A Note on Who I Am

Hi there, my name is Adam Gonzalez.

As far categorizing myself taxonomically, I identify most strongly as a nerd. Yes, it might seem trivial, but it's a valid social group, and plays a tremendous role in the nature of my day-to-day life, so I'd say it's important. It's also interesting, since nerds often are defined by, and have a culture centered on, media consumption. So my social life and relationships with my friends are shaped tremendously by what we share in common with regards to what we watch, what we read, and what we play. I also identify as a gay, ambiguously white male, although I'm still figuring out how much each of those factors shapes my understanding of myself.

As far as my role as a media consumer, I suppose I consume a lot of media. I'm an active consumer, a critical consumer, and a literate consumer, although that doesn't change the fact that a large chunk of what I consume includes things like superhero cartoons and fighting games. And professional wrestling, despite how uncool it is. Looking this over, it seems I consume a lot of violent or action-centered media content. I'm not sure what this says about me as an individual, although I assume it's nothing bad.

I also like to listen to NPR, so hopefully that counterbalances the action fixation.

If I were to describe other parts of my life, I could say I'm a writer, a student, a reasonably well dressed person, an aspiring mixologist, and, starting just this month, a judoka (judo practitioner), although not a very good one.

Naturally, all of these are just traits or activities that describe me. As far as who I am on a fundamental level, that's probably not something I'll be able to explore in detail, since as I understand it, the idea of the self is a story that we construct and reconfigure based on context. So I suppose for now we'll have to settle for the idea that I'm a gay nerd with a nice jacket. And that works for me.

Hmm, I need to add a photo, so...here's a picture from my favorite movie (which has nothing to do with action or NPR)

Note: The picture is a link.