Life | Amy C. Shaw

Star Trek Convention 2013: Part One

September 20, 2013 • 9 Comments

I recently had the chance to attend the Star Trek convention held in Nashville. I went with my husband and two of our friends and we had so much fun! Even though I was more excited about the line-up last year, I ended up enjoying the people who came this year more!

The conventions are run by a group called Creation Entertainment, and they have Star Trek and other conventions all over the country throughout the year. This was our third experience with them, though our first year we only attended on Sunday, so we missed the Saturday morning rush. Last year, we experienced it. We got to there at a time we thought was early, only to find ourselves at the back of a really long line, and we ended up missing most of the first guest of the convention, John deLancie, who played Q in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. I was determined we not miss the first guest this year, Dominic Keating, so we showed up even earlier.

And just like last year, there was no clear signage as to what was going on. There were two lines to the ticket counter, one which was actually going to the ticket counter, and the other we soon realized was at a complete standstill and actually started several yards away from the ticket counter. We were trying to figure out why people were in a line like this, and what line we were in, but didn’t learn much.

You see, there were a couple of different packages available for the weekend, as well as general admission tickets. We don’t live too far away, so we went home on Saturday night instead of staying in the hotel, and one of our friends found a good deal for the general admission tickets through Deal Chicken, so needless to say, we just bought general admission. We heard mumblings that we might be in the gold package line, but no real confirmation. Ultimately, my husband stood in the non-moving line, just in case, and the two other guys and I stayed in the moving line. SO GLAD WE DID.

I let my guy friends go ahead of me to make sure we were clear to get our tickets, and they were got their tickets processed no problem. So I called my husband to come over STAT, right before I handed the lady both of our tickets for the weekend, and he showed up just in time to get our wristbands for the weekend. We were done before the doors to the big room where all the action happens were opened, so we all congratulated ourselves on working the system. We would find out later that several people did miss Dominic, just like we had missed John last year.

Meanwhile, we were first in line to wait to get inside. Others who had gotten their tickets situated were milling about the vendor room or elsewhere, but since we did not have reserved seats, we wanted to make sure we could get in the room ASAP. We had plenty of time so I walked across the hallway to go to the restroom when I suddenly stopped at the sight of Dominic Keating! I was so excited and scurried back over to my husband and friends. “I’m glad I wore the t-shirt, that was quite a hike,” he looked back said to us. TO US! The four of us were just standing there geeking out. Then he disappeared into a room and I flailed my arms as I went back to the restroom (not really, but I might as well have).

Later, after I had gotten back to the guys, we saw Chase Masterson, another one of the guests, walking by. She stopped to talked to someone who worked for Creation, looked over to us, and gave us a little wave! One of my friends and I, somewhat belatedly, returned weak oh-my-gosh-did-Chase-Masterson-just-wave-at-us? waves back.

Finally we got to go in the room and scouted out the best seats you can get when you don’t have reserved seats, and again, were happy with our success. Then after a while it finally began and out on the stage came Dominic Keating!

Dominic Keating played Malcom Reed on Enterprise, and he’s British, so he’s fun to listen to! He was also so funny, spending his time telling us the story of how he got the role of Malcom and answering questions from people in the audience. Something else I also noticed about him right away was how gracious he was to the fans. There are some Star Trek actors who are rarely come to conventions because they seem bitter about their Star Trek past, which is so disappointing. But Dominic was very grateful and recognized the importance of fan support, which we all appreciated.

shuttlepod1 — From the episode Shuttlepod One, which might be my favorite season one Enterprise episode. It’s about Malcolm and Tripp getting stuck together, thinking they’re going to die, and annoying each other, ha ha.

Next was Suzie Plakson, who played a couple of small roles in Star Trek: K’Ehleyr (AKA Worf’s girlfriend) on The Next Generation and the female Q on Voyager. She was mostly there for a makeup artist to do a demonstration of Klingon makeup on her. But first, she told us she wanted to sing us a few songs.

This is something I have noticed is common among Star Trek actors… they want to sing for us. This year I couldn’t help but wonder if it’s because we’re in Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry was literally right next door. But regardless, she started singing, and we decided to leave after a couple of songs, because it was the best time for lunch (the scheduled lunch break wasn’t until about 2) and we weren’t interested in more singing or the make-up.

As we were leaving for lunch, we saw Dominic in the hallway again. One of my friends told him, “That was brilliant, thanks for that.” And he said something kind in return and went about his way. We geeked out again and my husband mentioned we should have asked him if he wanted to eat with us, but ah well, he was long gone by then. I imagine he had arrangements and a schedule he had to stick with anyways,

So after our lunch, we were thankfully able to still to sit in the same area as before and waited for Chase Masterson. Chase played Leeta on Deep Space Nine, and my husband and I had seen her last year. We were happy to see her again this year because she is super sweet. She also clearly loves her fans, and people in general really. She works with several charity organizations and her congenial disposition shines through.

Chase sang for us too, which was expected after last year.

Then next was Garrett Wang, who played (the forever Ensign) Harry Kim on Star Trek Voyager. I think we were all surprised by how cool and funny and awesome he was in real life! He, like all of us, wondered why Harry was always getting picked on and never promoted. Poor Harry! But seriously, he was funny, down-to-earth, and so enjoyable to listen to. We didn’t know it on Saturday, but we were going to get to see him again on Sunday…

Next was the scheduled lunch break, during which one of the guys stood in line for Walter Koeing’s autograph, while my husband and our other friend decided they needed some coffee. Since I don’t drink coffee, I got some frozen yogurt, just for fun. We walked around and chatted, hit up the vendor room, and then it was time for Terry Ferrell, who played Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine. I was super excited to see her as she was one of my favorites on the show.

She is pretty much like her character was on the show: energetic and spontaneous! We also got to see her again on Sunday, but more on that later…

dax_kira_quark — We got to see Quark and Kira too; more about that next time!

There was a little bit of down time with trivia games and such, and then it was time for Walter Koeing, who played Checkov from The Original Series!

I have to admit that when I heard Walter Koeing was coming, I was more excited about it because of his role as Bester on Babylon 5 than that of Star Trek. I know it may sound blasphemous coming from a Trekkie, but seriously, BESTER ON BABYLON 5!!! He was awesome at being evil. And Walter actually flat out said that he was his favorite TV character he played. Anyhow, it was neat to see him.

And then that was it for the day, at least for us! Sadly, we had to miss the karaoke party hosted by Dominic and Garrett. That was probably some seriously fun times. But unfortunately, it was going to be too late of a night for us, so we went out for dinner, went home, and then hit the sack so that we could be ready for Day #2!

Have you ever been to a Star Trek convention? Who of these Star Trek actors would you be most excited to see?

1984, Star Trek, and the Psychology of Torture

August 9, 2013 • 14 Comments

This sounds like a cheery subject, doesn’t it?

I recently read 1984 for the first time, and the first two-thirds of the book did very little for me. In the third part of the book, however, when Winston was arrested and tortured to become indoctrinated to the ways of the Party, I was much more intrigued. And what especially intrigued me was there were some similarities to an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation I remembered in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard was being tortured and interrogated by a Cardassian. In case you’re wondering what a Cardassian is…

The Number Four

I think you’ll soon see the similarities as well. Here’s a conversation from the Star Trek episode Chain of Command, Part II:

“How many lights do you see there?”
“I see four lights.”
“No, there are five.”
“I see four lights.”

And from 1984:

O’Brien held up his left hand, its back toward Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended.
“How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?”
“Four.”
“And if the Party says that there is not four but five – then how many?”
“Four.”

But of course, it doesn’t stop there for either Picard or Winston. And just so you can understand the full context of these conversations, both men are starved, naked or near naked, have been beaten or degraded, and both experience pain when they give the “incorrect” answer…

“I know nothing about Minos Korva.”
“But I’ve told you that I believe you. I didn’t ask you about Minos Korva. I asked how many lights you see.”
“There are four lights.”
“I don’t understand how you can be so mistaken.”

“Four.”
The word ended in a gasp of pain. The needle of the dial had shot up to fifty-five. The sweat had sprung out all over Winston’s body. The air tore into his lungs and issued again in deep groans which even by clenching his teeth he could not stop. O’Brien watched him, the four fingers still extended. He drew back the lever. This time the pain was only slightly eased.
“How many fingers, Winston?”
“Four.”
The needle went up to sixty.
“How many fingers, Winston?”
“Four! Four! What else can I say? Four!”

The Psychology of an Interrogation

In the 21 hours of psychology classes I took in college, I learned a few things about how we as people are influenced, for better or for worse. When it comes to this sort of situation, where someone is trying to bring something out of a person who may be very strong and unwilling to provide such information, certain tactics are used. The idea is to transform you from who you are to someone else.

The Stanford prison experiment was a study conducted by Phillip Zimbardo that took place in 1971, where the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or a prison guard proved shocking to all involved. In this experiment, normal college students who volunteered to take part in the study for some money were assigned to either be a prisoner or a prison guard, and to play out their roles in a “jail” that was at Stanford University. Just how quickly the students truly seemed to transform into their roles prisoners and prison guards, and how Zimbardo even got sucked into it himself, was shocking to me personally as a college student when I studied the incident.

Just by playing the role of a prison guard, college students grew power-hungry and beat the prisoners. Just by playing the role of a prisoner, college students grew depressed and rebellious. Things got so bad so quickly that the experiment had to be cut short… after only five days. Tactics that were used included: shock (prisoners were blindfolded and taken to their cells), humiliation (prisoners were stripped naked), and a transfer of identity (they wore prisoner uniforms, shackles on their feet, they were assigned a prisoner number, and their heads were shaved). Some of these elements can be seen in 1984 and Chain of Command. In the latter, Picard is stripped naked and is left suspended by his wrists. He is told:

“From this point on, you will enjoy no privilege of rank, no privileges of person. From now on, I will refer to you only as Human. You have no other identity!”

I saw this pattern when reading Unbroken as well, the true story of a WWII pilot who was taken to several Japanese POW camps. Prisoners were degraded from human to less-than-human, to the status of an animal or even worse. The Japanese culture is high on honor, and to lose one’s honor and dignity is the greatest insult, and that is what they did to their enemies during the war. Laura Hillenbrand wrote:

The Pacific POWs who went home in 1945 were torn-down men. They had an intimate understanding of man’s vast capacity to experience suffering, as well as his equally vast capacity, and hungry willingness, to inflict it. They carried unspeakable memories of torture and humiliation, and an acute sense of vulnerability that attended to knowledge of how readily they could be disarmed and dehumanized. Many felt lonely and isolated, having endured abuses that ordinary people couldn’t understand. Their dignity had been obliterated, replaced with a pervasive sense of shame and worthlessness.

A True Change in Nature

Captain Picard is offered the chance to go… but is told if he does so, his chief medical officer Beverly Crusher will be interrogated. Picard cares for Beverly very much and refuses to let this happen, so he stays. Winston does not immediately say anything to betray his lover Julia, but when he is about to be inflicted with the worst torture he can imagine, he exclaims:

“Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don’t care what you do to her! Tear her face off, strip her to the bones! Not me! Julia! Not me!”

This is what we are led to believe is the end of Winston’s indoctrination, at least until the very end of the book, which I won’t give away. But his ending is not happy. In fact, at one point after he is released, he finds himself writing:

2 + 2 = 5

…one of the things that his interrogator was trying to tell him was true if the party said so. Picard, on the other hand, as he is being released from his interrogation (as his ship the Enterprise has come to save the day) he shouts out in defiance to his interrogator:

“There… are… FOUR LIGHTS!”

Though Picard’s ending is happier, and I do believe in the end he was a much more noble man, the two are not as different as it might seem. Winston had this experience:

“Just now I held up the fingers of my hand to you. You saw five fingers. Do you remember that?”
“Yes.”
O’Brien held up the fingers of his left hand, with the thumb concealed.
“There are five fingers there. Do you see five fingers?”
“Yes.”
And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity.

And at the end of Chain of Command, Picard has this conversation with the Enterprise’s counselor:

“What I didn’t put in the report was that at the end he gave me a choice – between a life of comfort or more torture. All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights when, in fact, there were only four.”
“You didn’t say it?”
“No! No. But I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all! But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights.”

It Doesn’t Just Happen in Fiction

It’s easy to chalk all this up to these stories being fictional, that this would not happen in real life. But the Stanford prison experiment suggests otherwise. The identity of those college students were truly lost in five days’ time. It’s been seen elsewhere as well. Patty Hearst, daughter of publishing giant William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by a guerrilla group and ended up aiding them in theft, not seemingly out of fear of what they would do to her otherwise, but from a conversion to their side. Afterwards she seemed to have a change of heart again and was fully pardoned by President Clinton.

Here’s a brief interview with one of the students involved with the Stanford prison experiment:

Needless to say, I think both 1984 and this particular episode of Star Trek did a great job of portraying how convicted men can become desperate, and how a good interrogator wears them down. It’s not fun to think about but I do find it fascinating. And it again, it makes me think of Unbroken, particularly the title. Louis Zamperini was broken, not just once but many times. But after a time, after it was all over, he was able to overcome the torture and heartache he went through, able to forgive a particular Japanese commander he had hated and had wanted to kill. From Unbroken:

On an October afternoon, Louie stepped out of an army car and stood on the lawn at 2028 Gramercy Avenue, looking at his parents’ house for the first time in more than three years. “This little home,” he said, “was worth all of it.”

To ease the load of this post a bit, here’s a cute picture of hugging kitties:

I have no idea what question to ask, but I’d love to hear any thoughts you have on the subject! I’m also curious as to how you feel about more posts where I incorporate Star Trek and/or psychology into a discussion about a book.

Names in Fiction vs. Real Life

August 1, 2013 • 30 Comments

I mentioned recently that my husband and I have been watching the TV show Fringe on DVD. I have noticed that in the last couple of weeks, I have found myself growing more fond of the names Peter and Olivia, both of which are names of main characters on the show. I never really disliked these names before, but I didn’t particularly love them either. They were just fine for me. But now I find myself liking them more as I come to like the characters.

But I think I have to be predisposed to like the name somewhat first in order for this phenomena to happen. When I read The Hunger Games, I found myself liking the name Peeta as I liked the character. I have never known a Peeta in my life, but of course it does resemble Peter. But on the other hand, I didn’t find myself growing to like the name Katniss. I think it’s the right fit for Katniss and I went from thinking it was a stupid name at first to an appropriate name for a character, but let’s just say it didn’t hold quite the same charm for me. And it wasn’t like I was going to name a baby Peeta but… let’s just say there was a period of time where if someone else decided to do it, I wouldn’t have judged them too harshly for it.

It’s interesting to me how our perceptions of names can change due to fictional characters with these names. There are some names that seem type-casted to fit a certain kind of character. I remember my senior year of high school when my yearbook/journalism teacher, whose first name was Chip, lamented that characters named Chip are always some lame sidekick. I have found with my name, Amy, the character is generally pretty self-centered and weak-willed, which makes me sad.

amy-littlewomen — I’m going to throw your writing in the fire and then steal the guy you should have ended up with… (OK, I don’t actually hate Amy in Little Women, but she’s no Jo.)

As someone who is constantly creating new characters in my head, I think about names fairly frequently. Sometimes the idea of a story hits me first, and then I seek out the characters and the names of the characters that seem to fit best. But sometimes, seemingly out of nowhere, a character name just pops into my head that won’t go away and I know I have to write out that character. Their name is sometimes something I might have considered strange just yesterday, but today it is perfect for my character. Sometimes I think of traditional names (Catherine), trendier names (Harper), and sometimes names that I just have no idea where they came from (Noa, for a girl, like Noah without a H… this one happened recently). When I think of the name of a character first, it always feels like a perfect fit when I base everything else around that, even if it’s something I would never name a real-life baby. But I also can’t help but wonder how people reading the story will respond to it. I know I have read books where I felt the character never fit their name. But I suppose we all look at names differently… there’s no way to really control how someone feels about a name.

All this to say… what’s in a name? Does your perception of a name change if you read/watch about a fictional character with that name? Has a fictional character made you like a name more or less than you did before?

My Gateway Into Dystopia…

March 28, 2013 • 0 Comments

Since reading The Hunger Games, I have been seeking more of the dystopia genre, and have also been penning some of my own. However, I did not start writing these stories after The Hunger Games per say, as a hint of dystopian interest has been on my radar for years, startling subtly and growing bit by bit until I read those books and realized there was a name of a genre of this particular type of story I have long found interest in. Here’s the history of my growing interest in dystopia…

The Twilight Zone

I don’t remember particularly how or when I discovered The Twilight Zone, though I am almost positive that one of the marathons on the SciFi (or SyFy if you prefer the incorrect spelling) channel is responsible, and my dad was probably the one watching it first when I found it. All I know is that I quickly became hooked. One of the first episodes that really stuck out to me was “Number 12 Looks Just Like You,” where a young girl lives in a society where everyone goes through a “Transformation” process that makes them youthful and beautiful for the rest of their lives. I remember thinking, I can see this actually happening. That was definitely the first taste.

Another episode that really caught my attention and I would consider my favorite on the show is “The Obsolete Man,” where a man is ruled by his government to be obsolete because of his “outdated” career and religious beliefs. Since he is obsolete, he is to be executed. Again, it was another episode that struck the thought within me: This could actually happen.

Then came…

The Island

The Island is a movie that, in my opinion, is highly underrated. *SPOILERS AHEAD* It focuses on a man and a woman, Lincoln and Jordan, who live in a compound where they believe they are being sheltered from the contamination of the outside world, save for one island, where winners of a random lottery can win a chance to go to. Lincoln and Jordan come to find out, however, that they are actually clones of other people, and winners of the lottery are not going to an island, but being harvested for organs by those whose DNA they match. It is a big secret that the creator of the company (who is appropriately played by Sean Bean because he dies) has managed to keep… until the end of the movie of course. At this point, I already had a random interest in the ethics of cloning that arose from who-knows-where, so I was hooked once again.

Then along came…

Equilibrium

Another film that does not get as much love as it deserves. In this story, John Preston is essentially a cop for the feelings police, if you will, in a totalitarian society where emotions are suppressed by the required drug Prozium.

ClericJohnPrestonChristianBale — This is John Preston inserting Prozium. Or Christian Bale shirtless. No, it’s John Preston inserting Prozium, just trust me.

Two things shake his world: The first is uncovering a lair of the senses, where a woman is hiding books, music, and art. From this crime scene Preston’s partner Partridge ends up taking a book of poetry. And for his crime *SPOILERohwaitnotreallybecausethischaracterisplayedbySeanBean* he is shot by Preston himself.

This may or may not have rattled Preston initially, but what makes him confront it is when his last dosage of Prozium falls and the glass capsule breaks, causing the liquid inside to spill. With one missed dosage, Preston starts to see, and feel, everything in a whole new light. So he decides to fight against the very system he has been working to protect. Like “The Obsolete Man,” the focus of this movie is the totalitarian government, and about how we should all have the right to express ourselves and make our own choices.

Then my last “gateway” before The Hunger Games was…

Gattaca

Once upon a time my dad told me about this movie where there is a society in which people who aren’t genetically engineered are considered inferior. It sounded interesting to me, and the idea was planted, but I wasn’t quite ready for viewing it yet. But in college, I again got this crazy random interest in genetic engineering and wanted to write a movie script on the idea for my Scriptwriting class, so suddenly I was seeking out this movie my dad told me about. Vincent is considered “in-valid,” since he was born naturally, and at birth his death by heart failure is predicted to happen at an early age. Yet he surpasses his predicted expiration date and pursues his dream of flying to space by taking the identity of a “valid,” Jerome, who became disabled. I think the theme of the movie could be surmised in the Bible verse shown on the first title card of the movie: Consider God’s handiwork; who can straighten what He hath made crooked? – Ecclesiastes 7:13. Flawed human beings are still human beings. Think of all the flawed human beings who have contributed so much to our society.

All the movies have this in common: a setting of the future of our world should we choose certain routes that we have interest in. The concept of a “fountain of youth” is the world in The Twilight Zone episode “Number 12.” Totalitarian governments dictate lives in “The Obsolete Man” and Equilibrium. Human cloning and using those clones to save “real” humans is the subject matter of The Island. And cloning’s not-so-distant cousin eugenics and its potential effect on society is considered in Gattaca. I find these stories impactful. And I want to tell stories like those. I have to admit, in my own story writing I can get caught up in romances and other petty things that often happen in young adult novels, which is why I am really working to rewrite my first dystopia story. I like the romance, but I want the focus of the story to be the warning of what can happen. That’s what these movies do so well, that brought me into my interest int the genre. I hope I can do it justice.

What was your gateway to dystopia, or whatever your genre of choice may be? What stories make you think?

Embarrassed About Accomplishment?

February 18, 2013 • 5 Comments

It’s amazing to me how we, as people, generally tend to be. We pride ourselves as experts in world politics, parenting, fashion, you name it, but when we receive a compliment or an accolade, most of us feel suddenly humbled or even downright shy.

“It wasn’t much, really.”

“I don’t really deserve this.”

“Well, it wasn’t that hard.”

What’s also difficult is when you achieve a personal accomplishment, and you think to yourself: This is so awesome! I want someone to know! Not so that they’ll be impressed… I mean it’s not the most awesome thing ever… but I just want someone besides me to know. But I don’t want to seem like I’m proud or bragging…

So here is…

The other day, after three and a half months, I basically completed a 76,000+ word novel. This was after spending a year writing a 67,000+ word novel. That was after spending ten years writing a 46,000+ word novel. Do you understand the strides I’m making here?

But again, I don’t want to be braggy (I honestly don’t), so this is the part where I downplay everything.

It’s not like it’s Pulitzer winning material or the next Harry Potter. All three of my stories need a TON of work before I even think about self-publishing or sending it off to someone to publish.

I’m trying to balance all these thoughts. It’s good that I realize I haven’t mastered the craft of writing yet and I still have A LOT to learn. It’s good that I recognize that the first draft is no where near the last. And it’s good that I’m not already promoting my young adult dystopia series with a Facebook page as I send this off to the fastest self-publishing company out there. (Which would be dumb for more many reasons, but especially since there are actually still some parts that I have highlighted yellow in Word because I plan to change them but haven’t yet, but have otherwise finished the story.)

But I don’t have to be embarrassed or afraid to say, “Hey, I’m super excited because I wrote over 75,000 words in less than four months and I have never, ever, ever done that before.”

When I posted this on Instagram the other day I was excited to surpass the last novel. I didn’t know yet that I was going to make it up to 76,000.

By the way, this did not come easily. When I started this novel in November (since – full disclosure – there were some bits and pieces of it that had been written out before and I had a lot better grasp on this particular story line than I did for the previous novel) I had a goal to finish both it and the next one in my series by the end of 2013. I put a lot of time into writing these last three and a half months. I know the next book will not be quite as fast, but I do hope I can get it done by the end of the year. And when I am ready to revise all these stories, I will certainly be more focused on the quality than the quantity. But before I could revise it to perfection (or as close to it as I can get), I had to write something. And lately, I’ve gotten much further along in writing something than I would have believed four years ago.

What are you hoping to accomplish, or have you accomplished, that excites you but also makes you feel a little sheepish?

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