Brooklynites Felecia and Ty Freely are bona fide nerds.
But 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.
Instead, the perspicacious pair have wrangled their collective wit to help build community in the Big Apple — by creating a positive space for like minds. They’re calling it “Lectures on Tap.”
Held in bars all over NYC, each of the beers-with-braniacs sessions will feature a different professor, expert or gifted storyteller, turning a random selection of watering holes into lively 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, new meaning.”
Freely and her husband launched their happy 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, an even split of men and women, purchased $40 tickets — was led by a Columbia University neuroscientist at Velvet Brooklyn in Williamsburg.
Since the 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 varying days each week, so far they’ve tackled thought-provoking topics such as “The Mind F–k of Fame,” “The Search for Alien Megastructures” and “AI vs. MD.”
“It’s a safe place to grab a drink and meet people with a lifelong love of learning,” said Ty, 35.
“Nerds like 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 new subject matter — it also hits back at the “alone virus” currently plaguing young New Yorkers.
Deemed the “loneliest city” by Gen Zers and millennials, singletons of the metropolis are said to be suffering from 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 seeking community — much like the Freelys — are organizing niche clubs and group activities to link folks together for fun.
And while run clubs and group rides fit the bill for many, those preferring to exercise the brain and maybe make a new friend in a chill group setting aren’t necessarily easy to find.
“New York needs this,” said Felecia of her lectures and libations program, a concept she and Ty patterned after a similar, successful series called “Pints and Profs” in Washington, DC.
“If I were single, I’d go hoping to meet someone who likes learning new 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, as well as the teachers.
And they’re not your everyday teachers, either — when it comes to sussing out smarties to helm each of the spirited gatherings, Ty has so far been able to lean on an impressive academic network.
At the beginning of July, for example, 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 crowd with how-tos for detecting a lie.
“It was such a fun experience, leading a discussion on a topic I’ve been studying for several decades and meeting some very interesting people in the audience,” Reed, an expert in personality disorders and facial expression, told The Post.
Meanwhile, the Freelys — whose most recent fête, “James Madison: Factions, Politics and Power,” was held on Wednesday in Greenwich Village — hope their frothy forums continue stimulating chemistry amongst eggheads everywhere.
Reed agrees, noting a need for better, smarter ways to meet up in NYC.
“There’s a lack of third spaces [in the city],” said Reed. “Events like this give people a place — outside of work and home — to socialize and enjoy some intellectual stimulation.”
