James McGrath, Star Trek Actor

Yesterday I started discussing George Orwell’s 1984 in my First Year Seminar class. To illustrate the way information about us is less than private in our time, I had them Google themselves, and also me if they wished to. One student found this:

Apparently that James McGrath is J. J. Abrams’ father-in-law. It isn’t me. But I still like the fact that I have a namesake who has been in Star Trek movies, and that it is possible for someone to mistakenly think that I’ve been in Star Trek. The confusion is understandable, for those who saw me in my Halloween costume…