Brass Bricks

So who are you, exactly?

My name is Andrew Scott Benton. I am a naturalized Texan, born August 10th, 1970, in Kansas City, Kansas. I grew up in Katy, TX, a suburb of Houston. I currently reside in Austin, TX with my wife Megan. I have a B.A in International Studies from Southwestern University, an M.A in Japanese Studies from the University of Texas, and some emotional scars in Japanese History from University of Chicago. I can speak Japanese with middling grammar and vocabulary, but an awesome accent. I can speak and read enough Spanish to get by when necessary. After years of wasting time in the tech field, I finally pursued my dream again. I am now a teacher at an urban high school here in Austin, Texas. I teach 9th Grade World Geography, since you asked.

That’s me right there. Hair length varies, but never by much.

What is the significance of Brass Bricks?

My stepfather Marty, who passed away on 10/20/1997, had this little brass artifact on his desk. It was shiny, reassuringly solid and deceptively heavy, despite only being perhaps 1/2″ by 2″ by 6″. The artifact is a little brick wall with words on a few of the bricks, a list of virtues and personal qualities to emulate. I don’t know where he got it, but it’s been around for as long as I can remember… mid-1970’s at least. It’s the one thing of his that I actively wanted to snatch after he passed away. I keep it on my desk to remind me of him, and to encourage me to be all those things. This is one of the only sentimental attachments I have to a physical object rather than a loved one.

What happened to Spearweasel Online?

I inadvertently allowed my ownership of Spearweasel.com to expire, and some NICsquatting jerk in Canada grabbed it and is camping on it for sale. I hope he chokes on it… I can’t think of anyone who’d want the domain Spearweasel, except perhaps some future porn star. Instead of buying back the old site, I realized that “Spearweasel” is an Amtgard nickname, and I really don’t play Amtgard anymore (not since 2004), so it was time to move on. Enter my new site, Brass Bricks.

What is the funniest thing you can think of off the top of your head?

That’s easy. A monkey with a banjo. Nothing funnier than that.

Are you some kind of nerd?

I don’t like computers enough to be a honest-to-god nerd. I use them, I worked on them for years, but they hold no special place in my heart. I’m more of a geek, really. I am a gamer, and am active in the SCA. But unlike your run-of the-mill geeks, I am a Stealth Geek. You wouldn’t know I was a geek if you saw me on the street. I dress normally, I bathe frequently, brush my teeth, married an intelligent, attractive woman, and all the sorts of things that Mundanes do. But make no mistake, I am a geek. Once you get to know me, there’s no hiding it.

Geek, Geek, Geek!

What the hell is a “gamer”?

Someone who plays role-playing games… like GURPS, or D+D, for example. It’s a combination of storytelling, board games, and a healthy dose of make-believe. I have been doing it steadily since 1980. Nowadays I run campaigns with sci-fi, modern era, or horror settings. It is my main hobby, my creative outlet, and a way of avoiding personal responsibility. I guess I am a gaming geek. But since nearly all of my closest friends are gaming geeks as well, that’s OK. I like to say that I am part of an ancient tradition, the storyteller by the campfire… but everyone knows I am just a gaming geek…

So, other than being a geek, do you do anything creative like music or poetry or painting or something?

My creativity manifests in my gaming and in my humor. In gaming, it appears both in the world-building process and in the act of storytelling. If you don’t think that requires creativity, then YOU try holding the attention of five or more people for several hours at a time, without a preset script, and have them both wanting more and willing to do it again, over and over, for years. That takes creativity and endurance. My humor, on the other hand, tends to be more freewheeling, rambunctious, and absurd. Most of it is based on my ability to rapidly combine several random things (say, monkeys and banjos) into a coherent whole, usually turning the whole thing into some ridiculous story which I will then try to pass off as reality. It’s definitely impromptu.

Two words… religion and politics.

I’d say these are both Nunya, but I’ve nothing to hide. Ummm, I’ve been a Jew, a Methodist, and flirt with Buddhism now and then. If you can figure a label, good for you. I don’t have much use for organized religions, but I do believe in God. I just don’t claim to know what He/She/It/They is/are. I also don’t completely buy the “all religions are equally valid” approach. That is mushy feel-good nonsense… but I don’t claim to have a clue which ones are hogwash and which ones are Divinely Inspired… your mileage may vary. Call me vaguely Buddhist, creeping towards something vaguely Christian… eh, I don’t know. I got married in a Lutheran church, just to confuse you even more.

Politically, I am a libertarian centrist, according to one of those little political grid exam thingies. It basically means mind your own damn business, and leave those other people alone. I believe that the government has way too much power over the lives of it’s citizens. On the other hand, I’m not overly thrilled about the prospect of globalization, the domination that the megacorporations have over our system, or the idea that anyone in this country should grow up hungry or illiterate. After 18, a person should be free to sink or swim on their own efforts or lack thereof, but I have no problem with spending government money on education, food, or medical care for kids. Frankly, under the current system, the best we can hope for is that government is too busy keeping the corporations from fouling the Earth to be prying through our mail, testing our urine, or kicking in our doors. I believe in a strict interpretation of the Bill of Rights, erring on the side of individual liberties over government authority. Yeah, especially on 2nd Amendment issues.

Being a historian wannabe has shown me one simple truth; a civilization, especially a democracy, is no better than it’s citizens. If our minds are mush, and our spirits are weak and without character, then the harshest laws and strongest army can’t save us from the Great Shitcan of History.