Comfortably Strange on the Playground

If you haven't already gathered as much, I have been a nerd practically since birth. It wasn't a conscious choice; it's just who I was from a very young age. Need proof?

In fifth grade, I appropriated a book from my parents' bookshelf about the Lost Colony and took it to school to read on the playground (I know, right?). A classmate came up and asked why I was reading that "grownup book" instead of playing. I told her it interested me, to which she responded, "You're strange." Nerd and geek weren't in our vocabulary back then or I'm sure she'd have been more specific.

Fast forward to today and the Banner Lecture at the Virginia Historical Society, "A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke," by author James Horn. I go to a lot of these lectures and I can honestly say this is the first where every single seat was taken and people were standing in the back. Apparently the topic is of interest to more than just me.

The British Horn, an American history scholar, warned us in advance of a spoiler in the course of his lecture. His research has led him to a different conclusion about the fate of the Lost Colony than that of current prevailing thought. He was kind enough to say he'd alert us so that we could leave the hall if we wanted to save the surprise ending for our reading pleasure (the book had sold out at the museum shop moments before the lecture so plenty of people had bought it). I saw no one leave, though.

He wove a fascinating story of Sir Walter Raleigh whose grand intentions of exploration and profiteering were made possible by doing the nasty with Queen Elizabeth. I have little doubt that the trade off was well worth it for the queen; portraits of Raleigh show a handsome, virile looking guy in spite of the foppish clothing of the day.

During the question and answer period, we heard from a surprising number of native East Carolinians, all of whom had a tale or legend associated with the missing people of the first English settlement in the country; they wanted to see if Horn's research could shed any light on what they'd heard over the years. They were probably reading books about the Lost Colony in fifth grade, too, but I bet nobody made fun of them.

Not that my classmate Anne's comment did any lasting damage to my young psyche. In addition to being born a nerd, I was also born comfortable with that fact. Feel free to call me strange.