Dear Diego,

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Star Trek: Originally, it was a TV show, made between 1966 and 1969.  It was created by a man named Gene Roddenberry.  It was about a space ship in the future and its crew.  Every episode was a story about exploring distant worlds, helping people there, and learning new things.  The captain, Jim Kirk, had to make a difficult decisions.  Sometimes he had to decide whether helping someone might do more harm than good.  The science officer, Spock, was from another planet where no one expresses their feelings.  He struggled with the differences between his culture and human culture.  The doctor, Leonard McCoy, was always very compassionate and respectful of life.  The communications officer, Nyota Uhura, was one of the first serious black female characters to appear in an American TV show.  Her name comes from the Swahili word for freedom.  The show also featured a Japanese character, Hikaru Sulu, and a Russian character, Pavel Chekov.  When Star Trek was made, American culture was struggling to overcome racism against black people, and trying to heal our relationships with Japan and Russia.  Star Trek was inspiring because it showed an optimistic future where people of different races and cultures came together to explore the galaxy.  Many years later, Roddenberry made other TV shows and movies that continued the stories from Star Trek.  It’s an important part of popular culture in the United States.

I meet with a group of friends about once a week, and sometimes we watch Star Trek.  Even though it was made almost 50 years ago, we enjoy it very much.