[Image description: Twitter thread by Pete Souza Petty (@KendraJames_) that reads as follows:
It’s #StarTrekDay, and I can’t begin to express how much Sisko and DS9 meant to me as a kid. Not gonna try, I’ll just repeat my fave story.
I got into basically every college I applied to, and when it came down to it I was choosing between Oberlin, Pitzer, and I think Occidental.
I was leaning heavily on Pitzer, which seemed like Oberlin with better weather. My parents didn’t want me to go to LA.
(caps) (LOL joke’s on them on Tuesday when I move there anyway, ain’t it?)
I was scrolling Wikipedia in my dorm room one night trying to look for facts that would convince them to let me go to Pitzer.
I got to the Oberlin page, basically looking for dirt, and scrolled down to the “famous alumni” section and saw Avery Brooks’ name.
I think it was like 10min later I called my parents and said “I’ll be okay with going to Oberlin, Sisko went there, write the check pls.”
My logic was that, as a famous alum, he’d probably come back and maybe l’d get to meet him.
And my logic panned out– Avery Brooks came back twice. Once to do Death of a Salesman. It was amazing.
He worked with the AfAm Studies and Theatre departments, and came back a second time to give a lecture during my senior year.
I met him the first time and cried (A lot) while trying to explain what he and Sisko meant to me.
He said, “I know. This is why I did it– so *you* could watch it.” Then I cried some more.
My favourite Avery Brooks quote is from one of his Oberlin talks: “Brown children must be able to participate in contemporary mythology.” End description.]
@startrekdescribed @a-captions-blog