"Copy, Moon Joy"
I can't stop thinking about space
During the first week of April, I cried about space on 4 separate occassions. I have to specify, by “occassions” I more accurately mean “days”, because each “occassion” I cried more than once.
Afterall, it was Ray Bradbury’s epigraph in his 1950 short story collection The Martian Chronicles that states,
“It is good to renew one’s wonder,” said the philosopher. “Space travel has again made children of us all.”
Artemis II
Of course, I’m largely referring to the Artemis II successful launch, orbit, and return. The magic of witnessing a historical event in real-time that didn’t end in some sort of catastrophe. The infectious (moon) joy of the astronauts seeing with their own eyes parts of the moon that had never been seen by humans before. The teary-eyed ask to mission control to name a bright spot on the moon after the astronauts’ late wife, Carroll. The pilot’s ode to the earth as our oasis. And the monologue that came after 40 minutes of silence that ended with the lines, “We will always choose Earth. We will always choose eachother”, met with the response, “Integrity from Earth, our single system, fragile and interconnected, we copy. Those of us that can are looking back.”
All of which made me cry. And all of which made me cry again as I prepared this letter for you. How lucky it feels to have seen this trip around the moon. How special to participate in absolutely infectious wonder. What a valuable lesson in the magic of the simple act of witnessing.
Project Hail Mary
Like everyone else on the internet, I watched Project Hail Mary. And like everyone else on the internet, I cried while doing it. I found it to be immensely charming, with earnest performances all around, but by Ryan Gosling in particular, and surprisingly funny. An overwhelmingly hopeful story of one public school science teacher and his alien pal’s quest to save their respective planets against all odds.
For fear of spoilers, I won’t detail all the scenes that made me cry, but I will say I felt wonder and hope and a renewed faith in humanity, even if just for 156 minutes. There’s nothing like collective crying in the movie theater. Sometimes participating in the hype is worth it.
The Wayfarer Series
I’ve been slowly making my way through Becky Chambers’ Sci-Fi quartet, The Wayfarer Series. I read book 1, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, summer of 2024, and it instantly became one of my favorite books of all time. While every book had moments that made me cry (from softness, hope, loss, kindness, grief, and the depths of humanity) finishing the series made me cry too.
These books, full of real stakes while also managing to feel like a warm hug, provided the perfect temporary escape from reality. I will desperately miss living aboard these ships, fleets, and planets. What a gift it is to imagine better worlds.
Doctor Who
For nearly a year and a half, I’ve been (re)watching Doctor Who (2005-2022) with my long distance bestie who has never seen it before. While she’s not generally a scifi girlie, and on the whole space freaks her out, I knew these stories full of hope and heartbreak and friendship and love would win her over.
If you’re familiar with the series, then you know lots of tears have been shed together over Facetime as we’ve been watching together. But during the first week of April, I had the distinct pleasure of crying side-by-side as we watched more adventures across time and space from her living room.
It’s likely a tale as old as time — when things feel particularly bad here on Earth, we’ve probably always looked up at the stars for hope and guidance, and maybe a little bit of grounding too. So, this month, I looked up at the stars, between the pages at rag-tag crews, on screen at a time traveler who can’t stop falling in love with humanity, and a science teacher who is brave in the face of despair. And I found solace there.
(Other) Reading
I’m delighted any time a new piece by Liz Cook over at Haterade appears in my inbox, and her latest article, The Cinnamon Gum Olympics, did not disappoint.
(Other) Watching
While I’m slowly falling behind on my goal to watch more movies this year, I did recently watch the new Brendan Fraser film, Rental Family, and not only was his doe-eyed, heart-on-his-sleeve acting stellar in this, but this story provides so much to think about regarding connection, family, and humanity.
Mixed Media
One of my favorite listens this month was ICYMI’s episode, Wikipedia is The Most Human Place on the Internet
Kacey Musgraves released a new single, Middle of Nowhere, that I’ve been playing on repeat.
April MVP
Indie Bookstores!! Yesterday was Indie bookstore day, and I got to make lots of stops at indie bookstores this month when I was in the midwest visiting friends! All the stores I visited this month are linked below:
Birchbark Books (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Comma, a bookshop (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Wild Rumpus Books (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Cherry Street Books (Alexandria, Minnesota)
Pearl Street Books (La Crosse, Wisconsin)
Auburn Oil Co. Booksellers (Auburn, Alabama)
Columbus Bound Bookshop (Columbus, Georgia)
Just added you on Letterboxd!! <3