Falling failing falling.  Failing used to mean: failing an assignment, an exam, a subject.  Falling behind.  Failing chemistry: no matter how hard I tried – I never achieved more than a C.  Not an F, but it may as well have been.  My dad wanted to go and speak with my Chemistry teacher and ‘sort it all out’.  But it wasn’t Mr Jagdeo’s fault – he went over compounds and properties and how oxygen was formed through lunch times and after school with me – but to no avail, I …

Simone Lazaroo has written three novels, The World Waiting to be Made (TWWTBM), The Australian Fiance and The Travel Writer. She was interviewed by Paul Giffard-Foret in early 2007 and 2008 for his masters thesis. We have published a brief extract of these interviews here.

In the relationship between Asian and nerd identities, the flipside to the Asian nerd stereotype is the appropriation of Asian popular culture by nerd subcultures in the west. Such is the case in otaku subculture, in which participants obsess over anime and manga, and Japanese culture in general. A subset of this community interact online using specialised forum software called imageboards, in which communication revolves around the posting of images.