Well this is weird… I had this strange impulse to mention the actor Tony Todd in the Yes, I Voted blog post I wrote on Tuesday (U.S. election day). He’s one of my favorite Star Trek character actors from the 1990s. I almost didn’t mention him in the post since it wasn’t really necessary, but when the thought popped into my mind, I felt a strong intuitive nudge to express my heartfelt appreciation for his acting. I was a little bit shroomie while writing the post.

Here’s the relevant paragraph:

I say let’s have fun today – whatever happens. Let’s be like the Klingons all drinking and celebrating together in the bar in the ST:TNG episode “Redemption” – one of my favorite two-parters of the series. Even though they’re on different sides, they still all recognize each other as fellow Klingons, engaging in a great battle, fighting like the true warriors they’ve always strived to be. (And heartfelt kudos to Tony Todd for playing the role of Kurn so ridiculously well!)

And today I see in the BBC News that Tony Todd passed away the day after I posted that. He was 69.

Wow… heartfelt kudos to you again, Tony!

My favorite Tony Todd episode is actually the one in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (“The Visitor”) where he plays an older Jake Sisko, telling a tale of the extreme lengths he went to to save his father who was stuck shifting through time.

What I loved most about Tony’s acting was the fiery passion he brought to playing his characters, infusing them with such vibrancy and energy that made it easy to feel fully immersed in the world around his character.

In the context of the blog post, Tony Todd played the character who framed the ongoing Klingon civil war in a larger spirit-level context, recasting everyone on both sides as being more alike than different at the core. They were all great warriors fighting for a great cause.

His death reminds me that a lot of people aren’t going to see that perspective in the years ahead.

Now that the election results are known, I feel relieved most of all. There was so much energy coiled up and stuck within the not knowing phase, and now we finally have a major resolution there. I feel it’s actually a good outcome in the sense that it’s a necessary and important one for people to experience. Will it be a total shit show? Oh no doubt!

It’s so nice not getting a dozen election-related text messages every day.

Another part of me feels sadistically amused, like in a “Be careful what you ask for” sort of way. I don’t feel inclined to stock up on toilet paper, but I am stocking up on popcorn.

Remember that in the end, we all wind up in Sto’Vo’Kor together anyway.