Lower Decks Interview: Ensign Noa T’Nessa Levinson, Juneau

The title of this column is “Lower Decks,” hearkening back to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled “Lower Decks,” in which junior officers aboard the Enterprise-D speculate on the reasons for recent unusual actions taken by the command crew near the Cardassian border.
We’re here with another interview with a newer member of our community. This month’s interview is with the writer behind Ensign Noa Levinson, playing a Human (3/4) / Vulcan (1/4) assigned to the U.S.S. Juneau.
GARCIA: Tell us a little about the writer behind the character — where in the world do you hail from?
LEVINSON: Hi! I’m Adi, although I usually go by Adingo. As to where I’m from, suffice it to say, I hail from a location close to Europe, that isn’t quite there. I currently work in software development, and occasionally like to program for fun.
What brought you to SB118, and what’s been your favourite part of being with the community so far?
Well, after a bunch of less than successful Star Trek RPs, I was looking for a group to join, and I saw a post on Reddit advertising the community. I looked around, and decided to try it out – a choice which turned out to be incredible!
My favorite parts so far are both the community itself, and the fact that I always improve my English – it’s my second language, and being around here has really helped to expand it so far, and I’m sure it will help more in the future.
Is this your first simming experience, or have you done other forms of role-playing before?
Well, I have some experience with D&D with a few friends. As I mentioned above, I used to be in a Reddit-based Star Trek RP group, which sadly lost a large amount of its player base at one point. After that I tried getting into Discord-based roleplaying, but due to various reasons, it never really worked out.
I can say that this is the first time I’ve been writing in the amounts I’m writing right now in terms of creative writing, ever. None of the other RPs I’ve been around before had me go into so much detail.
What is the inspiration for your character’s back story – what’s it like to portray a character as ¼ Vulcan?
Well, I’ve been portraying Noa as someone who always has her emotions near the surface, but tries her best to hide it – due to her dominant Vulcan features, she doesn’t want to appear out of place with portrayed emotions, especially on duty. To me, her hybrid heritage comes into effect by colliding two different perspectives – logic and emotion – and seeing the result. Sometimes her passion and emotions take over, and sometimes they’re subdued by cold, pure logic. And sometimes, they might just point to the same direction. I always try to find the balance between these results, according to the situation at hand.
I had the basics of this concept already in my mind when initially submitting my application with Noa, and to me, it was only logical (pun fully intended) to pick a Human/Vulcan hybrid.
What duty post are you playing, and how’d you choose it?
I’m playing a science officer. I mainly chose it because I just love science, especially physics and astronomy, and I’m aiming to at least try to enter the scientific field in the future.
What are the challenges for a writer playing this duty post, and how do you overcome them?
I believe a big challenge for a science officer is to balance technobabble and readability when writing about the science behind something, especially if it’s technical.
To make sure I don’t overload my sims with technobabble that may or may not mean anything, I try to use it only when necessary, and when I do use it, I browse Memory Alpha/Beta to make sure that the technobabble I use fits with whatever use the piece of technobabble was used for on screen.
Looking back on your experience so far, what would be one piece of advice you’d give to anyone who’s just joined?
There are no stupid questions – if you have a question, your mentor, Captain or First Officer are one message or email away.
Thanks for your time, Ensign Levinson!
You can read more about Ensign Levinson on the wiki.