My introduction (and credentials for this subject) can be found here. The story and site haven't been touched in 6 years due to a book I've been writing on the subject, so you'll have to forgive me if the text is desperate or naive. One day I will go back and ameliorate it. One day...
Getting Started
I am grieved by the tragic news this morning. For a second I was back in 10th grade, sitting in Ms. Aller's French class, when my careful effort not to learn anything was interrupted by the muffled announcement emanating from the PA: the Challenger had exploded on takeoff killing everyone on board. Today, as then, I am saddened by the recent loss of life. The nation rightly grieves for seven unique individuals whose days are at an abrupt end, and we are unable to forget the many who are left in the aftermath of each individual's death. I can't help but think also of the roughly 4,000 others who lost their lives today in America, and I wonder who among them were the astronauts of tomorrow. I consider all who this night will begin the uneasy sleep of self-imposed child loss and stunned grief. Who will remember them and be their comfort? I am looking at things from a different vista than the one I knew in 10th grade, and I wonder if the resulting numbness will allow me, ten years from now, to remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news today.
