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When I haven’t attacked anyone personally, when I have only criticized the institution and perhaps problematic roles people play within it, when I have provided concrete evidence and rational motivations for my conclusions and anger and sense of injustice, when I have thoroughly explained privilege and how it works and why it exists, when I haven’t used inflammatory language such as “hate,” but when the white guy sitting next to me has attacked others personally and used inflammatory language, don’t you dare gang up on me because my tone is “harsh” and “why don’t you be more civil, because right now all you’re doing is alienating people you need on your side” and joke around about how awesome my white male classmate’s statements are and “yeah, we should really listen to you; that’s valuable insight!” Please simply admit that you’re exhibiting racist, sexist behavior, though I know that you’ll simply manage to find a way to claim otherwise and justify that, too.

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Star Trek is nearly 50 years old now and it’s been around for so long because I think it offers hope for us as a species. The thing people have always been attracted to (with Star Trek) is the idea that we might live beyond this age of conflict and uncertainty. And it’s not only that, but it’s also the ability to work together and live in a world where everyone is accepted no matter who you are.

The original series with Gene Roddenberry was incredibly progressive. It started barely 20 years after the end of World War II, with a Japanese officer aboard the Enterprise, a black woman in charge of an entire division, and a Russian on board—albeit in subordinate roles, but it was an incredibly progressive move. It offered this utopian idea of cooperation and that’s always going to be something to strive toward until we actually achieve it. In that respect, Star Trek will never go out of fashion.

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I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.

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My brain hums with scraps of poetry and madness.