A long-lived Trekkie grieves 

Sir Patrick Stewart as Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard. From “Download free Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard at mrwallpaper.com.”

A grand Titan of stage, film, and television has died. Patrick Stewart. Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart, aka Enobarbus, King Claudius, and MacBeth, aka Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, a master actor. Felt quite a shock to scan my news feed upon awakening and learned of his passing. He had been a vibrant 86 years old, at least in public, so it was with further dismay and sadness to discover he suffered from two different but rapidly progressing kinds of dementia in recent months or years. Stewart and his family kept that part private. 

I felt so sad. Burst into tears even. Ironically my wife Faithlyn and I had recently watched the grand finale, the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation to complete watching the whole series. Didn’t have or didn’t watch much TV from about 1985 – early 2000s. Back then the TV was more to watch rental videotapes. My kids, when they were young, came to rely upon videotapes back before streaming existed. Remember the early Internet including dial-up Bulletin Boards and GOPHER? Then the World Wide Web? Then merging with cellphones and computers and then smartphones? And early AI? Remember when so much of today’s technology was first introduced to the world as fiction back in Star Trek? Continue reading →