I have a new favorite science fiction film, and it’s not even close at this point. In the 1960’s, Jerome Bixby wrote four episodes of the original Star Trek: “Mirror, Mirror”; “By Any Other Name”: “Day of the Dove”; and “Requiem for Methuselah.” These are all considered iconic episodes of Star Trek, and they represent some of the most thoughtful writing to come out of the series. It is Bixby’s work on this last story, “Requiem for Methuselah,” that is relevant to the film The Man From Earth.
Russell T. Davies and Ncuti Gatwa dip into the Doctor’s history for what, in my opinion, is the best bottle episode the show has ever done. They do this by revisiting the previous best bottle episode Doctor Who has done, “Midnight,” from the fourth series with David Tennant. Both of these episodes are tense and terrifying in similar ways. They both have much to say about human nature in a crisis, even when the people involved have never even heard of humans.
We’re coming up on the 28th anniversary of my high school graduation next month. It seems an eternity ago, yet also close and immediate. At that time, when making plans for college, I thought I was going to be an Applied Mathematical Sciences major at Texas A&M with a four-year Navy ROTC scholarship. I would serve in the Navy. I would get my advanced degrees. After 20-25 years, I would retire from military life and go into academia. I have wanted to teach at a college level since I was 17.
“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” -John Lennon
Continue readingThe Pantheon the Doctor has been facing under the new run of Russell T. Davies starting with the reborn Toymaker and moving on to Maestro and Sutek has been insanely good. Giving the Doctor a mix of old enemies (Toymaker, Sutek) and new (Maestro, Lux) with powers beyond his science has required clever, human solutions. Sure, the Doctor’s not human. But he represents the best of humanity and brings out the best in humanity.
Doctor Who is back!
I know it hasn’t actually been all that long since we last had new Who, but I love this show so much. It waned a bit during the Chibnall years, and the Moffatt era was inconsistent. But I have loved this show in every incarnation since the 80s, no matter how weird and wild it got. Now, Ncuti Gatwa’s 15th Doctor is back with a new companion in a delightfully relevant season premier that speaks to the relationships between men and women.
Wow, it’s been almost nine years since I posted here. A lot has happened, but most of it will be of little interest to most people. The big news is that in 2021, I started work on my master’s degree for the third time, and it stuck. I graduated in December 2024 with my M.Ed. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lamar University. Since then, I have been licensed as a counselor (associate) and have started working my dream job as a professional counselor.
So, what’s next?
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Space, the final frontier…
I’ve been able to recite Captain Kirk’s monologue from the opening titles of the original Star Trek since I watched it in syndication more than 30 years ago. Today, my son – who is the same age I was then – can do the same with Picard’s variation while watching reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Clearly, there is something about that epic speech “to seek out new life and new civilizations” which crosses generational boundaries. And while my wife and I did not take our son to see Star Trek Beyond in the theater this weekend, I think it will appeal to him when he is a bit older.
Fifteen years ago, a psychiatrist at the Student Counselling Services at Texas A&M University in College Station diagnosed me at the age of 20 with bipolar disorder. The revelation cast much of my life to that point in a new light. The diagnosis and the condition both color my perception of the world today.
I’m back on course to being the Doctor. This is part of that majestic tale of a mad man.
In light of my return to my master’s program with Walden University next month after nearly three years away, I thought that I would re-publish this post from 02 July 2011 that I previously shared on my old blog. It was a simpler time of life back then. Jackson was still very new, and we had not yet moved to the Woodlands, where many of our tribulations began. However, the things I learned about myself then are still applicable today. Of course, I have learned much more in the four years since then, and I have touched on those from time to time. I’m rather proud of what I wrote back then, and I thought I would share it with a new audience, as many of you have not yet seen it.
As a researcher and a scholar at heart, I included citations following the original post, and I included them here as well. Although all from the same author, the citations reference numerous papers she wrote over the years on the topics of achievement, accomplishment, and mastery orientation. Continue reading
I realized that it has been quite a while since I posted here. I haven’t forgotten to write, but life has been rather busy over the last six months or so. This is not to say I want to neglect my writing as things get busier. In fact, I want to do more as things get busier.
All of Time and Space 