The Picard family shield of arms, on the cover of the Picard family album.
The "Family" episode premiered 3 years, 4.59 months after 5/13/1987, reminding me of my 3/4/1959 birthday in my father's homeland. I recognize the date 5/13/1987 as when I completed my escape from Africa after being shot down by anti-anticraft fire to become a POW of Libya. After about two months in that Libyan prison, I escaped into the desert, working my way south and living off the land of Africa for over a year until I made it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_%28TNG_episode%29
"Family" was the second episode of the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This episode takes place several weeks after the Borg attack on Earth shown in the episode "The Best of Both Worlds".
Synopsis
In this episode the Enterprise-D is docked at Earth Station McKinley, undergoing repairs and refitting after being seriously damaged by the Borg. During the repairs many of the crew are either visiting family or receiving visits from family members.
Jean-Luc Picard is still recovering after the physical and mental traumas inflicted on him by the Borg. Having made considerable progress with the help of Doctor Crusher and Deanna Troi, he decides to visit his family home, a vineyard run by his older brother Robert in France. Picard meets his nephew and his brother's wife, who he had remained in correspondence with during his Starfleet career. A friend of the family tries to interest Picard in heading the Atlantis project, a research facility under construction on the ocean floor.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: homeless veteran of microsoft
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Home
I've written several times of this experience in terms of that Star Trek:TNG episode where Capt. Picard is assimilated by the Borg. While I do not consider myself a "Trekkie", I like the Star Trek series because I am a fan in general of science fiction, and because I like any good story that captures my imagination. There was a follow-on episode to those episodes of where Picard is captured and it was titled "Family." While I typically like the episodes with more action, I always get a kick out this episode because Picard's brother reminded me so much of my sister, in terms of obvious sibling rivalry. I also found myself envying Picard's character for being able to go back to a home like that, where he has roots. I was watching a movie a few months ago based on John McCain's POW experiences and I was thinking of how a lot of it seemed similar. I was most interested in what it was like for him to come back home after his 6 years in captivity but the movie seemed kind of light there. I also found myself envying McCain for his family, especially not only being third-generation Navy but a family of notable service to the Navy.
The original air date of this episode was October 1990, and my formal discharge from the Navy was May 1990. I'm not sure when I actually watched this episode though; probably around the 1994 time-frame. It reminds me of a pivotal point back in 1990. I was leaving the Navy and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I had spent the last 6 months overseas so there had been no way to even do any interviews until I was actually out of the service. As luck would have it, a buddy of mine, who I had worked with on the USS Wainwright, recommended me to a company he was interviewing with and I got that job. I got out of the Navy on a Friday and I was working there that next Monday. Coincidentally, the same thing had happened six years earlier where I graduated high school on Friday and was in Navy boot camp the next Monday.
Synopsis
After taking the U.S.S. Enterprise to an Earth-orbiting spacedock for repairs, Picard, still recovering from the injuries he suffered at the hands of the Borg, returns for the first time in twenty years to the 19th century French village where he grew up. He is greeted warmly by his sister-in-law and nephew, both of whom he has never met. However, his meeting with his older brother Robert, who feels that Picard is arrogant, is filled with animosity.
[...]
Back in his village, Picard receives an offer from an old friend to head a project on Earth, and is shocked to find himself seriously considering the job. While Picard anguishes over the decision, his brother seizes the opportunity to torment him, telling him he has changed from the unflappable achiever he once was. The argument leads to a brawl that eventually leaves the sibling rivals laughing and covered in mud. They share a tender moment as Picard reveals the guilt he feels over his inability to fight the Borg after they kidnapped him.
As the U.S.S. Enterprise prepares to depart, it is apparent that more than just the starship was repaired. Worf shares a final tender moment with his parents, Wesley says goodbye to a father he finally feels he knows, and Picard, reconciled with his brother, begins his psychological recovery from his trauma with the Borg.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: homeless veteran of microsoft
Thursday, September 15, 2005
...
Family
I had never given much thought to my family history, to the genealogy of the name Burgess. I didn't have the typical (whatever that is) family life growing up. I didn't know my father very well. He was killed in 1985 when I was out to sea. I was just getting old enough to start thinking about asking him why he was never around. I feel close to my mother and sister but I haven't been in contact with them for a while. With all the weird stuff going on, I certainly don't want to get them involved. The nature of the media presence I sense is just too much, none of us have the experience or knowledge to deal with something like that. I wish I could see them all again soon, and my grandfather, whom I really miss.
So anyway, a few months ago, as I was searching the internet for clues, I found a family tree for Burgess. It starts with William Burgess who I guess would be the first American Burgess and then ends with the 6th generation, which includes my paternal grandfather, and would make me the 8th generation. I thought this was very interesting, and I certainly admire all the hard work it must have taken to put something like this together. Later I tried connecting a person named Colonel Burgess from the 1600's to the William Burgess of 1760 but it is pretty tough to find that kind of information.
I think that never really having what I perceived as the normal family when I grew up is what makes it harder for me to settle down. I guess I am afraid of not being able to create the kind of family I want to have. My only real long-term experience with marriage is just that it ends at some point. I have no idea what a family is supposed to be. I care about my mom and sister because we grew up together and went through a lot together. But I think about my future and reading through that family tree just solidified the thoughts I had been having for a long time. What is my contribution to all this? The lineage doesn't end with me, but still what do I contribute to it? Does my story end with the actions of my life? Or will I have offspring of my own to continue our part of the name?
I could have offspring of my own if I wanted to. But why? To become my own father? No, if I have kids, I want to do it right and, while just being a good father is no assurance of raising good kids - I guess - I don't want to raise kids just to let them fend for themselves. I have also heard people say they weren't in love when they got married and that is probably the single point of difference from me. I have always insisted to myself that we are both in love before getting married. But then I grew worried that, while I may be in love, how do I know she is in love with me or that she just sees me as a "donor, as I used to worry. I worried about women that were marrying for kids instead of for love. For me, there was an order to it. You fell in love, you got married, then maybe, probably, you had kids. That was absolutely the only way it was going to happen with me.
And I often worried about how I don't have the first clue about raising kids. Or maybe I do. I don't know. I know they should be good role models. But what do I know about role models? The role models from my early youth were Superman and Batman. Superman I liked and wanted to be because I knew no one could hurt us if I had the strength of Superman. Batman I liked because he was smart. I liked both of them because they were loners for the most part, especially Batman. Superman had Lois Lane, but it was more of a fantasy than a real relationship. Batman was just angry at the world and he didn't want to depend on anyone, although he felt obligated to help the people he could help.
So anyway, if I was a super-hero, I would probably feel comfortable raising kids myself, but that is just a lot of responsibility for a mortal.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: September 14, 2006
9/14/2006 11:41 AM
I was feeling especially homesick this day last year. It is quite remarkable when I look back and see what I wrote considering what I am now thinking. But it also reminds me of unpleasant reality too. It was only a few days later that they kicked me out of here to the Pioneer Square gulag. I didn’t protest that much because, well, my head was still pretty screwed from almost dying... I figured I would be in Pioneer Square for a week at most because all this craziness would surely end. So anyway, what this reminds me of most was a comment one of the zombies made when I was in there. I was either sitting in the cafeteria or walking through it and I heard a zombie make a derogatory comment I associated with this blog entry from last year. He said something about someone that was full of envy. I hear people saying stuff like that all the time. Everybody around me is constantly deceiving me.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Picard_family
The Picard family is a French family with strong ties to Spain and France.
The history of this family dates back several centuries and is kept in a leather-bound family album that has been passed down in the Picard family for generations. Picard claimed the family could trace its roots back to the time of Charlemagne in the 8th century in western Europe. (TNG: "Journey's End")
When being raised, young Picards are always taught about the great Picards in their history, often to the point of feeling that they have to live up to someone's standards. Some of the more accomplished Picards include the Picard who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the one who commanded a French warship at the Battle of Trafalgar, or the ones who settled the first Martian colonies. (Star Trek Generations)
The Picard vineyards, located in La Barre, France, is well known for its wine production, notably for their Chateau Picard vintage. There is also some relation to Chateau La Barre. (TNG: "Family", "All Good Things...")
Not many of the Picards were explorers or space-faring people, in fact, Jean-Luc Picard was the first in the family to leave the Sol system. (Star Trek Nemesis)
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Maurice_Picard
Maurice Picard was a Human man, a native of La Barre, France. He was the husband of Yvette Gessard and father of Robert and Jean-Luc Picard. He continued the family business of winemaking under the Chateau Picard label.
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Samantha_Eggar
The actress who portrayed "Picard's" sister-in-law is 19 years, 11 months, 26 days, older than me. That forms Ronald Reagan's birthday of 2/6/1911.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Wyman
Jane Wyman (born Sarah Jane Fulks on January 5, 1917 in Saint Joseph, Missouri)[1] is an Academy Award-winning, Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actress also known for being the first wife of president Ronald Reagan.
...
In 1938, Wyman co-starred with Ronald Reagan in Brother Rat (1938), and its sequel Brother Rat and a Baby (1940). The two were married (her second or third marriage, and his first) on January 26, 1940, and divorced on June 28, 1948. She and Reagan had three children; Maureen Elizabeth Reagan (1941 - 2001), Michael Reagan (adopted, born March 18, 1945), and Christine Reagan (born and died June 26, 1947).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Crest
Falcon Crest was an American primetime television soap opera, primarily about the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti family in the Californian wine industry. The series was set in the fictitious Tuscany Valley (in reality the Napa Valley) just north of San Francisco. It aired on the CBS network for 9 seasons as a midseason replacement, from December 4th, 1981 to May 17th, 1990, and 227 episodes were made in total. Reruns of the show aired on SOAPnet, a decade after its demise. The show starred Academy Award-winner Jane Wyman as evil matriarch, Angela Channing, who almost appeared in every episode of the series, veteran character actor Robert Foxworth as Chase Gioberti, and Ana-Alicia as Melissa Agretti, the scheming ruler of Tuscany Valley, who came near the end of the first season, and became popular with viewers.
