...Trekking keeps you out of the bars and off the streets...
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| Title: | ...Trekking keeps you out of the bars and off the streets... (the essay is not titled; this is the title used here on Fanlore) |
| Creator: | Penny Durrans |
| Date(s): | December 1975 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
...Trekking keeps you out of the bars and off the streets... is a 1975 essay by Penny Durrans.
It was printed in Subspace Chatter #6.
Some Topics Discussed
- good citizenship and Trekkers
- the importance of curiosity and creativity
From the Essay
... something's been bothering me that I want to discuss. It has to do with with STAR TREK fandom and attitudes. Other people's attitudes toward fandom. Parents, teachers, non-initiated friends, relatives, and all those other people who think Trekkers in general, and you in particular, are weird. Strange. A Nurd. Wasting Your Time. All of the above.
Weird? I wonder. I wonder how many are members of the S.L.A.? [1] I wonder how many Trekkers are into narcotics? I wonder how many Trekkers get money for the models they make and the stories/artwork they do by mugging purse-snatching, or ripping off car stereos and home appliances? I wonder how many Trekkers are into ecology; recycling; even cleaning up their room? I wonder how many hold a part-time job? I wonder how many do volunteer work for causes: less fortunate people, perhaps? Animals in need? Their community? wonder if the parents/friends/relatives of these strange creatures know how Trekkers spend their trekking hours? Hours reading works by other 'weirdos' who don't write so good but whose creativity and originality shine through like a beacon reaching for a tomorrow of hope and determination. Hours writing their own eraser-smudged scenarios; finding out how hard it really is to string words together to say what you mean -- and how good it feels when you finally do! Hours sketching and painting, and never getting it just right-- but getting it...
All these hours wasted on trash? Hardly! Spent doing nothing worthwhile? Never! Anything original, anyone who creates, is of tremendous value in our world of assembly line imitations. Everyone who starts starts somewhere. It's where you go from somewhere that counts.
Fly your own starship! This isn't your excuse to let room look like an asteroid belt, but it is your argument for existence. Why you a Trekker? Why not? Why do others Uke football? Moto-cross? Hanging by their thumbs reciting the National Lampoon's 'Deteriorata?
If all else fails, it can usually be pointed out that Trekking keeps you out of the bars and off the streets - because you're usually down in the basement repairing your Klingon Battlecruiser for next week's war-games! But at least you're busy. At least you're involved. At least you're being constructive. Busy. Involved. Constructive. Do these words describe a weirdo? A Nurd? Not likely. Sounds to me like a Trekker at work. Working to go where no man has gone before? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But Trekkers try. And a lot of Trekkers succeed!
References
- ^ S.L.A. is the Symbionese Liberation Army.