|
Page A2 The Joan De Arc Crusader / Thursday, November 23, 2006 Front Page A1 / Nostalgia A3 / Crossword A4
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” – Voltaire
Giving more than thanks And so yet another Thanksgiving Day descends upon Joan De Arc, and therefore yet another opportunity to express our gratitude for the innumerable blessings we all enjoy, each and every day of the year. While overeating and staring at football games throughout the day today are certainly admirable and time-honored American ways of acknowledging our appreciation for all that we have and enjoy in life, how best to truly express our thanks for the unprecedented abundance of wonderfulness that we survey? We at the Crusader would like to humbly suggest that the best way to give thanks is to give back to the community. Contribute to your favorite local charities, volunteer for the local animal shelter, be a Big Brother/Big Sister, join the Marine Corps, adopt Mel Gibson. Giving other people something for which to be grateful seems to us the very noblest and most enduring method for expressing our own thankfulness. Heck, you might even want to send a few bucks along to your favorite local newspaper. We’re just sayin’. Happy Thanksgiving.
Never too soon to start holiday shopping Just a reminder to our loyal readers that it is absolutely, positively never too early to get started on your Christmas shopping. Local stores are already becoming unbelievably crowded, especially on the weekends, and the wise shopper will by now be well on the way already to completing this arduous (but joyous!) annual task. Our closest major mall here on Joan De Arc of course is still good old Metrocenter, which we even now recommend for its convenience and retail variety. Just don’t go there after dark, folks. Seriously. In any case, beat that mad, final rush and get that shopping done so that you can relax and enjoy the final days leading up to Christmas at home drinking spiked eggnog and watching "segregated Survivor” reruns with family and friends. One important secret to success in this whole holiday shopping business is simply this: Don’t give too much thought to what you are buying or for whom. Just buy stuff! It doesn’t really matter much what you buy. We’re not kidding here. Not only do people actually believe “it’s the thought that counts,” but most folks aren’t going to like what you get them no matter what it is. That’s just human nature. So our advice at the Crusader is, just don’t sweat it. Too much concern for the feelings of others is pointless at this time of year and can really spoil one’s holiday enjoyment. Of course, we’re talking here about shopping for Christmas, 2007. If you haven’t started your shopping for this year’s Yuletide gift exchange, then you are plainly an unmitigated loser. Sorry, but you just are. Happy holidays! ________________________________________________________________
LETTERS
Dilapidated but never forgotten I was born in Phoenix in 1956 and visited Legend City a number of times in the sixties and early seventies. Each visit was great, although it was always sad to see the place grow a bit more dilapidated as each year passed. But one of my most memorable birthdays (June 1969) was spent there with friends. I live in the east now, so it was fun to stumble across your site and see those old pictures. Many thanks.
Doug Missing Chris-Town I want to thank you for the Christown Retrospective and link from Wikipedia. Even though you made my dad and sisters cry, it was just such a memorable flashback and the photos were just so fantastic. I hope this website stays on the internet for many many years to come. Thank you again. I miss the old Christown, I only hope the new Spectrum Mall will become profitable and popular.
William Rodriguez
The Crusader welcomes your letters at jdacrusader@aol.com ________________________________________________________________
…Where no Chuck has gone before
I had the unique privilege, a couple of months ago, of attending the 40th Anniversary Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. Now I have to tell you, I’m not exactly one of these Trekkie people. Oh sure, I’ve watched a few episodes and movies over the last forty years, but I don’t have any of them memorized or anything (Full disclosure: I did dress up as Lieutenant Worf once on Halloween). Given that my greatest Star Trek Convention experience to date was watching the Shatner skit on SNL (“Have you ever even kissed a girl?!?!?”), I naturally jumped at the opportunity when my editor suggested the assignment. Eventually, I gave up on jumping and we headed out in the Chuckmobile instead, CDs on full blast, warp factor nine and vector set for the land of slot machines and cheap dinner buffets. The Crusader provided tickets for the one day of the event that was sure to be the pinnacle of the Star Trek Convention experience, the day that the big stars were slated to appear. We arrived mid-morning, just as Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig took the stage. The stars were fascinating, but by far the most interesting aspect of the convention were the conventioneers. Old and young, costumed or plainly dressed, people of every conceivable stripe packed the rooms. There were entire families of young Trek enthusiasts, the parental members of which couldn’t possibly remember a time without a Captain Kirk. There were couples dressed in matching Vulcan outfits, oddly, holding hands. The transgendered gleefully posed for photos with Japanese tourists, while the differently abled whizzed by in their electric wheelchairs, making a beeline for the autograph room with its dazzling array of semi-famous actors and the near greats who populated any number of Trek episodes over the life of the franchise. The physical diversity of the participants struck like a sledgehammer. Nichelle Nichols (Communications Officer Uhura) then spoke. Sprinkled in with her recollections of the show, she raised a voice in clear opposition to the recent policies of our government. For one uncomfortable moment, I feared for her the sort of backlash we’ve sadly come to expect when someone speaks out this way, but I needn’t have worried. The crowd roared its approval, and my first impressions were turned completely upside-down. These people weren’t so different from each other after all, and the glue that held them together was not a goofy television series, but that they shared Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future, an outlook free of the need for senseless conflict. These Trekkies, too often castigated for alleged nerd-like behavior, hold a supremely optimistic view of our future, a future free of xenophobic tendencies and rich in personal freedom, a view at odds with the path on which mankind currently finds itself so troubled. Lastly, they all embrace Roddenberry’s principle of universal acceptance. The only true prerequisite for being in that room was a love of Star Trek, and that’s all it took to be in the club. Nothing else mattered. I could talk more about the trip, the money won and lost at the blackjack tables, the rubbing of elbows with Enterprise crew members, the parade of strippers through the hotel room (Hiya, hon! Just kidding!), but what I’ll remember most about my experience was the feeling in that room the first morning, the sparkling resonance created when many thousands of people join in believing that the universe is destined to someday be a better place. If anything that happens in Vegas is ever allowed to leave Vegas, I hope it’s that feeling. I’d happily share a planet with any of those folks. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________JDA
|
