Lanterns - Enterprise Edition

When I found out that Wil Wheaton was coming to the Vancouver Fan Expo this year I decided I wanted to build the Enterprise as a lantern... I'd thought about it for a few years, and this seemed like a good excuse to actually build it... the only problem was that I was in the middle of GISH and already deep in build a TARDIS Little Free Library mode. (More about that in another post.) So, while I wanted to build the lantern, I really didn't have the time... until 10 days before Fan Expo was set to begin, when I got the crazy notion to build it anyways.

ETA: George Takei has signed it!!

Thus began project #canidothisin10days (spoiler alert - no, I couldn't, but 11 days is not bad!). The following 11 days consisted of very little sleep, but I did get it built in time to bring it on the Sunday. In a last-minute decision fueled by a conversation with someone while we were waiting for Wil's Q&A to begin, I chose to have Wil sign it. It was a rather surreal experience, fueled by sleep deprivation and anxiety, where I was basically incapable of normal dialogue. Luckily, I had written out what I wanted to say to Wil that morning, and was able to give it to him. I got confirmation later that he did read it, and now any time I feel like something I have made or written doesn't matter, I'll look at that screenshot to remind me that it does.

After Fan Expo I was unhappy with the proportions of the saucer compared to the rest of the ship, so I did some emergency surgery on the Enterprise and retrofitted her with a larger saucer. I was careful not to go near the area that Wil signed, and that is still safe and in tact.

ETA: George Takei was at FanExpo this spring, and while I apologized that it was "the wrong Enterprise" he signed it and was extremely supportive and kind.

There are more pics on my instagram @Tortoisefly.

Someday, when I'm a grown-up - an open letter to Wil Wheaton

Project #canidothisin10days on my instagram @Tortoisefly

I spent the last 11 days building this. Instagram @Tortoisefly

I grew up in a geek-friendly home, long before that was considered to be cool.

When I was 8, my mom and I read The Hobbit together, and I thought "someday, when I'm a grown-up, I'll go on epic adventures like Bilbo, Gandalf, and their friends."

I watched Star Trek reruns with my dad and I saw Spock find peaceful solutions using reason, science, and logic, and I thought "someday, when I'm a grown-up, I'm going to be like him."

I saw Star Wars and found a role model in Princess Leia, who proved that you didn't need a man to rescue you, you could save yourself, be the hero of your own story, and maybe rescue a couple of well-intentioned men along the way. I saw this, and I thought "someday, when I'm a grown-up, I'm going to be just like her!"

Then when I was an awkward 8-year old girl who loved Sci-Fi, but struggled to picture myself as I was, being a part of the narrative, Star Trek TNG came on TV. I saw Wesley Crusher, a boy (unlike me), who like me was smart, and sometimes awkward, struggling to find a place in a universe full of grown-ups. Like me, he had important things that he wanted to say, but the grown-ups often didn't seem to listen, because they thought he was just a kid.

I saw Wesley, and the narrative changed. I was no longer thinking about "someday, when I'm a grown-up." Instead, I found myself thinking "there are kids on the Enterprise who are just like me!" Wesley changed the way that I saw Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Finally, I could see myself in a character, and that allowed me to feel like I was a part of the narrative.

Because of this smart, awkward, geeky kid that I saw on TV, I no longer felt like an outsider, too young to be a part of the narrative of the stories that I loved. Suddenly, this genre that I had always been immersed in was something that I could picture myself being a part of. Not "someday," but "now."

Because of Wesley, "someday" had become "today" and I no longer felt like I had to wait until I was a grown-up to be important.

So Wil, thank-you for the important role you played in my childhood, and thank you for turning into a grown-up that other kids will aspire to be like.

You're awesome!

~ Jeanie @Tortoisefly

ETA: I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to vocalize this to Wil when meeting him at FanExpo Vancouver today, so I wrote it out and while he was extremely gracious and kind about my lantern (which he signed - another of those surreal moments) I handed him a card with the above written in a letter. I think I may have managed somewhere between 5-10 words to him, so good call on the writing it out, sleep-deprived past Jeanie!