Again I begin with an apology – I missed publishing one of these last month. I will say my personal life has been as nuts as most folks, between work, traveling back to Nevada, and dealing with ‘life staying at home’ just nuts. 

But I have been keeping up with my other RC duties. MSR’s reviewed, RSR’s filed, working with my fellows on the ECAB, etc. 

We are planning an online virtual award ceremony for July 18th, on Steamyard (facebook, and maybe another platform as well). We will get specific programming and times up soon, as we get those sorted out, but we’re looking to stream from 1pm – 5pm, or there about. We will have Q&A’s with others from around the fleet, and beyond, in addition to announcing awards. R3 and 3BDE staff are working to bring you all a worthwhile event, given that we have no Summit, so please plan on ‘attending’.  

Looking back, the last few months have been utterly insane – but I am proud of my SFI family for all the various efforts to stay connected as we ride out the isolation, and start returning to the public. Here in San Antonio, three chapters joined with other geeky organizations to put on a food drive for our local food bank. It’s been great seeing these uplifting events and efforts. 

But we are also in dark times. COVID-19 wasn’t enough to deal with in 2020 – we now have stark reminders of the racial injustice that still exists in our world, broken systems, and the protests and riots that emerge from that environment. I ask all to be considerate of each other, and if participating in the protests, be as safe as possible. When engaging people online, please keep in mind none of us are at our best. We’ve all been immersed in an unending stream of things to worry about, with the media increasingly making every possible issue “Us vs Them”, ramping up anxiety and stress in all of us. 

With COVID-19 numbers rising again, we don’t know when we’ll be seeing each other in large groups. This is the time we will all look  to our chapters – the backbone of SFI for support, for fellowship, and for fun. I encourage each chapter to be creative in how they address current concerns safely while supporting their people/each other. The issues of our times are NOT reasons to hide away, and save our passions for another day; I think it is critical for us to band together, in the ways that we can, attempt to do some good, and be there for support NOW. I hope to hear all about the many ways each chapter rises to this challenge. 

Again – be safe out there, and take care of each other. 

Jeremy Carsten
Regional Coordinator,
STARFLEET Region 3