wonder what Feat you will be impacted by?
I was wearing a baseball cap with NASA on it, which matched the T-shirt of the young man checking us out at Costco. We naturally struck up a conversation, not that I ever need an excuse 😉 I started talking about my work on the Shuttle program, and he was amazed to talk with someone who had worked on it. My son had suggested recently I watch the new Netflix special series on the Challenger Disaster… which I thought was just a little raw. I worked on that mission, watching it explode – live. But with his and others’ encouragement, I have at least started it. The first one is all about the backstories of the astronauts… which makes it even more real…
… and funny. They started with the story of Ellison Onizuka, the first Japanese American in space. He was “just” a staff engineer at Edwards Air Force base, a “normal American kid” as an active member of FFA, an Eagle Scout when they started recruiting for the next class of Astronauts… and he was selected in the 1978 class. During training for the Challenger mission, he was at a party at Dick Covey’s house. They had smuggled oysters back in their T-38 Jet from Florida, and he was shucking them when a guest asked him “Did Mrs. Covey hire you?” Without missing a beat, he said “I am her Houseboy”. The person later asked where they found such a nice young man to work the party, Covey said “.. the astronaut office…”
Who should you wonder about?
Can you imagine being called one of the finest American piano rock and blues musicians… by most other rock pianists, including Sir Elton? That is Bill Payne, another of the key founding members of Little Feat. He cold-called Frank’s label as a college student at UC Santa Barbara and eventually found out that as a Keyboard player, it was unlikely he was needed in one of Zappa’s band, but this guy Lowell was forming a band. He loved jazz, but Lowell didn’t want to blend that in. Eventually, he and Paul got together and could “do what they wanted to do”. Today’s cut is one of their masterpieces – a combination of jazz, funk, rock, and … well just listen. For wonder I thought it was perfect… and with no words, you have to imagine what it is about … other than pure genius.
And the story of Ron McNair, the African American who had his PhD from MIT in Physics. Growing up in the south, he was in a segregated school system, and he knew he was not learning what he would need. He went to the library to borrow better books – which he couldn’t…. and the police were called… along with his mother. I can only imagine who had a harder conversation with him, but he prevailed.. and that library is now named for him. And I didn’t know this – he was an accomplished jazz saxophone player (tech people are typically musicians…) and had developed a piece that he was going to play the solo of … on orbit when he arrived on this mission… to be the only piece of music recorded in space. That was cut short by bad leadership… something I am not ready to write about yet…
Feat or Feet – wonder or wander…
All of the Astronauts’ Feet traveled paths that few others would understand…. and prevailed to accomplish Feats that most of us can only wonder about. For me, making them more real, more human, has made dealing with the tragedy…. easier. They would hate to be called victims… in fact, at least these 2 would love to be just noticed for being “American”. This week, wonder about your path… and not the easy places, but the harder places – the things you had to work through, over, around. We are told over and over that some of us have it easy, and privledged… I don’t think that is true. Americans wonder, try, fall down, and... we get up and try again… every day… to make it better for all of us. Listen to this masterpiece as encouragement … as Bill would twist the words again to get ready for our own… Dog Day At the Races.
