Last weekend, I went to Farpoint, a sci-fi/Trek convention. Monday night, I watched Trekkies, and was amused because I’d just been to the con. Tonight I noticed that Trekkies 2 was going to be on, and I’m watching it now. They just had a segment with people like Joanie Winston and Jacqueline Lichtenberg insisting that “Trekkie” is a put-down and that they are “Trekkers.” They also said that Trekkies are the ones who run down the aisle screaming at the stars at cons, the ones who go overboard. Yeah, well, y’know what? I’m a Trekkie. And it’s not because I go overboard - I don’t. I enjoy the shows, and I enjoy going to the cons for work (I couldn’t afford to go myself if I weren’t working), but I am not the type to dress up in a uniform or otherwise go over the top. I am a Trekkie because that was the original term (and Gene Roddenberry, before his death, said Trekkie was better than Trekker), because I’m old-school, because I don’t give things up easily. When I first heard the word Trekker I thought it sounded terribly pretentious, and I still do. Trekkie is more relaxed, more friendly, more personable. So I’m a Trekkie, and a Trekkie I’ll stay, even if it means I have to explain my reasoning to everybody who looks down on me for my word choice. But fuck ‘em, I can take it. I am what I am.

Also, I’m hoping to get my hands on a DVD of Trekkies 2 so I can go frame-by-frame through a couple of crowd shots. I was at Shore Leave when Denise Crosby was filming, and I’m curious to see if I made it into anything! It’s not completely impossible, because I do sit right up there onstage with the stars. I was also tickled to see Kett Kettering in the show, and I sent her an e-mail about her IMDb listing. Maybe if I am in a crowd shot I’ll suggest an IMDb credit for “Sign Language Interpreter” or something!

Added: Mariann wrote an entry in response to this one, and I did some more philosophical musing in her comment section.