With the smell of popping corn kernels rotating around in canola oil via a metal arm in the “Stir Crazy” (TM), I’d be elbowing my way to the fridge ice dispenser, hurrying the ice as it clinked into my plastic cup for my kool-aid, so I could rushh over to my favorite spot on the couch. It was four pm on a Sunday afternoon and Star Trek: The Next Generation was starting. For one hour all was calm in the Creel household as we tuned in to see the exploits of the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

I’m not sure what others in my family enjoyed about the show, but we all came together as a family to enjoy the narrative unspooling of the sci-fi western allowing us to feel the motto, “to boldly go where no one has gone before.”

I enjoyed the pageantry of the outfits, the set of the interior of the enterprise, and of course the alien encounters. I wanted to be able to teleport on and off a ship, I wanted to be in the room where the holograms could make any environment your mind imagined. The 60 minute run time (with commercials) had me in a chokehold as the kids say. I found myself enthralled and transported into another world for one glorious hour.

This was good TV.

I’ve often thought about rewatching the show. I tried once, a little over a decade ago, but Vaimo and I didn’t make it through the first few episodes. I wonder how I would take the show now, knowing all that I know, a lifetime of academic theories about popular culture, media, and gender might take away from the nostalgic memories of the show and the time with my family that I currently have.

For that one hour weekly while the episodes aired, I would be captivated. I’d hold my breath as I wondered whether Captain Picard would survive the challenge facing him and the ship this week. When he did, I’d finally exhaling with relief that he and the crew would live to see another adventure.

Nerd alert!

What’s funny is I know I am still doing this all the time just with my own adventures. I’m the Captain of this ship and sometimes I’m wondering if I’ll make it through a challenge or a task, or a day, or an hour.

My Captain’s log is coming to you from the 21st century - after a really wonderful trip to Houston, Texas to visit Hermanita last week.

Here are a few highlights with some accompanying images that harken to a tourist photo slide show that was more likely to take place in the previous century (bad photo compositions and everything)!

I felt the sun’s warmth on my skin, and in the air! What a glorious thing to have as a respite from the frigid north.

I ate amazing food. Tex Mex does not play in Texas.

I visited the Frida exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston which was amazing. Not only in getting to see some Frida works I’ve never seen before IRL but in the curation of the contemporary works in conversation with her works.

And since it was Valentine’s Day my Valentine bought me the exhibition catalogue AND went to this talk with me (heart).

What a breath of fresh air for this rural MN artist who rarely gets to even hear the word Chicana pronounced correctly. To have these veteran@s talking about Frida’s impact and influence on their work when they were younger than I am now? Powerful!

I don’t know if it was the pleasure in seeing plants thriving outside (instead of a snowy landscape with dormant trees), the really good food I ate, or the combination of boldly going where I had not yet been before, but this trip to Houston was a balm for my soul.

Anyways, I’m heading back into the studio next week and hope to be able to show you a new painting now that I’ve been nourished by color and spice and flavor and the attitude of Texas - unapologetically taking up space.

As for now, I’m diving back into the grant application I’m working on - good wishes welcome for a positive funding result! I could really take some funding/career wins this year.

Regardless, I’m feeling a bit of my chi return and like I’ve got enough gas in the tank to make more Captain’s logs.

We take care of us.

PS: If you’re into this sort of thing I calculated my star date for this log with this handy calculator. I LOVE the dedication and cross-checking whoever put into the math and Star Trek universe and then was so dedicated they made calculators and hosted it on the internet for the fleet off the ships! Who knew star dates were so interesting?

Nerd alert #2!