STS135 Space Shuttle Launch

 I always wanted to witness a Space Shuttle launch and finally did so on the very last one.  I was at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex.  We left Daytona Beach a little after 5 a.m. to get to the Complex before our assigned time of 7 a.m. for an 11:30 a.m. launch.  The weather was looking pretty iffy but managed to clear up enough for the launch. 
 Launch was exciting with the last minute hold at 31 seconds, the large crowds and knowing it was the last launch.  The sound wasn’t quite as impressive as I thought it would be but we were 7 miles away after all. 
 I seem to be somewhat ambivalent about the end of the Space Shuttle era.  It is pretty old.  A 30 year old system probably is ready to be retired.  I can’t help feeling, though, that we’re going backwards in terms of technology returning to non-reusable rockets.  The Shuttle has reached the end of it’s life and never lived up to the promise of low cost to orbit, but it seems like we should be building on it and not returning to Apollo days.  I also worry about the brain drain with all the folks leaving NASA. 
 My hope is that the new crop of commercial launchers such as Space X will truly open space up for even more use, and that NASA will be free to persue real exploratory projects.  With the 42nd anniversary of man landing on the Moon today it does sometimes feel like we’ve lost our spirit of exploration. 
 Here is some audio I recorded from the launch of STS-135:

http://www.stellarfire.net/spaceshuttle.html

Ernie Harwell

I first really took notice of Ernie Harwell during the Summer of 1980.  After I graduated from high school, as part of a college prep requirement to get money to go to college, I had to take two courses over the Summer at Western Michigan University–BASIC computer programming and intro to calculus.  I stayed at Spindler Hall all Summer.  My roommate, who I recall being from the Middle East somewhere would sleep under multiple blankets even though our room was hotter than hell.  He hardly said a word and was for the most part absent from the room except to sleep. 

There weren’t a lot of people around campus during the Summer and I only made a couple of friends.  I hung out with Sally Pelletier and Mary Lou Hotgetter.  All students who were also in the college prep program.  But for the most part I kept to myself.  I was a bit shy back then and not comfortable with my vision, or lack thereof and so was even too anxious to try figuring out how to get to the cafeteria.  I ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches that Summer.

I didn’t have a TV in the dorm room, and, of course, this was long before the Internet, so my biggest diversion that Summer was listening to Detroit Tigers baseball games with Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey broadcasting.  I’m sure I had heard Ernie Harwell many times before living in Portage, Michigan, but it was throughout the Summer of 1980 I really started to appreciate his broadcasting albeit not consciously.  I probably listened to every game that Summer.

I moved on to colege at Michigan State and Ernie stayed with me through those years, too, like an old friend.  That easy-going Southern phrasing of his kept you listening.

When I moved to Virginia in 1984 I stopped listening to Tigers games.  There wasn’t the Internet back then to listen.  I heard him from time to time.  I remember an interview with Ernie, done by I think, an ESPN reporter perhaps during the All Star Game, or maybe the World Series the Tigers were in a few years ago.  I was so annoyed because the reporter kept interrupting Ernie Harwell’s answers.  She was interrupting a legend.  I hope ESPN fired her.  If you are going to ask someone like Ernie Harwell a question you let him respond in anyway he wishes.

From all the reporting I’ve heard the past couple of days it sounds like he was a great guy in addition to being a great broadcaster.  I think that came through his broadcasts which is why so many fans liked him.  How many baseball stadiums around the country have a statue of the teams radio broadcaster out front?  Ernie does, in front of Comerica Field in Detroit.

Meeting of Africa and Flamenco

Julia Sarr is a singer from Senegal and Patrice Larose a french flamenco-style guitarist. They appeared last evening at the French Embassy as part of a tour promoting their new album, Set Luna. Despite the album title appearing a mix of English and French, it’s actually Wolof for So I’ve Observed.

Sarr began the show by singing a cappella at the side of the auditorium and then walking up to the stage. She carried a candle with her. She sang mostly in her native Wolof, but did a couple of songs in English. They were joined by a percussionist, Alex Trent?. The music was excellent–a blend of african and flamenco. Sarr and Larose were very informal with the audience, joking between songs. Sarr asked since we were at the French Embassy, if we were speaking in French or English. She chatted a bit with a youngster up front who asked her to speak in English.

It’s probably an odd comparison, but as I sit here now listening to the album, there’s something of the quality of Sarr’s voice which reminds me of Bonnie Raitt–At least on the ballads.

I highly recommend the album.

Anoushka Shankar

Last night saw Anoushka Shankar at Lisner Auditorium. Anoushka is a sitar player and the daughter of Ravi Shankar. The music was based on classical Indian music but had western influences and instrumentation. Along with the traditional Indian instruments there was also guitar, bass, piano, synthesizer and drums. Most of the songs seemed to be from her most recent album, ‘Rise’. A couple of the vocal performances were really powerful and I particularly enjoyed a piece called ‘Mahadeva’.

Challenger Anniversary

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. It’s startling it was that long ago. I do remember some things from that day, but not to the extent that some people seem to remember. I was in a general education music class that day at Tawes Theater at the University of Maryland. I remember the girl who sat next to me, Darby Clark. I knew the shuttle was going up and the first thing I did when I got back to the dorm (Calvert Hall) was turn the TV on. I had missed the actual launch and was watching the replays of the explosion. It took a while for it to sink in that the shuttle had been destroyed. I also remember from that evening sitting in my suite mate’s room listening to a local radio station–I don’t remember which one–and people were calling in giving their thoughts about the accident. I also ‘think’ I remember I had a dream the night before about the shuttle exploding, but I’ve always chalked this up to having an interest in the space program and being very familiar with the risks. In other words, I may have had a similar dream before other launches, but, of course, this one stuck out because it actually happened. Still, it was a bit freaky.

The other night I was watching NBC Nightly News’ coverage of the anniversary, and they rebroadcast Reagan’s “now famous quote”, “They slipped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God.” It annoys me that they and apparently most everyone else attributes this quote to Reagan, when, in fact, he plagarized…I mean, borrowed the first and last lines of a poem called ‘High Flight’ by a World War II pilot named John Gillespie Magee, Jr. He was killed during the war and the poem was included in a letter to his parents. It just seems disrespectful to Magee that everyone seems to give Reagan credit for the line.

It’s a wonderful poem about what it’s like to fly and here’s the original:

HIGH FLIGHT

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, – and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,

I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air ….

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace

Where never lark, or even eagle flew -

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

American Weekly Article

There is an article this week in the American Weekly
–American University’s On-line newspaper–about my office’s work. We’re in the midst of a large enterprise system conversion project. You can read it at:

http://veracity.univpubs.american.edu/050206_staffstories.html

There’s a photo there, too, of me and my coworkers.

Emergency Sex and Hotel Honolulu

Recently read two books. The first was ‘Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell on Earth’by Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait and Andrew Thomson. This is a memoir about three friends who worked with the UN peacekeeping missions in places like Cambodia, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia and Rwanda. The perspective is one you don’t usually read in the newspapers. There is some criticism of the UN and apparently Kofi Annan tried to block the publishing of the book, and Andrew Thomson has lost his job. That just indicates to me that the book is probably close to the truth.

I was a little surprised, especially in the case of Heidi Postlewait, that UN workers are sent into the field with little preparation or appreciation for the culture in which they were working. Maybe details were left out of the book, but Postlewait at times seems clueless.

Thomson’s descriptions of working in Rwanda are compelling, difficult to imagine, and hard to take.

The second book, Paul Theroux’s ‘Hotel Honolulu’ is a novel, which reads like a series of short stories, about various goings on at a second rate hotel in Honolulu. It’s entertaining but sometimes depressing. A lot of cheating and death goes on at this hotel. There’s the guy who works in his room building his own coffin. Another who seemingly has a perfect life, but meets a girl, falls in love, and thus, recognizes what a sham his life had been–he ends up commiting suicide. The characters are very quirky.

Theroux incorporates bits of Hawaiian culture–he has Brudda Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole) visiting the hotel. He also mentions the Outrigger Canoe Club, which I remember from my visit to Hawaii last year.

I recommend this novel especially if you’re planning a trip to Hawaii, but I would read a little about Hawaaian culture and Hawaii first to get the most out of it.

Romaniote Jews

Saw the documentary ‘A Synagogue On Broome Street’ which was playing at the DC JCC as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival. This film was about a small community of Greek Jews known as Romaniotes. Romaniotes are descendants of Jewish slaves bound for Rome after the destruction of the Second Temple who were diverted by a storm to Greece, where they settled and developed their own culture.

The film focuses on the Kehila Kedosha Janina on Broome Street and the Romaniote community in New York City.

The director, Ed Ashkinazi did a nice job. It was pointed out he didn’t interview any women, which did seem kind of odd. I also got the feeling by his responses to questions from the audience that he didn’t do extensive research into Romaniote history.

He asked how many people in the audience had Romaniote ancestry and about a dozen people raised their hands. It made me curious just how large the Romaniote influence might be in the U. S. as a whole.

Wishing Chair

Last night had the pleasure of spending the evening at the home of Henry and Rachel Cross. They held a house concert by the folk-roots duo, Wishing Chair. The duo is made up of Kiya Heartwood and Miriam Davidson and they make their home in Kentucky.

They did two sets with a break for hot cider and brownies. The audience was encouraged to sing along including getting to howl like wolves much to the confusion of the household dog. I’d like to hear their music again paying closer attention to the lyrics. Being a guitar player, I spent most of the time listening to Kiya’s wonderful playing, so missed a lot of the words.

Miriam played accordion, hand drums, banjo and guitar. Kiya mentioned taking violin lessons, so maybe someday we’ll hear her on that instrument.

Secrets of Longevity

Last night attended a lecture at the National Geographic called the ‘Secrets of Longevity’. The presenters were author, Dan Buettner and photographer, David McLain. They talked about their visits to the longevity ‘hot spots’ of Sardinia, Okinawa and Loma Linda, California, trying to find out why people in these places can have such long lives. The specific group in Loma Linda is the Seventh Day Adventists.

Quick summary of the secret of long life: Drink Sardinian wine, eat sweet potatos, get lots of moderate excercise and spend quality time with your family.

Their evidence was admittedly not scientifically rigorous, but that didn’t seem to be what they were out for. I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps the drinking of wine by the Sardinians might counteract the effects of having to spend so much time with one’s family. Maybe with wine and less family they would live to 150?

They said Sardinian wine is the best because it has many times the anti-oxidents of most other wines. Wonder if I can get some around here.