My Role Model, Uhura

 By Amelia Hayley  

When I think about space, I think about "Star Trek." I always thought that Uhura was cool; I wanted to be like her. She had an aloof sexiness, and she was in control. She kept it together. Everybody else on the ship could be freaking out, but not Uhura. Not her. Never.

One of the highest compliments I had in recent years was when a friend told me that of all the characters on "Star Trek," I reminded him of Uhura the most. I'm glad he didn't say Scotty. Or one of those green aliens, or something.

Another reason I liked "Star Trek" was the image of a future where we'd all worked out our differences and we were united. Our goal was exploration and learning, not war. It was a mission I could get behind. I could get behind that image of space. Every episode was a little moral lesson on how to learn about one another.

Why do we keep sending out all these probes if it's not because we're hoping for the off chance that "Star Trek" is real and we'll find like-minded beings who want to debate and discuss and share and learn from us and with us?

Maybe some of them will even look like Uhura.