A Primer on Samatha Meditation by Kyle Parton

I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re familiar with what a redshirt is, or that if you weren’t, you clicked through to the TVTropes page in that link and did some quick research. (The other reason, of course, is that I’m a fan of John Scalzi.)

This special bond we have with Star Trek is one of the reasons why I was so excited about Redshirts. I suspect many people have similar stories-if they’re older, the story might involve conventions, meeting a future partner, etc. So this is my background when it comes to What Star Trek means to me. I learned a lot about life from Star Trek, and I also learned a lot about the 1960s. Star Trek did what great science fiction should always do, which is present compelling moral dilemmas and ask questions relevant to what presently concerns our society. However, every time I catch an episode of TOS again, I am impressed by just how good of show it is. My opinion nowadays is somewhat reversed-my favourite, if pressed, is probably Deep Space Nine, but all of the series have their strong points and their flaws. I avoided the later series at first they seemed too shiny and weird compared to the simple and straightforward stories on the original series. And Space was constantly broadcasting Star Trek. Since I had a bedtime back then, I neither retreated nor surrendered and settled for using the TV like a very big radio, just listening to TVO before falling asleep.) I was really excited to get cable in my room, because I knew I would be able to watch Space, Canada’s specialty science fiction/fantasy channel, whenever I wanted. (Shortly after I inherited it, the TV would begin to lose its picture after a few minutes of operation, and the picture would only come back after you turned it off to let the tube cool down. I can remember getting a shiny new 13” TV in my room after my first TV, which I inherited from the living room, finally stopped working completely. Connections I made on that community led to other communities-though not Goodreads, which I joined because an offline friend recommended it to me.īut my interest in science fiction, both literature and television, definitely started with Star Trek.

The first online community I joined was a Star Trek roleplaying group. Aside from my interest in teaching (and even that might have been influenced by Star Trek’s love for exploration and knowledge), that TV show profoundly influenced my decisions. I don’t know how I first got into Star Trek, but I owe almost the entire trajectory of my life to it.

A Primer on Samatha Meditation by Kyle Parton