Once again down those paths

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I have (once again) found the surface of my desk so I can write on that surface — but behind me on the recliner is a pile of papers that needs to be reassigned to another location. And in my mind this desk belongs to the other side of the house as I contemplate converting the master bedroom back into a bedroom and the second bedroom back into an office.

Here and there I found Bible verses I’ve written down through the years. I must revisit those verses. I wrote each of them down for a reason, and I must recapture those reasons.

I look up from my journal and see three notes to myself on the back wall of this rolltop desk. One is a mission statement that begins, “At the end of each path is a finished book.” Another, recalling a Super Bowl moment from nearly 15 years ago, says in big bold letters, “IT IS TIME.” The third is a Ray Bradbury quote that begins, “Action is hope.”

It feels like it is (once again) time for me to take action and start moving down those paths. Clearing the desk is Action #1 — not to be confused with the comic book worth millions, but right now it feels like a million dollars worth of sound advice.

What If

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What if I show up to sing the songs, write the poems, spin the yarns and rhyme the rhymes? What if I told you I’m ready?

What if a thousand story songs welled up in my throat unbidden? What if it’s time they were told?

Can I hold them back when they want to burst forth? And why would I want to hold back? Is it possible finally their time has come, and my time while we’re at it?

What if I show up ready to run the race? Do I have proper shoes and the right attitude? Will I even know what I’m doing? And what if I don’t, is it all that bad? The whole point is whether I’m willing.

One of those nights when everything changed

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Sept. 8, 1966. The family gathers around the black-and-white television set to watch the debut of a new show about the crew of a ship that explores outer space. Over the opening credits, the ship’s captain explains that its mission is to “seek out new life and new civilizations” out there “where no man has gone before.”

We were a family that loved science fiction. Forbidden Planet was one of my mom’s favorite movies, and Dad buried himself in E.E. “Doc” Smith’s acclaimed Lensman series. The night after Star Trek premiered on NBC, we sat down to watch another science-fiction show debut over at ABC, The Time Tunnel. Those were heady days for sf fans.

My memory is that my brothers and I, all navigating our teenage years, were more impressed by the first episode of The Time Tunnel. That opinion changed over coming weeks as one series offered a range of thought-provoking adventures while the other quickly became repetitive and eventually sort of dumb.

For a long time I wondered why, with at least a half-dozen episodes already filmed, the producers decided to introduce Star Trek with “The Man Trap.” On the surface it’s little more than a horror story about a monster that disguises itself to lure victims and suck their blood. On the other hand, the story lures the audience into some degree of sympathy with the monster, and the creature’s defeat comes with a degree of sadness. This was a more nuanced tale than the man-versus-monster episodes of Lost in Space and other science-fiction offerings of the time.

In any case the characters and themes of Star Trek led to a great deal more than almost anyone could have imagined on the night of Sept. 8, 1966. Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock and their crewmates are now the stuff of popular legend, and that original series has spawned 11 more TV shows, more than a dozen movies and hundreds of stories.

It’s hard to believe that when Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a novel called A Study in Scarlet in 1887, he could have known that Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson would still be familiar names almost 150 years later. Likewise, the producers of Star Trek probably knew they had created something special, but could they have imagined a gala 60th-anniversary celebration on this scale?

It has been a fun roller-coaster ride through 79 original episodes, cancellation, revival through syndication of reruns, a cartoon and a motion picture, and arguably the coup de grace that cemented the franchise’s future, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. 

Much has been said about this anniversary and how much this ambitious TV show has affected the world. I’m just thrilled to have been one of the millions of kids who was there, sitting in front of the TV set when Star Trek was broadcast for the first time.