From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Sat Apr 05 2003 - 15:32:06 PST
'Star Trek' actor promotes exploration
Space Club guest Nimoy discusses artistic ventures
04/04/03
By CHALLEN STEPHENS
Times Staff Writer challens_at_htimes.com
Mr. Spock gets this sort of thing a lot.
Top tech people invite Leonard Nimoy to speak. The young minds at MIT or perhaps CalTech greet him with demonstrations of their latest projects, explaining space gadgets and science experiments in terms far too technical.
"They'll ask for my opinion, and I'll nod my head and say very wisely, 'You're on the right track,'" Nimoy said Thursday night in Huntsville, his latest speaking stop.
The NASA backers of the National Space Club of Huntsville invited Nimoy to give the keynote speech during their annual banquet at the Von Braun Center. Nimoy, promoting a new book of photography, said man must continue to travel into space despite the Columbia disaster.
"I don't doubt that we should. That's what we do - we explore," he said in an interview before the speech. "There's always the hope that somewhere down the road we'll learn something that will stop war."
James Kennedy, deputy director of the Kennedy Space Center, was also on hand Thursday to receive the Astronautics Engineer Award. Kennedy, who is helping with the Columbia investigation, said he didn't know when NASA would return to space.
Nimoy was also here to promote more personal, interior exploration.
Born in Boston in 1931, Nimoy gained iconic status playing "Mr. Spock" in the "Star Trek" television series of the late 1960s and later in the "Star Trek" movies. Aside from numerous acting and directing ventures, Nimoy has also written two autobiographies and a collection of love poems published last year.
Last October he also released a book, "Shekhina," of photographs of the feminine form. Nimoy took the pictures over the last seven or eight years to explore the ancient Jewish myth of Shekhina, or the feminine half of God. He called it a spiritual journey.
"It's a photographic essay of the feminism of God," said Nimoy, who was to autograph copies of the book after the banquet. The black and white photos can be viewed on the Web at www.leonardnimoyphotography.com.
Asked about the recent sights of women in combat fatigues fighting for their lives in the Iraqi desert, Nimoy said he was excited by the recent rescue of Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and he supported women in combat.
"I'm a feminist," he said. "I believe in women moving to whatever level of work they can reach or handle."
After a moment, he added: "I'm not threatened by a powerful woman."
This was Nimoy's first visit to the VBC since Huntsville hosted a "Star Trek" convention in September 1996 that reunited the entire cast of the original NBC series.
On Thursday, having recently finished two books, Nimoy said, "The next biggest thing I'm going to do is sit down."
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