The Best Day of Ben's Life (to date, he notes)

... and it ranks right up there for his mom, too!

On Friday, January 13, Ben and I (as well as one of Ben's friends) attended a book signing that confirms my faith in teenagers. Capturing it has taken a few weeks but I hope I still managed to do it justice.

First, a little background.

Over the past year Ben has become a "Nerdfighter," It refers to a group of people (mostly teenagers, but others too) who are nerds that are fighting to "reduce world suck." Their leaders are John and Hank Green, otherwise known as the Vlogbrothers. They post video blogs in a conversation with each other. And really, it would seem, they take turns sharing whatever random things come to mind, from Quarks to Economics to healthcare. John writes books; Hank writes (and sings) songs. And they both remind their legion of followers "Don't Forget to Be Awesome," (DFTBA). Along the way they've raised awareness for children's cancer (raising money for This Star Won't Go Out) and launched the Project For Awesome, a YouTube charity fundraising event that involves Nerdfighters posting and liking videos during a 24 hour period so that they are featured on the YouTube home page. (Ben participated this year, posting and liking throughout the weekend of December 18.)

Ben has been rather consumed with the DFTBA movement since sometime last winter. It has inspired him to rail against the penny and to read "The Great Gatsby," among other things. He has been purchasing DFTBA music (including an amazingly catchy song about the quark) and tee shirts, and reading John Green's books (along with others written by Green's friends and/or recommended by him). He made sure I pre-ordered his copy of John Green's newest book "The Fault in Our Stars" in July, because the first printing was going to be signed. This fall he met a guy at school who recognized his tee shirt by flashing the Nerdfighter greeting (arms crossed over chest, hands in Spock formation), who came to be known as "Nerdfighter Will" in our house. Eventually we found out that Nerdfighter Will is a senior, the band drum major, and a friend to several of the Patriot Players Theatre Company (in which Ben now participates as part of the crew and of which Alexa is an alum). Apparently he's also Ben's timelord double.

But enough Nerdfighter love, onto the book signing.

In early December, Ben sent John and I a link to the schedule for the "Tour de Nerdfighting," also known as the tour for the launch of John's book "The Fault in Our Stars." It included a Bethesda stop sponsored by Politics & Prose, a DC bookseller, and required tickets. Thankfully, I bought tickets right away because it sold out in days. At $27 a pop. This should have been my first clue that this was going to be big.

My ticket order indicated that the doors would open at 6:30 (read: plan to arrive early) and I picked up on this clue at least. We got to Bethesda around 5:15, picked up a to-go dinner at a favorite deli, and walked across the street to the Bethesda Hyatt. I figured we'd walk inside, pick up our tickets and sit in a hallway outside the ballroom with an hour to spare. Not so much.

As we approached the hotel, the boys excitedly spotted "the van," a Sprinter-like van wrapped in blue advertisements for the book with stylized drawings of the Green brothers. I spotted the line, stretching out of the hotel and down the block. There were TONS of people, mostly female and young, happily waiting in the cold on a Friday night for a book signing. Pretty impressive and amazing. Politics and Prose had lots of folks directing us and making sure we all knew where to be, and the line was really calm and pleasant and good-natured. When we reached the hotel door, we thought we were golden, but as we got inside we realized the line snaked into the lobby, up to an atrium, and back down some steps. In all, we waited about an hour and fifteen minutes but had so much fun we hardly noticed!

As we stood in line, it quickly became apparent that this was not your typical crowd. First, there were lots and lots and lots of geeky tee shirts. Many were from DFTBA but there were also literary ones (lots of Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice and the like), video-game-related (think Portal), and math jokes (mostly related to pi). The boys amused me by pointing out, under their breath, their favorite shirts: "Mario Brothers at 3 o'clock." And then there was the whole Doctor Who thing - more sonic screwdrivers than you can imagine and plenty of people dressed as their favorite Doctor. Will had a sonic screwdriver app on his phone and occasionally would play it; and then the crowd would look around for the screwdriver until they figured out that the sound was coming from Will's phone. And often folks held up their own screwdrivers, which was really funny. I think the patrons of the Morton's Steakhouse inside the hotel were befuddled.

Eventually we made it downstairs to the ballroom and then it sank in - there were loads of people (900, it turned out, according to the organizers) and at least 70% of them were teenage girls. The boys enjoyed chatting with fellow Nerdfighters, working on the crossword puzzle in the event program, and figuring out which items they would have autographed by the brothers (three items were permitted per person per brother).

The "show" started when a sock puppet appeared - Hanksock - to introduce John. The crowd went wild - shrieking and cheering and standing. Honestly, it was like a rock concert. Instead, out came the author (more screaming and cheering and standing) who began reading a book. When's the last time you saw people screaming for an author? OK, J.K. Rowling, maybe. But while that might match the crowds and dedication, when John started reading and talking the connection between him and his fans was palpable. These people KNOW each other because of the connection established through the video blog. John was inspiring, challenging the audience to think about what it means to be heroic. He quoted the Odyssey and talked about rarely people are remembered for grand, heroic gestures. Instead, he said, it is how we choose to behave and react every day and in every moment that makes us heroic - the acts of being kind to others and making choices for good that truly make the world a better place. So inspiring. And when Hank Green sang, everyone sang along - including the aforementioned song about Quarks and a song about Harry Potter. Incredibly fun.

A bit about the book itself. It is amazing. It is about teenagers with cancer, a topic close to our hearts as Ben's friend Billy passed away from the complications of brain cancer this summer. John Green served as the chaplain at a children's hospital for several years and was inspired by one patient in particular, Esther Grace Earl (in whose memory the This Star Won't Go Out Foundation was founded). Esther was a Nerdfighter who lost her battle to cancer at age 16. The book is an incredible, tender, touching, funny, and gut wrenching glimpse into the lives of young people with cancer. It's also smart and doesn't pander to teen readers and, as I write this, is on its third week at number one on the New York Times best-seller list for teen fiction. I read it in a day and loved every moment and tear.

Perhaps the most amazing part happened after the reading. That's when everyone had a chance to meet the Green brothers and get their items signed. You might think this could get unruly - 900 people, most under 18, and the clock ticking on a Friday night. Instead I witnessed an incredibly orderly and happy crowd who was respectful of others and chatted with strangers and told jokes and generally were awesome. It helped that the Politics and Prose folks had it down to a science - they distributed sticky notes (to put names for signing on) and dismissed rows of chairs to go into the line.

After about three hours, it was Ben and Will's turn to get into the line. The excitement was palpable. Ben had brought a "Harry Potter" broom (made by friends of ours - it's fabulous), plus some CDs and books. Will had a poster and CD and book. And, while they loved the thought of having the signed items as a memento of the night, what really excited them (and seemingly everyone else) was the chance to have a personal interaction with the brothers. There were stuffed animals and cookies and other items fans brought for them strewn about the table. And as each fan left the table, they had identical expressions of pure joy as they gushed to their parents. It was no different for Ben and Will... Ben was so excited to actually talk to them he's still in awe that it happened almost a month later.

Ben and I are still talking about this amazing experience. It was wonderful to see two brothers committed to doing good and being smart and inspiring others to do the same. And it was really incredible to see so many teenagers and young adults (who usually get such a bad rap for being selfish and self-involved) excited by them and their cause. I learned a lot that evening and have a new-found respect for the phenomenon. And the word "awesome" has a whole new meaning now.

Check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers . And don't forget to be awesome.