User:BennyRussell

Hello, fellow fans and thinkers,

Just to explain the tag name quickly, I chose "BennyRussell" in referenec to the DS9 episode, Far Beyond the Stars, where Avery Brooks' character experiences what it would be like to be a damned good sci-fi writer in 1950's America who happens to be a black man and all the oppression that comes with that life. Benny is a frequently beaten down, on so many levels, man who stands by his convictions as both a writer and a proud African American. I've never gotten through that episode dry-eyed, not only because it's beautifully crafted, but because I eventually I ealized I was identifying with it. I am a science fiction writer, but I am not a black man living in early 1950's U.S.A. I'm something else, as in, a white gay man living in the early part of the 21st. century. Since the whole Trek universe has extoled peace and acceptance of all kinds of life has probably saved more than my own life, while I was growing up or later on, it finaly dawned on my to, if you will take a page out of "Benny Russell"'s work, fight the good fight. Why not have a protagonist who just happens to by a gay man? That's what and who mine is, leave it there, no torid sex scenes, he's just not heterosexual and I'm sticking to my guns. While being black and being gay in America aren't at all the same thing, there are enough commonalities, dealing with bigotry is still soul draining no matter who you are. What I keep drawing from the episode I mention makes me more courageous than I ever even considered being. When Benny has his meltdown in the magazine's office and cries out, "I'm a human being. Damn it!" it reminded me that I'm one too. My sister is black and we have a deal. I hail the cab. So things aren't even near close to close to perfect yet. Yet Trek scores continues to score blows in our social and civil progress. And brief e-mail contacts with George Takei and his partner Brad before they came here to Chicago for the Pride Parade didn't hurt either in spurring me on. Then there's this: Every editor at every sci-fi magazine I've contacted has told me in no uncertain terms when I asked if they'd buy a story with a gay lead character, "We'd never censure you, if the work is good, the work is good, we'd be happy to print it." Finally, the name I've chosen to use on this site is kicked off by one of the final scenes in the tag scene which reads something like, "Maybe Benny Russell is the dreamer and we're the dream." As long as we're the dreamers, we can still have a chance to live the dream. Imagine peace, equality and dream a bigger and better world. Aside from the ray guns and cool makeup, it's the stories that make the whole Star Trek universe so compelling and enduring at the very core of our culture. People people in prime time and synidcated TV, of differenet races, people terrestrial or otherwise, "of color", able to form romantic relationships, put in charge of things, arguing, resolving things, staying out of other culture's business (mostly), and women wearing pants (!). I'm not sure about anyone else reading this, but while we're not all where we should be, I think it's getting better and that media outlest including the Star Trek mythos and so many of us who took it to heart have helped.

I look forward to calm and lucid and happy conversations with members of this online community.

"Benny Russell" A writer