Public Biography
The Greater Washtenaw Star Trek Society is a voluntary fan organization founded in 1987 and headquartered, for purposes of correspondence and internal elections, in the basement fellowship hall of St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where it has met biweekly since 1993. The society has approximately forty-two dues-paying members, ranging in age from nineteen to eighty-four, drawn principally from Washtenaw County and, to a lesser extent, from the adjacent counties of Monroe, Livingston, and Jackson.
The society’s founding charter, which has been amended twice, states its purpose as “the preservation, discussion, and dignified enjoyment of the Star Trek canon.” A series of internal bylaws, adopted in 1994 and substantively revised in 2004, defines the operative boundaries of “canon” for internal purposes — a definition that has, in the society’s history, produced four separate schisms, three of which were resolved within the same meeting and one of which resulted in the 2008 departure of seven members who went on to form the short-lived Livingston County Trek Fellowship.
Society business is conducted according to a modified version of Robert’s Rules of Order, with a standing exception permitting members to quote dialogue from any televised Star Trek episode during debate without first being recognized by the chair. The treasurer, Dennis Halvorson, has held the position since 2011. The society publishes an internal newsletter, Subspace Quarterly, which is mailed to members four times a year and has never, in its eighteen years of publication, appeared on schedule.
Annual dues are $24.
Articles
- Ypsilanti Man Exclaims 'Jaunty Look, Petard!' Whenever an Argument Contradicts Itself, Convinced the Phrase Is a Star Trek Reference Anyone with Taste Would Recognize — Linguists describe the fused malapropism as 'nearly perfect'; his wife says she stopped correcting it in 2019.
- Bipartisan Caucus Sponsors Bill to Rename the United States the 'United Federation of Planets' — The measure has been referred to four committees, none of which can agree on whether it concerns foreign affairs.