May 2018 - “Sci-Fi”
Hi everyone!
You MAY wonder why MAY is SCI-FI month. Well...there are hints all around us. MAY is a Force to be reckoned with. Flowers can begin growing, or nature can continue to freeze them all. The Sun can come out from behind the clouds, and the Wind can wave it along and say “This is not the Season you’re looking for…”
Ok, if I haven’t made it painfully obvious by now, May the 4th is a Nerd Holiday. May the 4th Be With You is a reference to Star Wars, the best Sci-Fi movie of all time; which came out when I was 10 years old in 1977. I had two older brothers that just had to go see it, but we lived in rural Idaho, so we traveled four hours to Salt Lake City to see it (a big deal for a humble family in the 70s). I will never forget the theater, it was one of those dome buildings (which, upon reflection, was kind of like the ones on Tatooine).
I was 10 years old, and a brat. I wanted to see Herbie Goes Bananas, I didn’t want to go see some dumb space movie, and so I’m sure I made everyone’s day so very pleasant. The line was long for the “dumb space movie,” and we didn’t get in to the first show, so we had to wait in line two stupid hours to see the next showing.
Every time someone would come out to get popcorn, I would get a glimpse of the screen and hear the music. I was intrigued, but would never admit it. Finally, we got to go in. First row, balcony (my favorite place to sit to this day). I will never forget how it felt to watch the Star Destroyer come across the screen for the very first time. W-O-A-H. And the music! I had never heard anything so cool. The story was fascinating. AND AWESOME. A whole bunch of bad guys in an entire galaxy wanted something that only a girl possessed. My 10 year old self couldn’t have articulated it then, but I held on to that Princess with everything, because she could be like me. And then...AND THEN….when Luke Skywalker looked up at the twin moons of Tatooine, I gave him my heart, which he still has to this day. I saw Star Wars and the accompanying sequels so many times, I can quote them to you line by line—scene by scene to this day. This was before YouTube and Netflix. This was ‘pay real money for each movie and drive to the theater to see them,’ thank you very much.
Star Wars was EVERYTHING to most of my generation. How lucky I was to be 10 when they came out! I would spend my formative years growing my hair long so I could then wrap them into Leia buns and boss around Scruffy Looking Nerf-Herders in the Galaxy with clever one liners whilst secretly adoring them (only in MY galaxy, Luke wasn’t my brother, thanks). Every Halloween costume? Yep. Princess Leia, Hoth Leia, or Leia Throne Room (I could never be Slave Leia, mom would never allow that).
This year’s Halloween Costume btw: General Leia.
I collected (and still have) Star Wars cards—the ones with the characters and bios on the front, and the puzzle pictures on the back. I had Star Wars sheets, T-shirts, every Teen Beat magazine with Mark Hamill in it, and to this day I can identify every year & model of Corvette because of the Mark Hamill movie Corvette Summer (oh yes, I had it bad). And I do have to admit, I had it bad for Han Solo too, although I read that Harrison Ford wanted to be killed off in Empire Strikes Back, which devastated me, and I am not over what happened in The Force Awakens yet (I freaking hate you Kylo Freaking Stupid Boy Ren with your stupid horrible weird pants).
I cried all the way home like a baby from The Last Jedi. In fact, I’m tearing up now, thinking about Luke seeing the two moons there at the end of the movie, just as he did the very first time I met him….
(Sniff). Anyway. (wipes nose, blows it hard, walks it out, walks it out).
This month’s Pack pays homage to the Star Wars Rebels in all of us. The little Rogues that fight against evil Empires and win, because...well...that’s what we do in Galaxies Far Far Away.
Now to quote Luke Skywalker right after he kicked some Kylo Ren booty…
“See you around, kid.”
AHA! There’s HOPE! May the Force Be With You!
Next Time There Will Be, Mmmmmm
General Lori Embree
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