In case you're interested in another James-the-Non-Pledge-Sayer story, I got an e-mail from my dear friend Brian who, surprisingly, knew the junior high school version of James.

"Seeing that picture was a real trip down memory lane . . . which in this case is called Cinder Alley [a ye-olde-timey Denver mall-within-a-mall that no loger exists]. I remember running into James there at least twice on my way to Zeezo’s Magic Shop. He’d be in the funny little game store that sold D&D; stuff and classy pewter chess sets. I also remember a science fair where he made a Tesla coil that was an absolutely gorgeous object, copper wire wrapped around glass. Clearly the coolest thing there, he didn’t win because the teachers suspected that he had help from his dad. The irony is that it’s easier to make a Tesla coil than it is to get a Dad to be interested and involved in a science project."

We were both also able to successfully Google James and found his home page, which I really do not want to link to for fear of repercussion, but I'd like to note that he's now a philosophy professor at a respectable university, with four unfilmed Star Trek episodes to his credit! So once again, bravo James, you unstoppable force of geekdom!