"I just saw a black woman on television; and she ain't no maid!" - Whoopi Goldberg

I'm not exactly sure why I've been on such a nerd kick lately, but apparently I am riding the Zeitgeist- as evidenced by a recent article in The Onion . Perhaps it is the slow recognition of my own nerdiness that is the culprit.  Bespectacled, obnoxiously inquisitive, smart and an occasional victim of bullying, growing up I was happy participant in my own world.  Drawing from books (fantasy, sci-fi and mysteries were my favorites), my only-childhood offered plenty of opportunities to indulge my hyper-active imagination, penchant for model building, puzzles, joke books, microscopes, and chemistry sets.

But one of the most important figures in my path of Nerd-dom was the wonderful, the lovely, intelligent and capable Lt. Uhura.  My mother is a certified trekkie- the movies, the books, TOS, the animated series are huge part of my pop culture memory.  I got some invaluable lessons from the chief communications officer of The Enterprise.  The most striking? That physical appeal and intelligence are not mutually exclusive characteristics.

...a bit of Uhura trivia:

• "Nyota" (Uhura's first name) is the Swahili word for "star" 
• "Uhura" comes from the Swahili word uhuru, meaning "freedom". 
• Nichols states in her book Beyond Uhura that the name was inspired by her having had with her a copy of the bookUhuru on the day she read for the part. When Justman explained to Roddenberry what the word uhuru meant, he changed it to Uhura and adopted that as the character's name.
• She's the bomb.