Rest in Peace Mr. Spock

When I was a teenager, I got very interested in Star Trek. It was when Star Trek: The Next Generation was on the air. I started with TNG but my love of Star Trek got me into exploring the original series. I quickly fell in love with that.

While McCoy is my all time favorite Star Trek character, Leonard Nimoy's Spock was always really fun to watch. I loved seeing him in the movies, especially in the first Star Trek reboot. The scene with him and Zachary Quinto is just awesome.

Today I was just working and surfing on Facebook when my feed exploded with the news that Leonard Nimoy had passed away. I knew had been sick and in the hospital, but it felt like a punch to the gut. I'm sure many other Star Trek fans are feeling the same way.

I'm feeling very sad, but also feeling lucky to have enjoyed his work for all these years. I'm also feeling extremely lucky that I got to meet him a few years ago at Dragon Con. His line was very long so he didn't have a lot of time to give each person but he was very nice and kind to Todd and I. It was a great experience. 

Like I did when Gene Roddenberry  passed away, I will be spending my afternoon watching Star Trek movies. I'll probably start with The Wrath of Khan and then the Search for Spock while I try not to cry too much. 

LLAP

Bring Reading Rainbow To All Kids!

Image: Wikipedia

Levar Burton loomed large in my childhood. I watched him as Kunte Kinte in Roots and adored him as Geordi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it was Reading Rainbow that really shaped my young life.

I loved Reading Rainbow and it really helped foster my love of reading. Though I do have to give my parents, especially my dad, some credit because my dad had a half a dozen bookshelves in our house and was always reading.

But I have fond memories of watching and learning from Reading Rainbow. I was always excited when a book I owned was featured on the show and sometimes I asked for my parents to get other books that I saw there.

I've been trying to instill a love of reading in Emily. We read books every night and generally several times during the day. She's starting to learn to read herself which is great.

I have heard of the Reading Rainbow app, but never got it because Emily was pretty small when I heard about it the first time. We have watched a few of the old Reading Rainbow episodes on Amazon Prime. We started at the beginning and they were fun but really dated.

Emily, like the rest of her generation, is very tech savvy. She is able to use my phone, tablet and video games better than I can sometimes. And she is a very early reader at this point. But she loves the story apps we do have right now. Right now we don't have the Reading Rainbow app because I just got a tablet in the last week.

When I saw the Kickstarter to bring Reading Rainbow to all kids, I had to back it. A lot of people felt the same way because it reached it's goal in less than 24 hours. I think it's a great cause to back because so many kids aren't exposed to books and reading like they should be. And the best part is giving Reading Rainbow to schools in need for free!

I'm sure everyone has heard about this Kickstarter by now. But it makes my heart happy to think about having Reading Rainbow back. It was a big part of my childhood and hopefully it will do the same for Emily.

Even Geek Parents Can Embarrass Their Geek Kids

My geeky Dad with my sister and I in the early 1980's

I was always a geek growing up and that was thanks in large part to the fact that my dad is a huge geek himself. One of my earliest memories is sitting on his lap in this old, brown chair we had as he read Lord of the Rings to me. My dad is super smart and a scientist to boot, which just adds to his geek cred.

You would think that being a geek myself from an early age, that my geeky dad wouldn’t be able to embarrass me. All kids are embarrassed by their parents, but it may be a little harder to embarrass a geek kid.

When I was in the 8th and 9th grade, I was really getting into Star Trek. It started out with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which was on the air at that time. I eventually got into the original Star Trek as well. We lived near to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and there were one day Star Trek conventions that happened every so often.

At one of these conventions, the guest was James Doohan who played Scotty in the original Star Trek. Usually there was a question and answer session before you could get in line for autographs. I remember very clearly sitting near the front with my dad at this q&a session and that my dad asked a terribly complicated science question. I don’t remember what the answer was, but I do remember that I wanted to disappear into the ground. I was so embarrassed. My dad wasn't though and we went on to have a good time getting our autograph from James Doohan. But it’s something I still remember, 20 years later.

I’m sure all parents embarrass their kids at some point. But only a geek parent could embarrass a geek kid at a Star Trek convention.

My First Star Trek Con

With the addition of John de Lancie to the guest list for this year’s Dragon Con, I’m feeling a little nostalgic for my first Star Trek Con where he was  a guest.

Star Trek conventions have been happening all over the world for the last 40 years. The very first convention that I ever attended was for Star Trek when I was 15 years old. Even though it’s been over 20 years, I still have vivid memories of that experience.

My dad had been a Star Trek fan since the original series and he and my mom started watched Star Trek: The Next Generation from the premiere episode. I was a preteen and didn't consider Star Trek was cool. Once I started watching on a regular basis, I became a big fan, even going back to the original episodes to watch them.

One night while we were watching Star Trek as a family a commercial aired for a three-day Star Trek convention in East Lansing, Michigan. I had attended a few one-day conventions with my dad that featured only one cast member from the shows and a small dealer’s room. This was our first chance to actually experience three days of constant Star Trek.

We planned for my dad and I to attend the con while my mom and sister went shopping. I had my mom order a Star Trek: The Next Generation uniform shirt for me, I was that excited. My first cosplay!

September 26, 1992 arrived and we drove a couple of hours to the Michigan Star Trek Festival. The dealer’s room was huge and sucked up most of the first day.  I had never seen so much Star Trek stuff in one place in my life. This was the only con I've been to that you could go into the dealer’s room without having a badge. Even my mom and sister decided to come in, since they were allowed.

I cosplayed at the dance on the first night. I didn't stay long dance but I do remember that was the first time that I ever heard The Time Warp. After I had gone back to the hotel room, I watched the news broadcast which had a story about the con.

The next day, I scored several autographs. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was signing in the dealer’s room and John de Lancie was set up in a separate room. While I was in line for John de Lancie, I heard a woman behind me complain about needing a badge to get his autograph. How times have changed.

I also attended a panel about the new series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I spent some time in the video rooms watching older episodes and specials. Even though I didn't know what it meant, I was first introduced to filk at this con.

Sunday was the last day of the con we attended the art show but headed home soon after, so I missed most of the later events.  It was years before I attended another con but I knew I wanted to repeat the experience.I attended anime cons in college. After I moved to the South, I started attending Dragon Con in 2007. It became a yearly experience for me and my husband.

But I didn't attend another Star Trek con until a couple of years ago.

I went to Trek Trax Atlanta in January 2011 and it was like I had stepped back in time. Even though there has been several more Star Trek series and movies released, this con still had the same feel as that first convention. It is always so fun to get together with like-minded fans who love Star Trek as much as I do.