Gaaays in Spaaace in Roxborough

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I had a brief encounter with these two young men at the street fair a block from my house, here in Roxborough. It would have been longer, but I was carrying an abundance of street food for lunch and wanted to get it home while it was still hot. I did chat long enough, however, to learn that the non-profit organization they were representing was Gaaays in Spaaace (they emphasized the triplet-As in each word) and that it existed to encourage diversity and inclusion in both science fiction and actual space travel.

(You can learn more at their rather lavish website. Their mission statement and history can be found at https://www.gaaaysinspaaace.org/about.)

Thinking about them, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Alex Shvartsman at Capclave recently. I said something about how admirable the Chinese science fiction community was--positive, hard-working, anxious to make the world a better place--and he said, "But that's the science fiction community anywhere in the world. We're all like that." Then, a little wryly, "We're certainly not in it for the money."

So, yes, Alex was right. These guys are working on the media side of the street whereas I and so many of my friends are working the literary side. But we're all working for the common good.

This has been my moment of positivism for the week. I'll be my usual grumpy self again by this time tomorrow.

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