Selected Shorts: For the Love of Vulcans

When we were kids my siblings and I were big fans of Star Trek–we followed the re-runs of the show religiously, and all had our favorite characters. My sister liked the daredevil Kirk, my brother fantasized about Uhura. But I was in love with Spock. Each week I watched him mind-melding with aliens, scientifically dissecting other people’s emotions or rendering his enemies helpless with neck pinches and thought: that is the guy for me. This weekend on Selected Shorts, my big crush comes to the radio: Leonard Nimoy will read Peter Taylor’s excellent story on aging and parent/child relations, “Port Cochere.” Joining him will be the marvelous Fionnula Flanagan, reading Alice McDermott’s “Enough,” a more joyful take (sex! ice cream!) on the issue of growing older. Flanagan ALSO played a vulcan, (Ambassador V’Lar) on the pre-quel TV show Star Trek: Enterprise. So pour yourself a flagon of Romulan Ale, dial up your local NPR station and join us. This was the first episode of Selected Shorts that I recorded with Isaiah Sheffer–I was EXTREMELY nervous, and am hoping that Stu Kennedy, our talented audio engineer, found a way to edit out my verbal fumbles. Thanks to everyone who has written in about the program. And until next week–Dif tor heh smusma–May you live long and prosper.