{"id":24023,"date":"2022-08-13T13:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-13T17:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=24023"},"modified":"2022-08-12T22:37:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T02:37:55","slug":"post-1-of-7-introduction-and-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/?p=24023","title":{"rendered":"POST 1 OF 7: INTRODUCTION AND AGENDA"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first of seven posts, collectively encompassing this afternoon’s club e-meeting.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1) INTRODUCTION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Welcome to MonSFFA\u2019s August 2022 e-Meeting!<\/p>\n

Sit down in your most comfortable chair, a bowl of your favourite tasty snacks at hand, pour yourself a cool, refreshing drink, and join us for an afternoon of sci-fi fun and conversation. Our theme today is \u201cgames,\u201d and thus have we lined up two for you, the first a trivia challenge, the second our sci-fi version of the parlour game Balderdash!<\/p>\n

############<\/p>\n

We would be remise, however, were we not to first note the recent passing of Star Trek<\/em> actress Nichelle \u201cLieutenant Uhura\u201d Nichols. A beloved member of the vast Star Trek<\/em> family, she died at age 89 of natural causes on Saturday, July 30, in Silver City, New Mexico.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In her final years, Nichols suffered from advanced dementia and her son, with whom she had been living, wrote of his dear departed mother, \u201cHer light\u2026like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nichols was eulogized, too, by former cast mates, Hollywood friends, and many others as an actress who, in playing the part of the Enterprise<\/em>\u2019s highly skilled communications officer, broke down stereotypes and opened doors for women of colour in the entertainment industry. No more would actresses of colour be relegated to marginal roles as maids and the like.<\/p>\n

She counted among her many fans during the early days of Star Trek<\/em> no less than American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. When she considered leaving the show after its first season, it was King who urged her to remain with the series, highlighting the importance of demonstrating to America that a black woman belonged<\/em> on the bridge of the Enterprise<\/em> as much as anyone else. Her presence there, one of and respected among a crew of accomplished officers offered a positive vision of our future, and served as inspiration for African-Americans throughout not just the television industry, but the nation.<\/p>\n

She and co-star William Shatner helped further demolish racial barriers with their then-controversial interracial kiss on national television in the episode \u201cPlato\u2019s Stepchildren.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Post-Star Trek<\/em>, Nichols was tapped by NASA to help recruit some of the first women and members of minority communities to become astronauts, one of which was Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. In 1992, as a crewmember on STS-47, Jemison initiated communications aboard the space shuttle Endeavour<\/em> with \u201cHailing frequencies open,\u201d quoting Uhura\u2019s oft-spoken line from Star Trek<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We are saddened at the news of Nichelle Nichols\u2019 passing, and we celebrate her legacy.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We also mourn one of our own, recently passed. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MonSFFA was informed of a planned online (ZOOM) memorial service for Marc, and club members will have received by e-mail details concerning this service, scheduled for next Sunday, August 21, at 11:00AM.<\/p>\n

############<\/p>\n

Note that with the seventh wave now upon us and COVID numbers climbing locally and elsewhere, we opted, last month, to postpone our in-person club Barbecue-in-the-Park until Sunday, August 28. We are told by authorities that by then, the seventh wave should have dissipated. But if we\u2019ve learned anything during this pandemic, it\u2019s that the virus does not often behave as expected. Nevertheless, fingers crossed! The 28th is but two weeks off, and we\u2019ll take a moment this afternoon to briefly square away any last-minute details with respect to this event.<\/p>\n

And, we\u2019ll touch base with all of you as regards your summer, so far\u2014genre projects on which you may be working; cool, SF\/F-related vacation destinations you may have visited; good books you’ve been reading; and screen entertainment you\u2019ve been watching of late.<\/p>\n

So, join us on ZOOM for all the fun, and let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

2) JOIN THIS AFTERNOON\u2019S VIDEO-CHAT ON ZOOM!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To join our ZOOM video-chat, which will run throughout the next few hours, simply click here and follow the prompts: This Afternoon\u2019s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>If you\u2019re not fully equipped to ZOOM, you can also join in by phone (voice only); in the Montreal area, the toll-free number to call is: 1-438-809-7799. If you\u2019re from out of town, find your ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Also, have this information on hand as you may be asked to enter it:<\/p>\n

Meeting ID: 878 6326 8110
\nPasscode: 326574<\/p>\n

3) MEETING AGENDA<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Here is the agenda for this afternoon\u2019s online get-together:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As always, all scheduled programming is subject to change.<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the first of seven posts, collectively encompassing this afternoon’s club e-meeting. 1) INTRODUCTION Welcome to MonSFFA\u2019s August 2022 e-Meeting! Sit down in your most comfortable chair, a bowl of your favourite tasty snacks at hand, pour yourself a cool, refreshing drink, and join us for an afternoon of sci-fi fun and conversation. Our … Continue reading POST 1 OF 7: INTRODUCTION AND AGENDA<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24023"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24371,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24023\/revisions\/24371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsffa.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}