Trek through the SoCS Vortex

January 19, 2019 by JoAnna 30 Comments

Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “television.” Linda said to: Talk about your favorite show, past, present, or future, or about the apparatus itself. Enjoy!

Before computers and the internet, television was the only addictive screen. My dad watched TV a lot, and at certain times of my life, I have depended on TV for company, entertainment, and maybe even to get through big life challenges.  Star Trek may have saved my life, or at least kept me off the street during my confusing adolescence. As I’ve shared before, Spock was my first crush. Dependable, rational, competent. I try to remember this when I see these qualities in my husband. But my husband smiles more, and it’s okay that I’m the flower child.

Star Trek drew me to science, up to a point. Maybe it helped me do well in school, though I was already a “good student” except for a few blips and detours….

Since I only have basic cable now, the closest I can get to Star Trek on TV is The Orville, on Fox.  It’s like ST but with Fox humor which can sometimes be stupid, though I’m willing to overlook it, and the last episode was more serious. I’ve started reading Star Trek novels which could become addictive. Just finishing up one about the Voyager crew. Voyager and Next Generation were my favorites. I liked the strong female roles. When Next Gen’s first episode came on TV and I heard Patrick Stewart say, “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” instead of Kirk’s “where no man has gone before,”  I hooted and cheered, “YES!”

Star Trek offers possibilities of hope. The themes are about overcoming challenges, teamwork, diversity, and hope. I think those are the things that have always drawn me to the show which is more than just a show. We NEED those values in the world. Okay, there is an element of escape – to go boldly, to explore new worlds which I would have trouble doing in real life since I get motion sickness at the drop of a hat.

Television, like the internet, has a lot of crap, but it also has a lot of good that can inspire us to become better than we are, or just enjoy some healthy escape. If we are selective, we can learn cool stuff from television. For example, did you see that big disc of ice in the river in Maine?  Maybe it’s a message from our future, or aliens. Or maybe the river is trying to tell us something by making the shape of the earth.

They said the temperature changes create a vortex. Vortex is one of the Star Trek words. Where there’s a vortex, there’s always something important going on.  (Except that it would make me nauseous in real life. )

Star Trek has always been mind expanding for me. I like that they deal with ethical dilemmas. My favorite episode, or one of them that made a big impression, was “The Devil in the Dark,” where the so called “monster” turned out to be just protecting her babies. Of course it was Spock who found that out with a mind meld. He was the real hero of the show.  “The Devil in the Dark” was also Leonard Nimoy’s “favorite episode,” according to the title on this video.

Thanks for letting me go on about The Trek again. Maybe the future will have better remedies for motion sickness for the vortex travels.

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For more on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit Linda Hill’s blog. Here’s the link:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/18/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-19th/

Here are the rules for SoCS:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing, (typos can be fixed) and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. There will be a prompt every week. I will post the prompt here on my blog on Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The’,” or simply a single word to get your started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read everyone’s! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later, or go to the previous week, by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find right below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!