heather@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Dana Seaney) (02/28/90)
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The following article appeared in the Tacoma News Tribune, Tacoma Washington, a
nd concerns a Creation Con that was held there.
WARP SPEED FUN
Fans find Star Trek Convention Enterprising
By Kathleen Merryman
The Tacoma News Tribune
A veil of near-Vulcan serenity hung about the crowd of "Star Trek"
fans as sembled in the Bicentennial Pavillion Saturday and Sunday.
An estimated 700 of them had beamed in from Spokane, Seattle,
Black Diamond, and Vancouver, Wash., and paid $13 to $16 a day to be
part of "Creation Salutes Star Trek: A Convention for Fans".
"It's almost like an instant friendship." said Keith Marshall, 25,
a Boeing mechanic who lives in Black Diamond, and who arrived early
enough to wait an hour in a line that eventually curled into an
ever-diminishing circle inside the pavillion. There was no shoving, no
impatience - not even among the score or so toddlers - just the gentle
hum of quiet conversation broken by the occasional Vulcan salute
flashed at newcomers.
"For a friendship, you have to have a common interest, and this is
it. Friendships grow fast and strong at these conventions." Marshall
added.
Marshall did, in fact, meet his fiance, Dana Seaney, 25, of
Seattle, at a meeting of the Saratoga, one of the four Starfleet fan
organizations in the Puget Sound region. The clubs, each of which bears
the name of a starship, are part of a worldwide o rganization.
"They have a chapter starting up in Russia, and a few in Japan.
They were trying to start one in China, but science fiction is outlawed
in China," said Marshall.
Intolerance and science fiction don't mix, and "Star Trek" has for
23 years been a near-perfect mix of science and fiction, said Seaney,
who writes computer manuals for a living and, for fun, keeps track of
early Star Trek fictions that have become fact. Between lasers and
phasers, the list is growing every year.
Seaney is quick to admit that most hard-core Trekkers - "Trekkie"
is regarded as a derogatory term in some circles - hit warp speed on
life's less traveled roads and occasionally get a backlash from the
mainstream.
"'Star Trek' fans are tolerant of people who are going to the
extreme. We accept them for what they are, and we ignore the
externals. 'Star Trek' fans accept people who are not seen as normal
on the outside." said Seaney, who consid ers herself the pe rfect test
of her theory.
She was born with cerebral palsy and gets around in a wheelchair.
Outside the conventions, people treat her as handicapped. Inside, she's
a fellow crewmember.
"Here I don't have to worry about my disability. Nobody here sees
only the chair. They see me," Seaney said.
There's been one exception.
When Seaney went to a convention at which William Shatner a.k.a.
Capt. James T. Kirk, was the guest star, she found to her dismay that
he was shaking hands with fans on a mezzanine that was not wheelchair
accessable.
"He came down to shake my hand, but acted like it was the biggest
thing he had ever done. He made me feel so small. And when he got here,
he talked to me like I was 2 years old," she said.
By contrast, DeForest Kelley, who played Dr. Leonard "Bones"
McCoy, made her feel like a million buck when he jumped off a stage to
embrace her after her club, Saratoga, honored him with a boarding
pass.
Randy Fenn, a senior at Mount Tahoma High School, came to the
convention with a gift for Second Generation star Jonathan Frakes and
found something better than tolerance at the convention. He found
admiration.
Last Halloween Jenn wore his replica of the film version of an
Enterprise crew member's unform to school. Working on a machine and by
hand, he had made the uniform from scratch.
"I dressed up like this to show what I could do. They laughed at
me, but I don't care." said the student who knows he doesn't make
points with the other kids by getting good grades and helping his
teachers.
When he wore the same uniform Saturday, other teens walked up to
ask him where he'd gotten it. On Saturday, the uniform was a past
accomplishment. He was at the convention to give a sandblasted glass
picture of the Enterprise II to Jonathan Frakes, who plays Riker on
"Star Trek: The Next Generation." He calculated he had spent 25 hours
on it. The fans who saw it were awed. Jenn, they said, was one talented
kid.
When he was born in 1971, the crew of the Enterprise had already
completed its first run on prime-time television. The show began in
October 1966 and aired 78 episodes. Jenn fell for the Second Generation
series.
"It's futuristic. It makes me believe it might happen," he
explained.
At 46, both Jerry Hagen of Seattle and Thomas Harp of Everett
remember falling for the message of hope and peace they saw in the
original "Star Trek."
"The original concept was the exploration of space, peaceful
exploration, without a war. If we don't do that, we don't have a
future. We need a common goal - that's peace." said Harp, who added
that fits perfectly into his family's spiritual philosophy. It pleases
him, he said, that his 10-year-old son, Matthew, is growing up to be a
happy Trekker.
Both Harp and Hagen were dressed in scarlet crewman's suits, and
both wore identical elaborate pins.
"They're Federation passports," Harp explained. "With them you can
go anywhere in the universe."
[Reprinted by permision of the Tacoma News Tribune. Article appeared 1/8/90]
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Edited by Jim Griffith - the official scapegoat of rec.arts.startrek.info
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