By Max Sparber
May 9, 2007 | Pulse of the Twin Cities

There's been a growing trend in alternative proms in the past few years, and there is an almost science-fiction quality to it, as though these prom participants were so disgusted with the past that they had to go back and fix it.

And so, if you were a gay or lesbian teenager, and felt that your high school prom was an unwelcoming place for you and your same-sex date, there are now plentiful GLBT proms that you can go to. Similarly, if you spent most of your high school years stuffed in your locker, and either avoided prom altogether or went with a relative (cousin, mother, brother, etc.), well, it's time to break out your dressiest pocket protector.

The Geek Prom is a five-year old institution, started in Duluth, that not only welcomes outcasts and misfits, but actually celebrates them. Here's a prom that encourages attendees to play video games, do math equations and dance as badly as possible (prizes are awarded for, in their words, "spaz dancing").

And, while there will be nerds a-plenty, in their oversized glasses and clip-on bow ties, participants are encouraged to dress in any way that would garner them heaps of abuse in the uncaring world outside: superhero costumes are welcome, as are spacesuits.

So put down your comic books and pack away your AD&D maps for one night, friends; the prom awaits us, and, if we can't be cool, at least we can be uncool together.

$15/$10 with student ID. 18+. 120 Kellogg Blvd W., St Paul, 651-221-2550.