Brooklynites Felecia and Ty Freely are bona fide nerds.
However the clever married couple — she a seasoned techie, he a psych student at Columbia — don’t view their brainy lots in life as a negative.
As an alternative, the perspicacious pair have wrangled their collective wit to assist construct community within the Big Apple — by making a positive space for like minds. They’re calling it “Lectures on Tap.”
Held in bars throughout NYC, each of the beers-with-braniacs sessions will feature a unique professor, expert or gifted storyteller, turning a random choice of watering holes into energetic forums for “thought-provoking” lectures and discussions.
“We’re popularizing ‘nerd’ culture,” Felecia, 32, a software engineer-tuned-lifestyle influencer, told The Post.
“We’re giving the term a cool, recent meaning.”
Freely and her husband launched their joyful hour hangouts on June 18, enticing geeky Gothamites to attend an intellectually intoxicating presentation titled “Your Brain on Movies” — a clever chat that delved into how the mind interprets cinema.
The boozy address — for which about 50 attendees, a fair split of men and girls, purchased $40 tickets — was led by a Columbia University neuroscientist at Velvet Brooklyn in Williamsburg.
For the reason that series’ successful debut, the couple has hosted an array of above-average minds at ale houses throughout the boroughs for further sudsy seminars. Held at 6:30 p.m. on various days each week, up to now they’ve tackled thought-provoking topics corresponding to “The Mind F–k of Fame,” “The Seek for Alien Megastructures” and “AI vs. MD.”
“It’s a secure place to grab a drink and meet individuals with a lifelong love of learning,” said Ty, 35.
“Nerds prefer to do cool things, too.”
And the genius alternative to awkwardly mingling at a deafeningly loud nightclub not only gives local bookworms an excuse to explore recent material — it also hits back on the “alone virus” currently plaguing young Latest Yorkers.
Deemed the “loneliest city” by Gen Zers and millennials, singletons of the metropolis are said to be affected by chronic friendlessness — a “pressing health threat” with ramifications as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, per the World Health Organization.
To thwart the threat, 20- and 30-somethings looking for community — very like the Freelys — are organizing area of interest clubs and group activities to link folks together for fun.
And while run clubs and group rides fit the bill for a lot of, those preferring to exercise the brain and perhaps make a recent friend in a chill group setting aren’t necessarily easy to seek out.
“Latest York needs this,” said Felecia of her lectures and libations program, an idea she and Ty patterned after an identical, successful series called “Pints and Profs” in Washington, DC.
“If I were single, I’d go hoping to satisfy someone who likes learning recent things as much as I do,” she continued, adding that the classic wallflower types at her events often find themselves engaging in witty repartee with fellow spectators, in addition to the teachers.
And so they’re not your on a regular basis teachers, either — with regards to sussing out smarties to helm each of the spirited gatherings, Ty has up to now been in a position to lean on a formidable academic network.
Initially of July, for instance, he tapped clinical psychologist Lawrence Ian Reed, an associate professor at NYU and adjunct professor at Columbia, to spearhead a symposium on “The Psychology of Deception,” held at an Upper West Side pub.
During his 45-minute mini-course, the educator regaled the group with how-tos for detecting a lie.
“It was such a fun experience, leading a discussion on a subject I’ve been studying for several a long time and meeting some very interesting people within the audience,” Reed, an authority in personality disorders and facial features, told The Post.
Meanwhile, the Freelys — whose most up-to-date fête, “James Madison: Factions, Politics and Power,” was held on Wednesday in Greenwich Village — hope their frothy forums proceed stimulating chemistry amongst eggheads all over the place.
Reed agrees, noting a necessity for higher, smarter ways to satisfy up in NYC.
“There’s a scarcity of third spaces [in the city],” said Reed. “Events like this give people a spot — outside of labor and residential — to socialize and revel in some mental stimulation.”
Brooklynites Felecia and Ty Freely are bona fide nerds.
However the clever married couple — she a seasoned techie, he a psych student at Columbia — don’t view their brainy lots in life as a negative.
As an alternative, the perspicacious pair have wrangled their collective wit to assist construct community within the Big Apple — by making a positive space for like minds. They’re calling it “Lectures on Tap.”
Held in bars throughout NYC, each of the beers-with-braniacs sessions will feature a unique professor, expert or gifted storyteller, turning a random choice of watering holes into energetic forums for “thought-provoking” lectures and discussions.
“We’re popularizing ‘nerd’ culture,” Felecia, 32, a software engineer-tuned-lifestyle influencer, told The Post.
“We’re giving the term a cool, recent meaning.”
Freely and her husband launched their joyful hour hangouts on June 18, enticing geeky Gothamites to attend an intellectually intoxicating presentation titled “Your Brain on Movies” — a clever chat that delved into how the mind interprets cinema.
The boozy address — for which about 50 attendees, a fair split of men and girls, purchased $40 tickets — was led by a Columbia University neuroscientist at Velvet Brooklyn in Williamsburg.
For the reason that series’ successful debut, the couple has hosted an array of above-average minds at ale houses throughout the boroughs for further sudsy seminars. Held at 6:30 p.m. on various days each week, up to now they’ve tackled thought-provoking topics corresponding to “The Mind F–k of Fame,” “The Seek for Alien Megastructures” and “AI vs. MD.”
“It’s a secure place to grab a drink and meet individuals with a lifelong love of learning,” said Ty, 35.
“Nerds prefer to do cool things, too.”
And the genius alternative to awkwardly mingling at a deafeningly loud nightclub not only gives local bookworms an excuse to explore recent material — it also hits back on the “alone virus” currently plaguing young Latest Yorkers.
Deemed the “loneliest city” by Gen Zers and millennials, singletons of the metropolis are said to be affected by chronic friendlessness — a “pressing health threat” with ramifications as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, per the World Health Organization.
To thwart the threat, 20- and 30-somethings looking for community — very like the Freelys — are organizing area of interest clubs and group activities to link folks together for fun.
And while run clubs and group rides fit the bill for a lot of, those preferring to exercise the brain and perhaps make a recent friend in a chill group setting aren’t necessarily easy to seek out.
“Latest York needs this,” said Felecia of her lectures and libations program, an idea she and Ty patterned after an identical, successful series called “Pints and Profs” in Washington, DC.
“If I were single, I’d go hoping to satisfy someone who likes learning recent things as much as I do,” she continued, adding that the classic wallflower types at her events often find themselves engaging in witty repartee with fellow spectators, in addition to the teachers.
And so they’re not your on a regular basis teachers, either — with regards to sussing out smarties to helm each of the spirited gatherings, Ty has up to now been in a position to lean on a formidable academic network.
Initially of July, for instance, he tapped clinical psychologist Lawrence Ian Reed, an associate professor at NYU and adjunct professor at Columbia, to spearhead a symposium on “The Psychology of Deception,” held at an Upper West Side pub.
During his 45-minute mini-course, the educator regaled the group with how-tos for detecting a lie.
“It was such a fun experience, leading a discussion on a subject I’ve been studying for several a long time and meeting some very interesting people within the audience,” Reed, an authority in personality disorders and facial features, told The Post.
Meanwhile, the Freelys — whose most up-to-date fête, “James Madison: Factions, Politics and Power,” was held on Wednesday in Greenwich Village — hope their frothy forums proceed stimulating chemistry amongst eggheads all over the place.
Reed agrees, noting a necessity for higher, smarter ways to satisfy up in NYC.
“There’s a scarcity of third spaces [in the city],” said Reed. “Events like this give people a spot — outside of labor and residential — to socialize and revel in some mental stimulation.”
