The Writer as his own Space Station

The DS9 episode we saw last week was the first Star Trek episode that I have seen in its entirety. I was very interested in the relationship between the writer’s reality and the conception of his story throughout the episode. One particular scene of interest was when the writer looked out the window to see 1) his reflection, 2) the captain of the space station in his story. This scene showed premise to the rest of the episode, as we see more instances where he experiences “hallucinations” as the Captain of the space station in his story & dream, and he often cannot discern how or find what it means.

This collapse in spaces is important because it blurs the dichotomy between “what is right” and “what is.” These two phrases have been the reasons why his story had not been published, but with the writer’s hallucinations, we as viewers see that these two binaries converge into the writer’s body. Is there really a difference? What constitutes the line between the binaries?

To speculate on this question, I will cite the scene when he discovers that he has been released from his job. During this poignant scene, the writer collapses as he utters the words, “it exists in my mind. I created it. The future. It’s real. I created it.” He consistently points to his temples as he says these phrases to signify the connection—while it exists in his mind as a conceptualization, by speaking these words, he gives the authority to its existence as a statement. The movement from conceptualization to realization signifies this collapse in spaces because these phrases move from his mind (private space) to an audience (public space).

I think that this episode reiterates and reinforces Kodwo Eshun’s concept of “Afrofuturism” because of the convergence of spaces in one body (the writer is the writer and his subject). The collapse of temporal spaces echoes the need to (re)write stories of the Middle Passage (e.g. Mayer) from the African (American) perspective because much of the voyages were undocumented and unknown. By writing a Future before it even happens, by being adamant of its existence despite obstacles, the Dreamer manifests the Dream as his will to self-determination. “It’s real. I created it” boldly asserts his power to write his own story, and not live through what somebody else wrote for him.