Ellen Hall

In 1952, an English teacher named Cecil Dormand secretly paid for a dirt-poor 11-year-old to take a drama course. He never told him and the boy didn’t find out until decades later. By then, he was a knight, that little boy’s name was Patrick Stewart. He was born into a poor family in Mirfield, a small mill town in Yorkshire and his father came home from World War II a violent man, and he was violent toward Patrick’s mother. Young Patrick learned exactly when to step between his father’s fist and his mother. An English teacher put a copy of Shakespeare in his hand and told him to get up and perform. He never stopped and left school at 15. By 19 he was completely bald... most agencies told him he'd never make it because of that. In 1987, the LA Times called him an “unknown British Shakespearean actor” when he was cast as Captain Picard. Then he became one of the most famous faces on Earth. You’ve probably heard that part. Here’s the part you haven’t: He spent decades as a patron of Refuge, sheltering women and children from domestic violence. But he never stopped trying to understand his father. He dug up a 1940 newspaper clipping that said his dad had come home with severe shell shock. He went to France and walked the ground where his father’s unit was pinned down under bombing for hours. He learned his father had PTSD, and nobody ever helped him. So Patrick became an ambassador for Combat Stress, a charity that helps veterans. In 2013, a young woman at a Texas convention told him she was a survivor of domestic violence. He asked, “My dear, are you okay?” Then he hopped off the stage, held her, and told her: “You never have to go through that again, you’re safe now.” At Dragon Con, a Make-A-Wish girl dressed as Spock came to meet him. 2,000 people were waiting for him to speak... he sat down and talked with her for 15 minutes, making all of them wait. He told her that since they were friends now, whenever she saw him on screen she could wave and say, “Hello Patrick.” After 9/11, he felt helpless, so he brought his one-man A Christmas Carol back to Broadway for a full week of charity shows. He played every character himself and donated every cent. In 2019 he did it again, and every dollar went to feeding hungry New Yorkers. In 2017, he fostered a pit bull named Ginger, who had been rescued from a dogfighting ring. She was his first dog in more than 50 years. He couldn’t bring her home to England, so he found her a family. Then he kept fostering more. When he said he was done with Star Trek so many people told him the show had gotten them through the hardest times of their lives. So he wanted to see if Picard could do it one more time. Rest in Peace, Sir Patrick 🖖

🚨#BREAKING: Outrage is erupting in North Carolina after an HOA just DOUBLED monthly fees to **$2,500/MONTH** for homeowners who were paying just $158/month just five years ago... ...and the homeowners say the HOA board tried to charge homeowners $7,500/MONTH JUST IN HOA FEES!!!!!!! On Monday night, the board backed off $7,500... ...but voted to DOUBLE fees to $2,500 a month instead. Yes, $30,000 a year just to LIVE IN YOUR HOME THAT YOU BOUGHT. Nearly SIXTEEN TIMES what families were paying a few years ago. Families who bought what they thought were their forever homes are now being told to pay $30,000 a year in HOA fees, or GO INTO FORECLOSURE!!!!!! The neighborhood is Magnolia Cove in Sherrills Ford, Catawba County NC. Jill Menson and her husband bought their house believing it would be their LAST home and five years ago, their HOA fee was $158 a month. This summer it shot up to more than $1,200. Plus a $10,000 ASSESSMENT on top of that. On Monday night, the HOA board voted to raise fees AGAIN, from $1,250 to $2,500 a month. That’s nearly SIXTEEN TIMES what they paid five years ago. And the meeting? It was held over ZOOM. Menson says they’ll be forced out with nowhere to go, because no one will buy a house carrying fees like that. So they went to the state for help. The North Carolina Attorney General’s office told Channel 9 there are NO STATUTES limiting how much an HOA can charge. None. As long as the board follows its own documents, it can charge whatever it wants. In Jill Menson’s words: “Nobody is helping us.” THIS IS ABSOLUTELY ABSURD AND SHOULD BE ILLEGAL!!!!!!!!!!