially beginning at 7:50 a.m., the protest by the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) involved far fewer. A total of five protestors stood in a police-protected area approximately half a football field away from the larger crowd. The WBC members sang songs and held signs with messages like “Mourn For Your Sins” and “Soldiers Die 4 Fag Marriage.”

According to its website, the WBC was protesting CHS’ support for its students, especially its Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA).

“We go to high schools all over the country, but Clayton has been on our radar,” WBC member Fred Phelps Jr. said.

Phelps said that the group’s reason for protesting is to send the message that “sodomy” will destroy the nation.

“What this country is doing is raising, as a general rule, children who are utterly, completely ignorant of the Bible, are amoral, and have no fear of God,” Phelps said. “And of course that’s a sign of the last days.”

A Westboro Baptist Church member protests the Gay-Straight Alliance at CHS. (Paul Lisker)

The Clayton community first learned of the WBC’s plans to protest when the church contacted the Clayton Police, requesting protection for the day of the protest. The CHS GSA immediately began brainstorming how they wanted to respond.

Senior Halo Howell, co-president of the GSA, said some students initially had angry responses.

“They were really riled up about it,” Howell said. “Like ‘let’s go naked,’ and ‘let’s go run around and make out with people.’ So we immediately had to deal with kind of suppressing that reaction and being like ‘no, this is going to be a really positive event where everyone is supporting our community, and we get to show that support and how awesome Clayton really is.”

The GSA created an event page on Facebook, which they used to spread the word about the planned CHS response. A few things were asked of students and community members: to remain peaceful, to get all signs approved by the school administration, and to celebrate CHS instead of “counter-protesting” the WBC.

Both Andrea Hermann and Sydney Wright, two of the GSA’s co-presidents, said that they were pleased with the way students behaved and sent only peaceful, positive messages.

The administration had also emphasized the importance for all students to report to their first period classes on time. There was some concern that this might be difficult to manage, but as 8:20 a.m. approached, students streamed into the school building. A number of outside supporters clapped for them as the students passed.

“I was really impressed by our students and the way they behaved and how when asked to go to class, they went to class,” associate principal Dan Gutchewsky said. “A couple of the news organizations and the police all commented that they couldn’t believe that everyone left and went to class when they were supposed to. They were kind of amazed.”

Common Ground

People came to support the response from all over the St. Louis area, including many high schools. There were students representing Ladue High School, Burroughs, MIDCS, Villa Duchesne, Visitation Academy, and others.

“We came to support everyone and protest the Westboro church, because I think it’s disgusting what they’re saying and doing,” said Lizzy Wallis, a junior at Ladue High School. “I was kind of nervous coming because I didn’t know if there were going to be riots or something breaking out. I didn’t expect to see this many people. I was surprised when I came up because I knew it was a big deal, but I didn’t know how many people would actually show up.”

Meadow Faulkner, also a junior at Ladue High School, said she agrees with the peaceful manner of CHS’ response.

“I came out here to support a cause because I really believe in equality and tolerance,” Faulkner said. “And I just believe in the support of Clayton High School even with the protesters who came to hate.”

Nick Rubin, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, lives close to CHS. He said he came because he is gay and supports gay rights. He also said that he agrees with how CHS students chose to respond to the protesters; however, he wishes the students were not so fenced off.

Supporters from outside of CHS display their signs. (Paul Lisker)

However, students weren’t the only ones that came to the high school to show their support. Valery York-Schneider, a 59-year-old from South City, came because she wanted to set an example of how to respond to the protest for her family.

“I am a life-long lesbian,” York-Schneider said. “I had a 33-year partnership until my life partner died. So I have participated in this kind of thing my whole life. And I just love the way Clayton High School has got such an open and embracing inclusiveness with its student body. It’s like ‘My gosh! How can you not be here?’”

York-Schneider, who has been witnessing the changing attitude toward the LGBT community for many years, believes that events like this prove that society is moving toward a more open position and attitude.

“I think this is a part of a wonderful and evolving inclusiveness, in general,” York-Schneider said. “You will have pockets like the Westboro group who feel differently, but I think we are becoming a much more inclusive society.”

Like the CHS GSA and administration, many visitors hoped that the response would remain positive.

“I came out to support the students,” said 49-year-old Mark Fredericks of Richmond Heights. “Obviously I don’t like Westboro’s message but I wanted to keep it peaceful and keep it loving.”

Leon Braxton, the executive director of The LGBT Center of St. Louis, attended the event with kids from the program to show their support for the community.

“This is the response I was expecting to see,” Braxton said. “Because in St. Louis, when you attack us, we bond together as one big happy family. We come out and it’s wonderful to see that not only are there young people here but there are people well into their 80s.”

Like many supporters, Cheryl from South County had personal reasons for attending the response. But she was still surprised by the magnitude of the event.

“It’s more than I expected,” Cheryl said. “I’ve never done this before, so I really had no idea what to expect. But I had a step-daughter who was transgender, and she died five years ago, so kind of doing it for her too.”

For Occupy St. Louis member Catherine Lipinski, participating in the response was about something bigger than herself.

“[We came out today] because biogotry is not okay,” Lipinski said. “And it’s not okay to try to shove that message in front of kids and down kids’ throats. As far as I’m concerned, the children of this country really are our future, and if we want to build a world where hate isn’t acceptable, then we can’t allow for hate to be brought to the kids’ front doors.”

Love in Numbers

The GSA’s goal was to hold a peaceful response to the WBC protest, but many came to see the morning as more than just a response. Junior Jonah Lindblad said it was a great demonstration of the strength of the community and of how much support the school has for the LGBT community.

“I thought it was really beautiful,” Lindblad said. “It was great. We had a couple veterans out there who actually had American flags with them; we had moms holding up a pride flag. We had such a vast amount of people, I felt it was really empowering.”

CHS Principal Louise Losos also said she was impressed by how much support CHS received.

“It was so heartening to see the number of people that showed up to support us,” Losos said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of this school and this community. There hasn’t been a negative note at any point – it’s been fantastic.”

Wright said that the response was significant for the LGBT community, at large.

Senior Margaret Mulligan sends a positive message at the front of the barricaded student area. (Paul Lisker)

“It really brought everyone together and reminded people why we were here,” Wright said. “[It showed] more support for the LGBT community and support for equality across all borders, instead of just anti-Westboro.”

In addition to the discussion that took place at the high school, conversations regarding the protest were raised at the district’s middle school.

Mary Ann Goldberg, Wydown Middle School’s principal, said that the event has been a great “teachable moment.”

“At the middle school, we had conversations all last week, in Social Studies class and in Literacy class, about how the Westboro people get to do this, and then how we need to respond to it,” Goldberg said. “So it’s been a lesson in civics and citizenship and to why our country runs the way it does – it provides people the opportunity to be able to do this.”

Goldberg said she knew of a number of middle school students whose parents brought them to CHS the morning of the protest, because their parents felt it was important for them to experience the event and to express their support.

To some, the event was a reminder of what makes Clayton unique.

“We talk about the Clayton community being very supportive, very open-minded,” Losos said. “You know that sort of intuitively, but when you actually see it in evidence, it’s very affirming and reminds me of why I’m very appreciative of working where I work.”

GSA sponsor David Hoffman said the school’s response to the protest is important for the CHS community, specifically.

“It was touching,” Hoffman said. “It was so supportive. If you’re a kid in this school who is wondering about his own identity, what I think we saw here today says ‘you’re okay.’ And I think that’s a great message.”

Howell had a similar response about the Clayton community.

“Clayton has been surprising me since I moved here,” Howell said. “People can make whatever judgments they want to make, but these people will really stand up for you when the time is right, when you really need them. They’ll go outside of their comfort zone and really put up a good fight.”
Although the WBC protest generated a good deal of discussion about the best response, many supporters said they agreed with the peaceful response by the CHS student body.

“The GSA worked long and hard to make sure that it was a celebration of us and not a counter-protest, and I think that’s exactly what it was,” Hoffman said. “It’s like they didn’t matter today. It wasn’t about them being here, it was about us. We couldn’t have planned an event to celebrate the LGBT community better than what happened today.”

How do you feel about the response to your protest against CHS?
I love [the response from CHS]. It shows how far gone this country is. And it puts a spotlight on what we’re saying.

What message are you trying to send to the high school?
[We’re sending] the Bible message that sodomy will destroy our nation like it did Sodom and Gomorrah. The last great sin before the flood, according to Jewish historians, was same-sex marriage. That just shows where this country is going. It’s finished; it’s just a matter of time.

Why has the WBC chosen to protest CHS?
We go to high schools all over the country, but Clayton has been on our radar. We get emails from people about activities in the school, and we get requests from all over the country, so we try to keep all that information and if we’re going to be in a certain area, that’s where we go.

What is a typical day for you? How often do you protest?
I’m an attorney, so a typical day is working. I probably protest two to three times a week…. I’ve been to all 50 states.

Is protesting effective for you?
We’ve gone to the whole world to preach, so the whole world knows about this little church.

In what ways have people reacted to your protests in the past?
We’ve had varied responses [from high schools]. They had a riot alert once in Omaha, Nebraska. The students were out of control and the officers hadn’t done an adequate job of preparing.
What this country is doing is raising, as a general rule, children who are utterly, completely ignorant of the Bible, are amoral, have no fear of God, and of course that’s a sign of the last days. And I say that as a group – I’m not referring to you specifically. There’s always going to be some good things in there, but as a group that’s what is going on in this country. That’s why reports can’t keep up with the crime rates and the politicians can’t build enough prison cells.

Why do you think many people are resistant to your messages?
Christ said that in this world many people will hate you. They don’t want truth. I graduated from high school in 1971 – those were the good old days. This was not even on the radar. I’m a civil rights lawyer, and I was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1988. I got up and gave a speech, because that was when this issue started surfacing. And somebody yelled out at me, you’re a civil rights lawyer, why are you [doing this]. I said the Bible doesn’t say it’s an abomination to be black. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination – what the Bible says is the filthiest, most depraved, most debauched… I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe that behavior, that activity. It kills the body, and it destroys nations.

Check back tomorrow for more on the Westboro Baptist Church protest and response!

A member of the Westboro Baptist Church makes her point with signs in the free speech area outside the stadium before the start of Super Bowl XLV where the Green Bay Packers face the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Sunday, February 6, 2011. (Sharon Ellman/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT)

The picket will last from 7:50 to 8:20 a.m. and will take place on City of Clayton property across from Centennial Plaza. The GSA has taken the initiative in organizing a response to the protest.

“We’ll have a face painting booth for those who arrive early, Love Conquers Hate T-shirts, and a donation table where people can donate money to different charities,” said senior Andrea Hermann, one of the GSA’s four presidents. “In addition we’ll have a large canvas rolled out where people can dip their hands in paint and place their hand-prints, which will then be hung up in the Commons.”

Principal Louise Losos said that she expects a large gathering of students – including students from other schools – parents, and a number of organizations to show their support Monday morning.

“I hope that it will be a positive demonstration showing who we are as a school and as a community,” Losos said. “It should be a celebration of us, not an attack on ‘them.’ I hope that we will have a peaceful counter-demonstration and at 8:15 students head inside and school begins on schedule at 8:20.”

Another co-president of the GSA, Nadia Diamond, also stressed the importance of being in class for the start of the school day.

“This protest is not an excuse to skip school,” Diamond said. “The WBC will succeed in their goal if they disrupt our day-to-day life, and therefore students should make sure they arrive at their first period class on time.”

The GSA and school administrators have emphasized that the purpose of the CHS response is to peacefully counter the WBC protest with a celebration of Clayton’s diversity and support for LGBTQ individuals.

“We want our message to be about the community and not the WBC,” Hermann said. “Our goal is not to fight back, but to come together as a loving community even in the company of these hateful, arrogant people.”

Diamond said that in order to successfully counter the protesters’ message, students and supporters must avoid acting in a potentially harmful manner.

The Clayton High School Gay Straight Alliance is selling "Love Conquers Hate" t-shirts as part of the response.

“The WBC relies on winning free speech lawsuits at the places they protest in order to make money to voice their hate everywhere else,” Diamond said. “If we really want to counter them and dilute their message, we should not do anything that could lead to them filing a lawsuit against us. Ways we can keep that from happening are not doing anything to make them feel threatened such as yelling back at them or approaching them.”

In order to reduce any antagonism toward the WBC protesters, the school administration said that all signs on school grounds must be approved before they are displayed. Signs with negative or sarcastic messages directed toward the WBC will be confiscated.

Hermann said that the school’s planned response has received a great deal of support from the community.

“I am so proud to say that I’m a member of a community that cares so deeply about each other and sending a positive message,” Hermann said. “Everyone has been so helpful and wonderful. I can’t begin to thank them enough!”

Losos agreed that the event has led many community members to express their pride in the district. She also emphasized the importance of demonstrating what Clayton stands for.

“In the end, we have no intention of allowing them to change who we are and what we do,” Losos said. “Monday is a day of school, and I think educating our students to be active, involved and informed citizens is the best response to Westboro’s hate.”

More information on the event schedule, donations, and parking can be found at the School District of Clayton’s website.

Occupy St. Louis is an off-shoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, which began its protests on Sept. 17 in a Lower Manhattan park. Since then, the Occupy Wall Street movement has gained momentum and spread to cities across the country. Part of the intent of the protests is to emulate recent government protests that have occurred in other countries, such as Egypt and Tunisia. In addition, the organization’s website said the protests have been gaining international support, with 1500 protests in 82 countries on Oct. 15.
According to its website, Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless resistance movement made up of the “99%” who “will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.” The website of Occupy St. Louis expresses the same ideas.
“We, the 99%, are hereby taking action against the greed and corruption of the richest 1%; the bankers, politicians, and corporate persons that govern our nation,” the website states. “Like our brothers and sisters in Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to harness the power of mass occupation to restore democracy and justice in America.”
The website adds that the St. Louis organization “proudly stand[s] in solidarity with those whose peaceful Wall Street occupation seeks to expose the greed and avarice that has sold off the ‘American Dream’ in exchange for executive bonuses and political kickbacks.”
Occupy St. Louis began its protests about two weeks after the ones in New York City began. After first protesting at the St. Louis Federal Reserve building, the group soon moved to their current location at Kiener Plaza, a city park at the heart of downtown St. Louis. The demonstrators use the park’s amphitheater as a space for General Assemblies, discussions, and simply as a living room.
According to Sasha, the Occupy St. Louis group has maintained a “good dialogue” with the police.
“We did have some confrontations with the police the first couple of nights, and there were some arrests made, but since then everything’s been very good,” Sasha said.
Since its start, Occupy St. Louis has attracted a diverse group – some with jobs, some unemployed, some homeless, and some who have chosen to make a tent in Kiener Plaza their new residence.
One such individual is Michael, a fresh-out-of-college student who stumbled upon Occupy St. Louis, or what he called, “a little bit of a revolution,” during a backpacking trip around the country.
“Basically, I came to the realization that American history is pretty driven by social movements,” Michael said. “Most recently the Civil Rights Movement, before that Women’s Suffrage, before that Temperance, and then of course the American Revolution, which was also a social movement. A friend brought me down, I saw a bunch of people sitting around talking to each other, and I knew something really important was happening around here.”
Ever since then, Michael has been camping out in Kiener Plaza.
Michael said that the media trivializes the movement to a great degree and often comes set with specific expectations and ideas of what they want to report. According to him, it is not quite possible for the media to accurately depict the Occupy movement.
“You can’t really show what’s happening here, because what’s happening here is just interaction between people,” Michael said. “You know, it’s not like a five-second clip, it’s like a 45-minute or two-hour-long conversation between two people or a group of people.”
Kaare Meldy, a young archaeologist in Illinois, joined Occupy St. Louis for slightly different reasons. He lives at home with his wife, and every day after work he comes to Kiener Plaza and returns home after the General Assembly, the group’s community meeting. He is employed now, but this has not always been the case. In January of this year, the company he worked for was forced to fold, and Meldy was left unemployed until April.
“So we’re working… two people in the household working 40 plus hours a week, and we’re not able to pay our bills,” Meldy said. “And that just doesn’t seem right in America. It used to be that one person in the household could work 40 hours a week and pay the bills for, not just two people, but two people and two or three kids. And now I’m working 40 hours a week in a job that I went to college for, and I’m making $9.50 an hour. And my wife is picking 30 cents more than that. That’s not a sustainable amount of money, and that isn’t enough to live on.”
Meldy said he was surprised that this was not enough money for them to live on, because he does not have any “extras” like cable TV. He has a cell phone, but he said that is his only luxury – if he can even call it that, since it is his only phone.
“So I realized that this is not how our country is supposed to function,” Meldy said. “I realized that there is a large wealth inequality in our country. Between the average worker and the CEO of most companies there’s over 400 percent difference in how much they’re being paid. That just doesn’t seem like the way we should be running things in our country. It seems like the average person should have a little bit more money.”

Among the multitude of issues being protested by the Occupy movement, another main concern is corporate involvement in politics.
“These corporations are making unlimited campaign donations, but they’re not doing that for no reason; they’re doing that because they want something in return,” Meldy said. “So when there’s this much money being spent on a campaign, who is the politician going to represent? Are they going to represent the average person, or are they going to represent the campaign donors?”
According to Michael, the way to deal with this problem is to amend the U.S. Constitution.
“That is not an easy thing to do,” Michael said. “But, in the times that it’s happened in past U.S. history, it started in places like this. [The movement]’s at a big enough visible point that I would say it happens within a couple or a few years. I think we’re pretty close to some actual, interesting, good change happening here.”
The Occupy protests have been criticized for lacking a strong direction and well-defined demands. Nevertheless, the protesters do not seem to be lacking in faith for their cause, however unclear it may be.
Meldy said Occupy St. Louis will remain for “as long as it takes.”
“We’re going to be here; we’re going to continue,” Meldy said. “This movement is worldwide right now. There’s 3.5 million people worldwide; there are over a thousand protests in several different countries and almost every state. I just saw a picture of Occupy Alaska, which blew my mind. So, yeah, as long as it takes.”
Meldy currently works to help all participants become equally knowledgeable about the movement, by teaching others about consensus-based decision-making.
“I learned how that process works, and now every time before we have a General Assembly, I try and get everyone together so that they can learn consensus-based decision-making so that they can be facilitators in the next meeting,” Meldy said. “We don’t want to be a leaderless movement, but we don’t want to have a leader movement. We want to have a leader-full movement.”
According to Sasha, the movement has been a long time coming, and now that it is taking form, he has to take part.
“For myself, it’s a personal moral obligation,” Sasha said. “This represents everything I truly believe in, so I have to be here. Some people have a choice; I don’t.”
According to Sasha, Occupy St. Louis is comprised of a wide range of people, all of whom are involved with their own particular causes.
“We have social activists, we have political activists, we’ve got social workers, we have every demographic; we have socialists, anarchists, libertarians, Republicans, Democrats; we’ve got union supporters, we have non-union supporters,” Sasha said. “And that’s why it’s beautiful, because we get to hear more and more voices every day.”

All Photos by Julia Grasse

Words of Wisdom (WOW) is a new speaker series at CHS with the mission to enlighten both the student body and community with lectures from the Clayton School District staff.

“This speaker series will provide students with the unique opportunity to hear faculty members including teachers, who have been mentors and inspirations in their lives, talk about what they are most passionate about,” said the founder of WOW, senior Zach Praiss.

Set to begin in late October and open to the entire Clayton community, the series will host one speaker each month for a total of eight speakers during this school year. The eight individuals invited to speak will be chosen in three ways: two to three speakers will be selected through a student Facebook poll, two to three more will be nominated by staff, and the final speakers will be staff members who plan to retire at the end of the school year. The last speaker of the year will likely be a retiring staff member.

Each speaker will be given a podium, the option of a slideshow, and approximately 30 minutes for his or her presentation. Lectures will take place in the Black Box Theater, but may move to the auditorium once renovations are complete.

“We believe that it’s essential that the speakers have complete freedom in choosing what to talk about in their presentation whether it be their greatest inspiration, passion, or lesson learned in life so long as they share some meaningful insight, their words of wisdom, with the audience,” Praiss said. “Thus, Words of Wisdom is the perfect name for this new speaker series at CHS.”
Praiss said the idea to create the lecture series came from several aspects of his life.

“My inspiration for WOW came from the culmination of reading Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture in middle school, watching TED talks last year in biology, and this year, realizing that I, as a senior, will be leaving CHS and this wonderful community of teachers and faculty in less than a year,” Praiss said. “In many respects, WOW serves as a tribute to the incredible faculty of CHS.”

Principal Louis Losos and Interim Superintendent Sharmon Wilkinson will serve as the sponsors of the WOW series.

“We wanted a sponsor from the administration who would be familiar with the faculty at the high school and in the School District, and, thus, helpful in promoting a balanced selection process for the speakers,” Praiss said. “As a result, we reached out to Dr. Losos and Dr. Wilkinson as this would not only be a unique way for them to interact with the student body and faculty, but it would also foster a sense of community at the high school.”

In addition, a WOW student committee of about ten students will be formed to organize, publicize, and guide the direction of the series. Comprising the committee will be two sophomores, three juniors, and four seniors. Each spring, two freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior will be added to the group to begin planning for the following school year. These students will be selected through an application process.

Losos said she is not aware of anything like WOW ever existing at CHS in past years.

“I think this is a special idea and could quickly become part of the fabric of CHS,” Losos said. “I love the concept, to have a teacher, or administrator, or anyone that works for Clayton talk about what is important to them, to impart their wisdom and truth. I can hardly wait to attend.”

Losos also said that WOW is important to her because it expands the idea of what a school is.

“Clayton High School is about more than just the grades and classes you attend,” Losos said. “It is about building a community that respects each other and cares about all the individuals within. It is about who we are as a family. To have folks share a piece of themselves only adds depth and layers to the community we have built.”

To students, the speaker series could be valuable simply because it provides them with an opportunity to hear their teachers speak on subjects outside of the class curriculum.

“I hope that students will be excited to go the WOW Speaker Series to see a different, more personal side of the faculty that cannot be fully seen in the classroom setting,” Praiss said. “It will be a powerful experience to hear their stories and their words of wisdom.”

Defining the roles

The terms “nerd,” “dork,” and “geek” are used so frequently in everyday conversation that it is often unclear what the words themselves mean, or if they even have definite meanings.

The words have become cultural slang and social labels, so much so that they are perhaps constantly changing to fit the needs of each generation.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a nerd is an “unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially: one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.” First used in 1951, its origin perhaps lies in the name of a creature in a children’s book by Dr. Seuss.

Merriam-Webster merely defines “dork” as slang, but Oxford American Dictionaries calls a dork a “dull, slow-witted, or socially inept person.” The first known use of this term was in 1967.

A geek is described as “a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked OR an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity” according to Merriam-Webster, and as “a person with an eccentric devotion to a particular interest” according to Oxford American Dictionaries.

The word itself probably comes from “geck fool” in English dialect and has origins in German. Merriam-Webster says its first known use was in 1914.

These may be the so-called official definitions of the words, but what they mean to people, especially high school students, can vary quite a bit from dictionary entries.

“[A geek] is really into video games, like World of Warcraft and that sort of thing,” senior Ali Meyer said. “A dork is someone who has a social life and is goofy with their friends – really unaware of what people are looking at and thinking of them. A nerd is super invested in their schoolwork, they’re best friends with all their teachers.”

According to sophomore Noam Kantor, the labels have more to do with a person’s smarts.

“I think that nerds, dorks, and geeks are set apart by what they do,” Kantor said. “I’d say ‘nerd’ is usually more academic-related or school-related, like someone who really likes to do, say, math, whereas a geek or a dork might be someone who is actually really bad at school or doesn’t really like school, but, say, likes to play a lot of video games. So it has to do with academic levels.”

Junior Andrew Spector, who considers himself a nerd, also thinks intellect plays a significant part in the definitions.

“A geek I always like to say, as it used to be in the British terms, is a guy who bites the head off chickens and lizards in carnivals, because people like that thing – but in modern-day terms, a geek has absolutely no idea about anything,” Spector said. “A nerd at least is an intellect. [A dork] is someone who either has intellect or physical ability, but isn’t particularly good with people.”

Other students, such as sophomore Ellie Gund, find all the terms synonymous. Similarly, senior Alison Bayley said all of the words have negative connotations, so they are pretty similar. However, she said that “nerd” is becoming more positive, because people often call themselves “nerds” without meaning it in a bad way.

According to Gund, there can be misconceptions about nerds.

“The negative connotation of being a nerd is that you don’t have a social life, but that’s not true,” Gund said.

To freshman Izzy Greenbladt, the words “nerd,” “dork,” and “geek” as labels can be interpreted in different ways depending on the setting.

“I think sometimes they can be hurtful, but it depends on who is using them and how they are using them,” Greenbladt said. “I call everyone a dork sometimes, but that’s just for fun because everyone has their own inner dork to me. With geek and nerd, though, those just seem more hurtful.”

On the other hand, some do not take the terms very seriously, but rather use them in positive ways.
“If someone calls me a dork I take it as a compliment,” Meyer said. “A nerd is also [good] because you’re studious and will do well for yourself. And I’m friends with lots of geeks. They all have positive connotations to me.”
History teacher Kurtis Werner said that the terms are less negative at CHS compared to other schools, because we are more accepting of different types of people.

“At a normal high school – to be a dork, a nerd, or a geek – it’s tough,” Werner said. “There are students who go through the rest of their lives hating high school because they were either teased, picked on, or bullied, so it really does have some very negative attributes.”

However, he said that different can also be good, particularly at CHS.

“Here the Harry Potter Club is kind of geeky, but at the same time it’s kind of cool, because they’re the best selling movies,” Werner said. “So you kind of have to take the good with the bad, and you have to find a middle ground in which you can relate to people and not necessarily value them by their geekiness, their nerdiness, or their dorkiness.”

When depicting high schools, Hollywood often uses terms such as “nerd,” “dork,” and “geek” when exaggerating and stereotyping specific social groups.

However, do Hollywood representations actually reflect some aspects of real high school social scenes?

“I’d say that in many cases, the labels define social groups, but that’s not absolute,” Kantor said. “I think a lot of times, the reason that defines social groups is because people will be in similar activities, so they’ll happen to hang out with each other because they’re interested in the same things. For example, I did the SRM [Student-Run Musical] this year, and it’s really interesting to see that I’m friends with a lot of people who I consider nerds, just because I’m in SRM with them.”

According to math teacher Annie Etling, perceptions of social labels change with age.

“I think when you’re older you see that it’s cool to be a dork, but in high school it does define school.”

Labels at CHS

At CHS the labels “geek”, “nerd”, and “dork” are used often. But whether or not these terms are positive or negative, they do have an effect on the student body.

These labels can define social groups, be hurtfully said, or be used playfully within the high school setting.

But CHS students have found that these terms have made their way into their daily conversations.

High school is a delicate time for teenagers because they are trying to figure out who they are, and how they are going to define themselves for the rest of their life.

“So teenagers are struggling to figure out who they are,” psychology teacher David Aiello said. “And how they resolve that question during adolescence, for most people, is laying out who they are going to be for the rest of their life – their personality, their friends, their likes, their dislikes, things of that sort.”

High school is a time of change, and at many public high schools students are forced to change social settings as they are separated from friends when they change schools.

But, as Aiello explained, the Clayton school system is different than many other public schools because there is only one middle school and high school that kids attend.

The result is that in Clayton, starting in sixth grade, students know most everyone else in their grade. But in many other schools, kids have a clean slate when they come to a new school, and so they can easily change their personality to figure out what types of people they identify with.

“You really get to try on different personalities and meet different people in these schools,” Aiello said. “And this may be one of the explanations as to why Clayton is not so clearly defined by cliques.”

It is difficult for CHS students to define each other in a two-dimensional way when they know their peers so thoroughly. This familiarity can lead to less defined groups and cliques. The labels of “nerd”, “dork”, and “geek” may define social groups at CHS somewhat, but not completely.

“I think it does [define social groups] at CHS somewhat,” senior Charlie Beard said. “But not as much as at other schools. I think there is more blending amongst the social groups at Clayton High School.”

While these labels may describe a person to a certain extent, students are often able to see beyond those descriptions.

“Labels are just ways we can simplify things,” Aiello said. “So we can do the more complex work.”

Some students believe these labels have negative connotations, but others believe that they are positive.

“If someone calls me a dork I take it as a compliment,” Meyer said. “A nerd is also [good] because you’re studious and will do well for yourself. And I’m friends with lots of geeks. They all have positive connotations to me.

Some students, like Spector, believe that the terms “nerd”, “dork”, and “geek” can be negative, but the labels do have a purpose in helping people know where they would comfortably belong.

“They have negative connotations,” Spector said. “But it really just serves to help people guess where they belong rather than trying repeatedly and not fitting in with various groups.”

Other students, like senior Amanda Davis, agree with Spector that the labels do have negative connotations.

“They’re good and bad labels,” Davis said. “Because it’s not good to label somebody like that. It’s not good to stereotype them.”
These negative connotations have evolved over time, as some have become more socially accepted.

Although technology has often been associated with “geekiness,” the recent exponential increase in technology and the country’s obsession with gadgets such as the iPhone, has moved technology away from the classic “uncool” and toward “cool.”

“Because technology has become such an integral part of our life, I think that that stereotype has softened a little bit,” Aiello said. “It’s now a lot more acceptable and sometimes cool to be a technologically savvy person.”

CHS is known for being academically successful, and, for some, it is this welcoming environment that allows for their academic pursuits.

Many students feel comfortable in making academics one of their top priorities without feeling socially exiled.

“I like the idea that being smart is cool at Clayton,” Aiello said. “And at a lot of schools that is not the case. Smart is only for the geeks and the nerds. But I think, in that sense, Clayton is a little ahead of the curve. For the most part, Clayton values its kids to be smart, and successful, and on the cutting edge of new research, new ideas, new tools, new gadgets. I think society has begun to catch up with us in that.”

Over the past few decades these labels and stereotypes have begun to change in society, and it can be seen in TV shows and movies, as they move from negative to more positive.

“I hate to make generalizations,” Aiello said. “But I think that when I was growing up, one of the worst names you could call somebody was a ‘Trekkie’—a person who was a fan of Star Trek—because they were the stereotypical pocket-protector users, and took all the really high math classes, and used graphing calculators before graphing calculators were the standard, and that was the real nerdy and geek kid, and they were definitely the sort of person you made fun and picked on.”

But now, 40 years later, the idea of a geek has become more accepted and even popular in popular culture.

“‘The Social Network’ is a perfect example of that,” Aiello said. “Here’s a total geek and yet he has become incredibly powerful and has used his ability to use technology to make a lot of money.”

Whether or not students believe the labels are positive or negative, it is impossible to define a person by a single word.

“So you kind of have to take the good with the bad,” Werner said. “And you have to kind of find a middle ground in which you can relate to people and not necessarily value them by their geekiness, their nerdiness, or the dorkiness.”

By Laura Bleeke and Jocelyn Lee

Jocelyn Lee fills you in on some of the top global stories of March, 2011.

Their recent discovery by Jefferson scholar Ann Lucas Birle and tracking by Endrina Tay has made WashU the third-largest holder of Jefferson books. The volumes originated in one of Jefferson’s book collections, known as his retirement library, so were likely some of the last he studied before his death.

Professor of History and Law at WashU, David Konig, is a Jefferson scholar who has had the opportunity to examine the books.

Books from Jefferson's library have been found at Wash U after being unidentified for over 131 years. This has caused new analysis of him, as he wrote in the margins throughout many of the books. HIstorians now have a new perspective on him as an older man. (Rembrandt Peale - WikimediaCommons)

“Books are books, and you can get copies of books anywhere,” Konig said. “What really makes these significant is, number one, there are books in there that we didn’t know that he owned. So we know about some other interests that he had that we were not aware of already.”

Furthermore, Jefferson’s marginal notes add to the value of the books and give scholars insight into the mind of the former president.

“He did some scribbling in the margins of his books, the way many of us do, and these tell us a lot about him,” Konig said. “It shows us, for example, how careful he was about accuracy and details. He would make corrections to typographical errors in the books. He would make corrections of statements that were wrong in books.”

Historians had always known that Jefferson was an architect, but the discovered books reveal more about this side of him, according to Konig.

“This shows how precise and careful he was, because these are the books he used when he was designing Monticello, when he was designing his summer home, and when he was designing the University of Virginia,” Konig said. “So we can see the mind at work as he’s pointing these things out to contractors and builders, even while these buildings are going up. That really enhances our understanding of the working personality that he had and the genius, as well.”

The fact that Jefferson read the books late in his life is also telling.

“It shows you that right to the end of his life he was still very deeply interested in Greek and Roman history, especially Greek history, and that the political background of the classical era was still very much in his mind,” Konig said. “We can see him really cut straight to what he felt was important as he was becoming an older and older man.”

The Jefferson scholars who discovered the collection learned that the books reached the university through a friend of WashU’s founder William Greenleaf Eliot. That friend was Edmund Dwight, the son-in-law of one of Jefferson’s granddaughters. Because the university lacked a library, Dwight offered to donate a 3,000-book collection, which included 74 of Jefferson’s books. However, they were unidentified as Jefferson’s when the donation was made.

“It shows how important the founding of the university was and how important it was viewed back in the 19th century – as a kind of institution that would advance civilization and culture into the far west, because we were sort of on the edge of the West,” Konig said.

Konig said he thinks that Jefferson’s books will be accessible to the public, most likely in a way similar to the Library of Congress, which has the largest collection of Jefferson’s books. This would involve a process of applying and requesting to see the collection, in order to the protect the books.

The collection, which includes titles like Aristotle’s Politica and Plutarch’s Lives, has attracted the attention of many researchers and authorities on Jefferson.

“Personally, they confirm what I and most Jefferson scholars had known already about how broad-ranging his mind was and give us more details to place his thinking along with actual actions he was doing at the time,” Konig said.