Hi GeeksBurgh friends.

As it’s the 50th Anniversay of Star Trek, I want to say a few words about why it has been important for different reasons during my entire life.

There has never been a day of my life in which Star Trek didn’t exist. Let that sink in. At 44, the entirety of my lifespan fits into the years influenced by this phenomenon.

My story starts with my Dad coming home from school to watch TOS. I believe his love of scifi & Star Trek specifically, transferred to me as he took me to see Star Wars at the drive in & we watched the Star Trek movies. We also watched many scifi movies on video tape on our VCR. (If you’re too young to know what those are, google it. Lol)

When The Next Generation (TNG) appeared, I embraced it as a scifi fan, a Star Trek fan, and as a way to connect with my Dad.  Teen aged girls can find it tough to talk to their parents (I did sometimes) and Star Trek was and still is a great way for us to connect, laugh & emote. When Leonard Nimoy passed away we called & reminisced about what Spock meant to us. When the JJ Abrams reboot came out, we discussed what we liked & didn’t like & why we were glad Star Trek was still around producing new media.

Throughout my 20’s I found out who my scifi loving companions were & they became my closest friends. I was introduced to many shows & books & movies that helped keep my curiosity & creativity alive. I painted, wrote, acted and cosplayed. When my kids came along, I introduced them to as much scifi as possible.

Besides cosplaying Star Trek & other scifi characters with my daughter, I have had the pleasure of watching movies & TV shows with my kids which have inspired amazing conversations that may not have occured without scifi. For example,  while watching Star Trek Into Darkness, my son and I discussed the similarities & differences to Wrath of Khan. He pointed out that the newer movie addressed more directly the negative nature of government, power & pre-emptive warfare. We went on to discuss these topics in detail with my 17 year old impressing the heck out of me with his insights.

Another example was from the newest  movie, Star Trek Beyond, in which my daughter praised the movie for including a same sex relationship & their child, depicting this type of family as normal. This is an important issue to her & Star Trek made it ok; even a good thing.

I will mention that Deep Space 9 (my favorite show) and Voyager both brought more diverse Captains and crews to TV, for which I am grateful. I appreciate that TOS gave us the 1st diverse cast on TV and the following ST media has continued in that tradition, paving the way for other scifi & media in general. Well done, Mr. Roddenberry.

I’m inspired by Star Trek’s optimistic view of our future & hope that humanity lives up to it sooner rather than later.

Thank you to everyone involved in anything Star Trek for giving us entertainment, complex charaters, thoughtful ideas, fun, and hope.

~April