What I did on my Summer Vacation

My school year was done at the beginning of June and the students report tomorrow morning for the first classes of the new school year. I’ve been back in the building since last Wednesday and will admit that I was lesson planning in bits and pieces throughout the summer.But it was also a time to

A Belated Shore Leave 40 After Action Report

Shore Leave 40 has come and gone. So much has been happening that my normal after action report got waylaid.The show was tremendous fun with plenty of nice touches to make it memorable. The Friday night Meet the Pros party went better than usual and all weekend long I received nice compliments on the Oral

About Last Night

Now I know how it feels to be Ed McMahon. Last night was a touch surreal, a touch magical, and most memorable.William Shatner is currently touring the country, screening Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and then chatting with a moderator for an hour or so. When I saw he was coming back in

Year in Review: Writing and Editing

With 2017 winding down, I am taking some time to look back and evaluate what sort of professional year it was.As the year began, I was out of work, seeking a school that wanted me fulltime and subbing most days at St. Vincent Pallotti. March saw me do a four-week stint at New Town High

Irons in the Fire Update

One reason I have failed to write here with more regularity is that I have been busy. Not only am I coming up to speed on teaching in my new environment,  but I have been writing as time has permitted, tidying up old and existing projects.As a result, I thought it appropriate to update my

Standing with Trek Against Trump Against the Haters

Away from social media, I am a political guy. Regular readers may recall all the work I did as an elected official in Fairfield. Not so much (yet) in Maryland but that doesn’t mean I don’t have political opinions. I normally keep them to myself on social media, with rare exceptions.Last week was one of

Talking Outside In Boldly Goes

What feels like a million years ago but was actually more like three, I was invited to be one of 117 authors to contribute essays to a book in ATB Publishing’s Outside In series. They’ve done other media properties but tackled Star Trek aiming to have this mammoth work out in time for the 50th

Saluting 50 Years of Star Trek

Although Gene Roddenberry first conceived of Star Trek in 1964, today we celebrate its 50th anniversary as it debuted on NBC. For a number of reasons having to do with post-production optical effects and editing, the network decided to open with a monster-of-the-week episode, “The Man Trap”, rather than the second pilot, which introduced us

The Star Trek Stamps are Released Today

Today at noon, the United States Postal Service is hosting at event at Mission New York, the 50th anniversary Star Trek convention. They will be unveiling the four commemorative stamps celebrating Gene Roddenberry’s creation.I was contacted a year ago to consult on these stamps, mostly the written material although I did offer my thoughts on

Thoughts on Star Trek Beyond

James T. Kirk has never been focused on family. In the Prime Universe, he had a dead brother and sister-in-law and a surviving nephew but other than one episode, we never heard about them again. When Carol Marcus was pregnant, they agreed, he’d stay away and honored that until circumstances brought them together.In the Kelvin