"How would you describe yourself to someone who couldn't see?" asks Bruce Horak, Engineer Hemmer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.  Bruce joins us to talk about his work as an actor, painter, and now filmmaker with his upcoming documentary Boldly Going for which there is currently an active IndieGoGo campaign.  Boldly Going is described as "a groundbreaking documentary that chronicles Bruce Horak's inspiring journey as the first blind actor to play a blind character in the Star Trek franchise (Strange New Worlds).  But this a story that goes far beyond Bruce's on-screen character. Despite losing 90% of his vision to childhood cancer.  In this film, we follow him across North America and beyond as he meets others who have overcome barriers to find creative freedom and purpose.  In each encounter, Bruce paints a portrait of the person he encounters creating a moment of connection captured on canvas."

Support Bruce's fundraiser at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/boldly-going-documentary#/

We are excited to be joined by Jarrah Hodge of the legendary Women at Warp podcast which recently just wrapped with its final ever episode. In addition to co-hosting and producing Women at Warp, Jarrah is also a communications, advocacy and engagement specialist with extensive experience in the non-profit sector and labour movement. She is now serving as the communication lead at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. In light of Canada's recent Federal Election and ongoing housing crisis, we were eager to hear about Jarrah's ongoing work.

We also talk about visiting another podcast – The Treksperts Briefing Room where we talked DS9's "Past Tense" with Star Trek writer Lisa Klink!

Links from the Episode:

https://www.womenatwarp.com/

https://trekkiefeminist.com/

Ladies Who Trek Ottawa Fan Group https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CFUhsAx3u/

IKV Phoenix Ottawa Fan Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/ikvphoenix/

Treksperts Briefing Room featuring the TREKtivism Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/past-tense-part-1-ds9-s3-ep-11-w-trektivisms-matthew/id1552937601?i=1000699624114

Library for the Kind and Trek Long Island founder Stefanie Gangone and Paul Adams, Director of Diversity Programming and Convention Operations at TLI, appear on the podcast to talk about the history of both organizations and what to expect from the upcoming Star Trek-focused event happening May 30 - June 2.

This month's guest is science fiction author, science communicator, and host of The Big Sci-Fi Podcast, Adeena Mignogna. Adeena is currently spearheading a grassroots fundraising campaign by the "Star Trek Family" online community group. which is providing financial relief to those impacted by fire damage in Los Angeles. The Star Trek Family campaign has already raised nearly 7,000 dollars! You can support the fundraising effort by visiting https://www.stfamily.org/disasterrelieflafires

And also be sure to visit Adeena's website and check out her expansive science fiction body of work, including Star Trek tie-in material, at https://adeenamignogna.com/

Scientists are superheroes!  And those scientist superheroes can be and look like anybody. That's the message of STEAM Superheroes - an organization that creates content, programs, and an upcoming comic book series designed to inspired and motivate youth to pursue careers in STEAM.

In this episode, we speak to STEAM Superheroes team members (and Star Trek fans) Linda Zaruches, Dr.  Aidyl Gonzalez-Serricchio, and LaShana Lewis about the STEAM Superheroes Comic series, the importance of representation in STEAM, and how scientists are agents of social change. Find out more about STEAM Superheroes and support their comic at https://steamsuperheroes.org/

October is both Mental Health Awareness and National Antibullying Month. Chase Masterson stops by the show to talk about her 501(c)3 nonprofit Pop Culture Hero Coalition, its history, as well as her own super hero origin story.

Pop Culture Hero Coalition uses evidence based video and tools with engaging pop culture references to teach behavior health skills in ways young people find relatable, teaching inclusion and acceptance in hopes to end bullying. For more information or to donate, https://www.popculturehero.org

In our special Trek the Vote episode, Heather Rae Barker interviews Emily Levy, founder and director of Scrutineers, an action-oriented, nonpartisan online community working for USA election fairness & transparency.

Heather and Emily talk about the history of the organization and how they help educate, train, and mobilize nonpartisan election scrutineers.

For more information or to donate to Scrutineers: https://scrutineers.org/about/mission-history/

For more information about Trek the Vote - https://www.trekthe.vote

In late September, we were invited to host a TREKtivism panel at Thunder Bay's ThunderCon! Thunder Bay is Matthew's hometown and he was honoured to be invited back for Canada's first TREKtivism panel and our first TREKtivism booth at a convention!

We were joined by Patrick Kwok-Choon of Star Trek Discovery, the Ontario Klingon Cosplaying group of Peter and Caelan Hutchison, and ThunderCon representative Elise Frizado to talk about fundraising as Klingons, how conventions can support local initiatives, and being neurodivergent on a starship!

You can also support a current ALS research fundraiser spearheaded by the Klingons in memory of Discovery's Ken Mitchell by going to https://alscanadawalktoendals.als.ca/ontario/teamklingon

Catrina Dennis is both a Star Trek and Star Wars fan. Producer, Entertainer and Community Activist, she's championed and spearheaded multiple fundraising initiatives by animating science fiction and table top gaming communities and recently became a character in Star Trek Online.

Catrina’s fundraising efforts include producing Roll for the Arts in support of the Entertainment Community Fund during the writer & actors' strikes, which raised $2000 for the fund in less than six hours; performing on similar fundraising streams for causes like Techqueria, a global nonprofit that benefits Latines in Tech); and participating in a live streamed game of Star Trek Adventures in support of local Seattle tea shop Friday Tea when repairs needed to be made to the shop.

Catrina's site: https://ohcatrina.carrd.co/

John Billingsley hosts a spirited conversation with a live audience about the values of Star Trek and how to nurture community spirit. Guests include Jonathan Frakes, Chase Masterson, Kitty Swink, Trektivism team members Matthew Cimone, Heather Rae Barker, Laurie Ulster, and Yvette Blackmon Tom and guests Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Efaon Cobb, and Randy Frank!

For more information: Hollywood Food Coalition, Roddenberry Foundation