[A version of this post appeared on Medium on Sunday.] We’re the sort of people who know the value of yes, and — . In fact, in Generation Space, we’ve written about Stephen Colbert’s commencement speech in which he touted that attitude and about the ways astronauts as well as the first nurse to the astronauts espoused that approach. I also wrote about saying yes for Minerva … Continue reading 5 Ways to Say No in 2017
As 2016 wanes and 2017 kicks into gear, it’s a great time for writers to look back at what they’ve accomplished over the past and look ahead to what’s possible in the next year. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Our book Generation Space: A Love Story is finished. In fact, we’re reading final proofs this week. The website is up, … Continue reading Writers (& others), Get Organized for 2017!
Today, Anna is meeting Werner Herzog during his visit to Chapman University. Here are five reasons that space nerds and science buffs should be interested in Herzog. In the documentary Lo and Behold, he told Elon Musk that he’d be happy to go on a one-way trip to Mars. Musk would prefer to offer round-trips. See the story HERE. At the end of Wild Blue Yonder, Herzog says, … Continue reading Werner Herzog
In February, Doug spent a day at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) attending a #NASASocial event dubbed #StateOfNASA. One of the day’s highlights occurred when Dr. Chrisitian Gelzer (Armstrong’s Historian) brought a tiny, shiny box with black keys on its front face into the room. Doug immediately recognized the device as an object from an earlier age: an Apollo Guidance Computer. Here’s what we learned … Continue reading Apollo Guidance Computer (#StateOfNASA | #NASASocial
Longtime readers of Lofty Ambitions know what tremendous fans we are of the seemingly random connections of things that push their way into our lives to give us delight in the form of serendipity Over the weekend, we were co-editing a piece of writing that mentioned our parents’ exposure to duck-and-cover drills as schoolchildren. This prompted a question of when that famous film that featured … Continue reading Countdown to The Cold War (sort of, with serendipity)
This coming Saturday marks St. Patrick’s Day, a cultural and religious holiday and general celebration of Ireland with which we grew up. In fact, more than 34 million (some say 41 million) Americans claim Irish heritage, which is roughly nine times the population of Ireland and, somehow, reason enough itself for a party. What better way for Lofty Ambitions to celebrate this week than to … Continue reading Irish Scientists
Today’s guest blogger is Bryson Thill, a computer science major at Chapman University who recently interned at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. We lived in Maryland for three years and occasionally visited Goddard, several times for their model rocket days when kids and adults gathered for dozens of little launches. Because we’re educators, we’re especially proud to share Bryson’s story, and we think his … Continue reading Guest Blog: Bryson Thill
Recently, we wrote about the relationship between our collaborative writing projects (writing together) and our individual writing projects (writing apart) as well as what happens when we have written together while being physically apart. You can read “Writing Together, Writing Apart” HERE. We’re learning some lessons as we make our way into our second year of blogging, lessons that apply to the other big projects we … Continue reading Writing Apart, Writing Together
Last week, we wrote about our visit to the Los Alamos Historical Society Museum. This week, fires have been threatening Los Alamos. Its 12,000 residents have evacuated, and the federal laboratory is closed, with only essential employees still working in the fire zone. But the Historical Society says all the artifacts we wrote about last week are safe. The Environmental Protection Agency is measuring radioactivity … Continue reading In the Footsteps (Part 4)
This week, we welcome Patricia Dillon Soczak to Lofty Ambitions for a new twist. Pattie is the Director of Development for the College of Educational Studies at Chapman University, where we work too. But we asked her to write for us because she’s currently a student at Fielding Graduate University in Southern California where she is earning her Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems. Her area … Continue reading Guest Blog: Patricia Sobczak
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