Before The Force Awakens

Before The Force Awakens, a 9 year-old girl watched A New Hope...and had her entire life change in two short hours.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl rewatched that rented library VHS every day of the week. Then she begged for the next two, and repeated the process with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi before her parents caved and just bought her the full set.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who wanted to be Han Solo. She took an old black vest and masking-taped a cut-out pocket inside of it, as her secret smuggler's pouch.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who threw all "age appropriate" books out the window and read nothing but Star Wars novels from age 9 on out.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who built a life size version of the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon out of tinker toys in her basement.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who spent as much time as possible with friends who grew to love Star Wars just as much as she did. Action figures and computer games (with joysticks for the ultimate X-wing experience) were staples for years of "hangout time" to come.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who had every Star Wars encyclopedia and guide book memorized to the tiniest detail.

These 1st two photos are care of SWBFF Carolyn Nishon.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who unknowingly wrote her first piece of (alas, uncompleted) fanfiction. (Crossover fanfiction, I might add, entitled Jurassic Jedi. The Falcon goes through a wormhole and crashes straight into Isla Nublar.)

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who subscribed to the Star Wars Insider--a monthly (and later, bimonthly) magazine for fans. She especially loved Anthony Daniels' hilarious column, and sometimes would allow herself to skip ahead just to read it. Of course, she would go back to read the rest of the magazine multiple times over to make up for it.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who gave herself a Star Wars name and invented an entire alien species, language, and culture to match. (Katla Srivon, Kalokian X-Wing Squad pilot, at your service.)

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl following every shred of news she could find--pre-internet!--about The Phantom Menace. Who got spoiled about Qui-Gon's death because she bought the CD before the movie hit (a track is literally called "Qui-Gon's Funeral"). Who then saw the film 9 times in theaters, and was puzzled why everyone at school started to treat it like it was a joke.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who tried to remain loyal as a fan while everything she loved got mocked around her.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who clung to her Star Wars novels as a place to hide away from the bitterness that slowly began surrounding her obsession.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who stood fast and went to the midnight show of Attack of the Clones. And cheered loudly with the entire audience when Yoda drew his lightsaber.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who entered what she thought would be her last "new" Star Wars viewing ever at a midnight in 2005. Dressed as a Jedi, two stormtroopers in the theater immediately "attacked" upon her entry, and she got to pretend to battle their blasts off with her lightsaber. Her 9 year-old self would have passed out in excitement to learn where she was and what she was doing a decade after her obsession began.

Before The Force Awakens, there was a girl who loved Star Wars. Who lived it, breathed it, to such an extreme level she was convinced somehow it had to be real. It just had to be. Somehow. Please. Please.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl became an adult.

Star Wars became a thing of the past to her. Her old self. The child she once was and often misses being. The fantasy world she lived in to cope with adolescence.

Ruby.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl decided to write her own stories to reach kids at that magical age Star Wars reached her. Maybe even about space. And robots.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl learned there would be new Star Wars movies. OH MY GOSH YAY!!! ...And then she learned that these movies would destroy the entire canon knowledge she had memorized in her bones from the books beyond Return of the Jedi.

...Her childhood gone. Like Alderaan. In one horrific moment.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl felt crushed that they would do this to her. That they would take away something she cherished so deeply. That they would pull this on their fans! The ones who had stayed by them, even through the roughest of times!!! It wasn't fair!

Before The Force Awakens, that girl had to come to terms with a lot of things. That the world didn't know Star Wars like she did, save for a select few who weren't anywhere near making up a majority of movie-goers. That her childhood might be over, but that wasn't a bad thing. That she was now in a position to create stories of her own for new generations. That her 9 year-old self would, once again, pass out in excitement to see where she was, and what she was doing.

Before The Force Awakens, that girl had to remind herself that in order to be excited about the future, a person can't cling to the past. That it was finally time to grow up...

...And give herself the chance to be a kid again.

------------------------------------

This Thursday, I'll be sitting in a theater full of fans, music blasting me to a galaxy far, far away.

And finally, I'm happy to report, I am very, very excited about it.

After all, you never know how 2 hours can change your entire life.

We Have Lift Off! (My Journey to my Debut Book Deal)

Writing is a lot like a mission to outer space.

You have this idea--this amazing idea!--but it's never going to launch if you don't put in the work to make it happen. So you buckle down. You design, plan, craft, and redesign all over again. You think you almost have it--but then one part fails, and you're back to the drawing board.

NASA's InSight Mars lander getting prepped for 2016.

You think about giving up. But for some reason...you just can't. So you grit your teeth and keep going.

And then finally, after years of sweat and tears, you have a completed project, ready for lift off! Yes! You did it! It's beautiful!

But having a spacecraft ready to go isn't enough on its own. You can't just launch on the day you finish building. You need to wait until the object you're aiming for is in position. Sometimes that means waiting for months, sometimes years. And when the right day finally comes...when you're so nervous you could burst...when you keep asking yourself, will this work, or will it explode? ...well, if there's bad weather, no matter how ready you are and how badly you just want to see what happens, the mission is put on hold.

Sorry. No fault of yours. That's just the way things go.

"Be patient," people will say. "Maybe today wasn't your day, but your mission is a great one, and some day it will lift off!"

But on the next try, there's a storm. The next one, a piece of launch equipment catches and you have to abort. The next, someone sneezed at the button, and you missed your window.

No matter how amazing your spacecraft is, no matter how hard you've worked, you're at the mercy of forces external to you. And no matter how hard you try to internalize that, it always feels like it's somehow a reflection on you and the mission you designed.

Maybe your mission was never meant to launch.

Maybe you should call it a day. Call it a learning experience. Move on.

And then...just when you're about to pack it in...it happens.

The perfect day.

MAVEN lifting off!

Your mission...it's GO. You have lift off!

---

I'm thrilled to say that after years of hard work--not just from myself, but from my critique partners and my agent, too--my debut novel, DESTINED FOR MARS, has lifted off.

AHHH!!!!!!!!!

It's heading out into the amazing world of Harper Children's, for publication in Summer 2017. It's on its way! Landing at bookstores near you in just a couple quick years! And I am still in complete and utter shock.

DESTINED FOR MARS (possibly getting renamed, by the way), is a story about 13-year-old Miranda, a robotics whiz who is chosen to represent the United States in a decade-long Mars training mission. Right from the start things begin to go terribly wrong, however, and soon it's clear that Miranda is fighting not only for her future—but for her life, and that of many other people's as well.

This book was first conceived of in 2012. At that time, I was querying agents with a manuscript that I'd first drafted in 2009, and writing a shiny new manuscript that my crit group loved (DW, for those in the know). I thought they were going to murder me when I told them I was setting aside my Work-In-Progress in order to write this space book that I'd literally just invented in my head days earlier. But I couldn't help myself. This story had to get out of my head and into a Word document.

I eventually fell so much in love with it that I not only set aside DW, but also shelved the manuscript I had been querying. I realized if I was to debut as an author, I wanted my debut to be my brand new space idea. Besides, I'd gotten two years' worth of rejections from agents on my first polished manuscript, and had to swallow my pride and concede that story just wasn't going to get me anywhere. My hopes now were with a young engineer named Miranda, and her trusty robot, Ruby.

Doodled Ruby at Saturday dinner, NESCBWI '13.

In fall of 2013, DESTINED FOR MARS was in its third draft, and ready to show off. I dove back into querying. I got a partial request right off the bat. Then another agent asked for a full. The response was so drastically different than my previous querying experience, that I scarcely believed any of it was happening.

By December, I had three separate agent offers. And before Christmas, I'd signed with Joan. She just got what MARS was about. It was a perfect match.

For those of you doing the mental math, however, you may have noticed that I signed with Joan over a year and a half ago. So despite the (honestly, intimidating!) immediate onslaught of agent interest in MARS, I can't say that's how my experience on submission with editors went.

Once Joan and I revised and went on sub for the first time, I braced myself for the inevitable rejections. I was used to them, thanks to my earlier attempts at querying agents. Rejections are always rough, but as it turned out, the editor rejections didn't hurt me as much as they confused me. They were often contradictory to one another. I had trouble figuring out what to do with them.

Eventually, Joan and I pulled MARS off submission for a while and did a revision, based on what few common threads we could pick out from the rejections. Among the changes, I deleted a character and added in a new one, hoping things would ring more true. But when we went back out the door with it, the rejections just confused me even more, because on the whole, editors liked it. I had an inbox filling up with lovely notes, but no offers. WHAT DID THEY WANT?

Joan insisted that it was just a matter of time. That we'd find the perfect home for Miranda and Ruby. That maybe one of the editors who hadn't gotten to it yet would be the right match.

I, however, had moved on. Just like with querying, I'd accepted that my first foray into the Bigger Publishing World just wasn't going to go anywhere, and it was time to try something else. I threw myself into a different project (DW, the WIP from 2012 that my crit group had loved so much). I figured my first manuscript taught me how to be a professional writer, MARS was the manuscript that got me an agent, and that my newest manuscript would be what finally landed me a book deal.

And I was so close to having the new manuscript submission-ready. Potentially just weeks away!

Then I came down with pneumonia.

On July 9th, 2015, I sat in the ER, fever spiking towards 104, wondering what in the world had hit me. I spent the next 7 days with fevers over 103, coughing so hard I eventually fractured a rib.

I was less than a month out from turning 30. I claimed 30 was no big deal, but I'd always had the secret ambition to have a book deal by 30. Having lost hope of that, I'd at least hoped to have my newest manuscript submission-ready by 30.

But it seemed it wasn't meant to be. I couldn't get out of bed, much less type. It took two weeks to recover enough to shuffle down my hall, crack open my laptop, and look at my manuscript with whatever energy I could muster. I was at the lowest of lows. My body had failed me, and my goals were just out of my reach, taunting me.

...However, I don't think it was lost on the Writing Gods that the first thing I tried to do with myself after pneumonia was work on writing. Because less than a week later, I had a two-book offer from Erica Sussman at Harper Collins. 

---

Joan called me from Barcelona on July 25th. She was on vacation, not using her cell phone, and I'd missed her original calls because I didn't recognize the number. We finally connected around 5pm, she told me the news, and given the amount of medications I was hopped up on, at first I honestly did not believe it was happening.

All I said for the first couple minutes was a steady string of, "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD." I was so jittery, so excited, I ended up in a giant coughing fit but could NOT STOP GRINNING. 

I. HAD. A. BOOK. DEAL. AHHHH!!!!!

I called my parents. Told a couple critique partners. And then couldn't say a word to anyone else until things were made public. It was simultaneously the best news of my entire life, and the hardest secret I've ever had to keep.

My b-day dinner with author friends, Lauren, Tara, and Annie!

Once Joan returned to the States, she emailed me the offer details. A couple days later, we officially accepted the offer. And a week later, on my 30th birthday (and Curiosity's 3 year anniversary on Mars!), the deal became public knowledge, and I was finally allowed to tell everyone. 

Best. Birthday. Ever.

I've only now calmed down enough to write up this story for my blog. I hope it gives hope to anyone who's struggling in their own writing journey. Sometimes obstacles are there for a reason. Sometimes, as cliché as it sounds, it really is darkest before the dawn. And most of the time, being successful in this business just requires a ridiculous amount of patience and resilience.

Stick to it. It will happen if you don't give up.

---

I'm so utterly grateful to everyone who has helped make this dream a reality. My family and friends for their constant encouragement. All members of my crit group, past and present, for building me into the writer I am today. My teachers who saw a science nerd's passion for creative writing, and encouraged me to write more. SCBWI, for the amazing community and services they provide. My agent, Joan Paquette, for being the True Champion of this manuscript. And to my editor, Erica Sussman, who I am so excited to start working with. (Seriously, Erica, you have no idea!)


Thank you all.

And buckle up, everyone! Because this ride has just begun!

Happy Pi Day!

Today, 3/14/15, at 9:26:53, we will have ULTIMATE PI DAY.

I couldn't let this past without acknowledgment! Happy Pi Day, everyone!

The Legend of Iguanodon

As a little girl, I watched a particular TV special about dinosaurs that I loved so much, my parents had to tape it for me so I could watch it on repeat. I wore that tape out watching it over and over, and today, I can't even recall the name of it.

I probably stopped watching it around late elementary school. As an adult, not only have I forgotten its name, I can barely remember what even happened in it--except for one thing.

Some of the teeth Mary may have found.

There was a reenactment of a woman named Mary Mantell finding the first dinosaur.

Mary was the wife of a scientist. She was walking down a road one day on one of the many trips her husband took, and picked up a strange looking rock that turned out to be the teeth of Iguanodon. And it's only this scene that I can still picture clear as day out of the multi-hour special that I watched on repeat for years of my life.

Why that one scene?

In hindsight, it's obvious. Mary was a woman.

In every TV dinosaur special I watched as a kid--this one and otherwise--all the experts and interviewees were men. Always. It's just how it was at that time. I've written before about how seeing men in the leading roles in fiction skewed my life towards hating my own gender, but there was also the matter of seeing men in the roles of reality. The profession I wanted to be didn't seem to have anyone in it that looked like me. And so I held on ferociously tight to this one image.

I remember reenacting Mary's scene as a child. I'd walk down the driveway, pick something up (a rock or a woodchip), and dash off with it to my imaginary male counterpart who would proclaim what a wonderful discovery I'd made.

Later in life, I discovered the legend of how the first iguanodont teeth were found may just be a myth. Mary's husband, Gideon Mantell (a name, by the way, my young mind did NOT lock and load, since I just had to look it up), later on explained that Mary didn't really accompany him on his trips out, and that he was the one to find the teeth.

There's debate about what really happened. But I've realized that I don't care, because at the most impressionable time of my youth, I got to see someone of my own gender be the first to discover dinosaurs. Even if none of the scientists were women, I could subconsciously cling to that one image of the awesome lady who'd discovered my favorite thing on the planet.

The point of this blog post isn't that we need to fact check which Mantell really found those teeth, but rather that a single image of one woman made it possible for a young girl to see herself in what was otherwise a TOTALLY male-dominated profession.

This is exactly why representation matters. People of different genders, races, religions, sexualities, EVERYTHING, should be shown to young children doing all sorts of things. Let kids see folks that look like them doing the type of work they're passionate about. You never know who is watching, and who will be inspired.

Paleontology Dr. Ellen Curano recently wrote a wonderful article about this very topic and the challenges women face in the field of paleontology. I can't recommend reading it enough. Dr. Curano is a blogger who highlights women in geosciences, precisely for the above explained reasons. Check out her site! And check out the Bearded Lady Project she runs, while you're at it.

As far as Mary Mantell goes...I'm certain that regardless of whether she was the first to pick up those dinosaur teeth, she contributed to her husband's work in ways that history has long forgotten. So in honor of International Women's Day, I honor Mary. Thank you for your curiosity, and your inspiration.

Spring Catch-Up: THE CHANCE YOU WON'T RETURN

Hey there, Blog. It's been a while.

I was stuck in a revision cave for the better part of spring, but I'm out now and playing catch-up with all the stuff I missed! So get ready for a series of posts covering all the things that I'd wanted to blog about, but didn't get a chance to do until now.

Let's start with the most exciting one...

ANNIE'S LAUNCH PARTY!

That's right! My good friend and critique partner had her YA debut in April!

THE CHANCE YOU WON'T RETURN by Annie Cardi is a contemporary YA novel that's gotten absolutely glowing reviews (including multiple starred reviews!).

It tells the story of Alex--a girl who should really just be worrying about failing driver's ed and figuring out the guy she may or may not be flirting with (who may or may not be falling for her), but instead has to deal with a frustrating family secret. Out of nowhere, Alex's mom has decided she's actually Amelia Earhart, and that Alex is no longer her daughter, but a young female protégé of the 1930's.

Intrigued? Then you might be like one of the completely PACKED launch party-goers from last April. Probably good you weren't at Porter Square Books in Cambridge that night, though, because they sold out! Good news is you can find copies at many different places now, likely including your local bookstore!

When asked how she's able to write a teen voice so realistically, Annie admits that's just what the inside of her head sounds like...and that she was surprised to learn that's not what the inside of everyone's head sounds like.

Annie is the best. She's basically one of the coolest people you could ever know. Her writing is witty, heartfelt, so very real, and brings you right into the experiences of her characters. Annie's an author you'll want to keep tabs on, because she's definitely going places. And if you aren't following her on Twitter, then I don't know what you're doing with your life.

So proud!!!

AGENT

Blogging has been slow the past couple of weeks, because some big stuff has been happening in my writing life. I'm not going to be coy and dance around this, so here goes...

I am thrilled to announce that I am now officially represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency!

Relevant gif is relevant, for many, many reasons.

It's happened! I have a literary agent, and I couldn't be more excited about it. Joan is fabulous. I know she's going to do a fantastic job representing me and my manuscript in the big scary world of children's book publishing.

For those that don't know what exactly all this means, you can think of this as the first professional step on the road to becoming published. Nowadays, it is extremely difficult to be a published author if you don't have an agent (unless you self-publish). An agent is the link between authors and publishing houses. Now that I have one, I get to move onto the next phase of my career--submitting to publishers to see if anyone wants to take on my book!

I will likely do a longer post in the future detailing how I "got my agent", because that story really deserves its own post. What I will say now, is that I had three agents read my full manuscript, and got offers from all three of them.

It was simultaneously awesome and terrifying. As you might imagine, choosing amongst them was not easy. But in the end, I went with Joan, because I felt like she was the best fit for where I wanted to take my writing career. She's extremely easy to get along with, she has an incredible success rate in the business, and she is a sci-fi author herself. Plus, she connected with my book in such a positive way, that I knew she would strive to see it succeed. Joan was the full package, and I'm still flabbergasted that she saw enough of something in my writing to offer representation.

I feel so lucky and honored to be joining the EMLA family, and can't wait to get to know everyone associated with them. If anyone is reading this and wants to follow me on twitter, my twitter handle is "@paleopaws". I will follow you back! I'm cool like that, I swear.

So that's my big news! Heading into 2014, I'll be an agented writer, getting ready to tackle editor submissions. Thank you so much to everyone who's supported me during all of this. To my friends, family, and critique partners for believing in me and in this manuscript. You were right. Apparently it was an awesome story. Next step: make it even more awesome.

Okay, 2014. Publishing houses. Editors. Let's do this.

Live on the East Coast? Watch a Moon Mission Launch this Friday!

This Friday, at 11:27 pm EST, the Minotaur V rocket will launch from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It's going to take NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) to space, so that it can orbit the moon and collect cool new information about our big rocky neighbor.

Image credit: NASA Ames/ Zion Young

If it does indeed launch this Friday (depends on the weather), the following will happen:

1. It'll get into orbit around the moon on October 5th.
2. It'll mark another first in privatizing rocket science--this launch is done with the Minotaur rocket from Oribital sciences.
3. It'll be VISIBLE to people living on the East Coast of the U.S.!

If you're anything like me and would love to see this happen from your backyard, here's how:

Listen into NASA TV to make sure the launch really is GO this Friday. If it is, make sure you're outside by 11:25 pm. Find a seat that will give you a clear view of the sky in the direction of Virginia (which will be dependent on where you live). Take a look at the map below to figure out how high in the sky to look (reminder, 10 degrees is about the size of a closed fist held extended out from your body). 

Finally, sit back and enjoy! Orbital has some great information on the various stages of launch you might see (aka, when things fall off the rocket!): find more information here.

Best of luck! And don't be late! The viewing window will only last a couple minutes. Rockets go fast.

Happy Anniversary, Curiosity!

It's been one year since the eyes of Earth were glued on Mars, waiting for Curiosity to touch down. At 1:31am, August 6th, EST, the rover landed. And a handful of minutes later, the signal traveling through space from Mars reached Earth, and we all learned she was safe.

It was the best birthday present ever (my birthday is the 6th!). And knowing that a year later she's still going strong, makes for yet another amazing birthday present.

For as long as I'll live, I will never forget the exhilarating feeling upon learning Curiosity had touched down. I was watching the livestream of JPL, as much of the world was, and actually burst into tears as we learned "we're safe on Mars!". I screamed, jumped up and down, rocked back and forth, and pretty much terrified my cat, but wow was that a moment to experience.

Curiosity has already taught us so much. Our perspective of Mars is changing rapidly, thanks to this rover and the team of scientists who analyze the data she sends our way. For a long time, water on Mars was a contested issue--we knew there had been some, but was it common? How much was there? Could it actually have supported life? Curiosity has already shown us that water existed once in great quantities. It flowed in rivers like we have on Earth. And most importantly, this water contained the right stuff for life. And all this we've learned in less than a year. Wow.

This is easily the most memorable moment in space exploration of my entire 28 years of life. It's brought me to tears on more than one occasion, and I just love that Curiosity is paving the way for even cooler Mars missions in the future.

Happy Anniversary, Curiosity. Roll on, girl! Roll on!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

GOLDEN BOY

Tomorrow, Tara Sullivan's debut novel GOLDEN BOY hits stores.

I've been a fan of it ever since I joined Tara's writing group in 2010. Back then, GOLDEN BOY was just a partial first draft, and my first contribution to the project was messing with one of Tara's beautiful metaphors by pointing out that howler monkeys don't live in Africa. Sorry, Tara.

The project's obviously come a long way since then. In honor of Tara's exciting debut, I was going to do some science-y tie-in about one of the book's plot elements, such as albinism, poaching, or genetics. But as I sat down to start my blog post, I found I couldn't do it. It just felt too kitschy. And GOLDEN BOY deserved better.

Here's what readers of this blog really need to know about this debut novel:

GOLDEN BOY is a beautifully written tale of self worth and true bravery. GOLDEN BOY doesn't shy away from the horrors of its real-life inspiration (namely, albino-hunting in Tanzania), but never does it feel too gruesome to read (the violence is kept below the PG-13 level). GOLDEN BOY takes what could have been a lecture on human rights, and instead does what every human rights story should do--it makes its hero a person, instead of a symbol.

And that's really what GOLDEN BOY is all about. Finding the person beneath the stigma. Habo is a real person. At least he is to me, and he will be to you, if you give this book a chance.

I had the honor of getting to know Habo as he grew. It all started in Porter Square Books in September, 2010. From there, I spent months, then years, working with Tara and Habo alike, participating in and cheering on the development of this amazing book (which is already getting starred reviews). Tomorrow night, I'll be back in Porter Square Books, wearing my GOLDEN BOY t-shirt and celebrating with Tara at her launch party. It comes full circle, and I can't stop smiling about that.

If you're in the Boston area, the party starts at 7pm. If you can't make it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of GOLDEN BOY anyway. Trust me, you want to read this book.

I'm so excited for this debut, and so incredibly proud of Tara and her journey to publication. This is just the beginning for this impressively talented young author, and I look forward to many more Tara Sullivan launch parties down the road.

Congratulations, Tara. You've earned this!

Easter Platypus?

With Easter tomorrow, there are images of bunnies and eggs pretty much everywhere you look right now. And while many of these images are adorable beyond words...they make zero sense scientifically.

As a fan of adorableness and a fan of science, this has me torn. So I thought, for Easter, why not do a blog post with adorable pictures AND actual science? Best of both worlds!

Now, I'm sure everyone has some familiarity with why rabbits and eggs are used as Easter symbols. Springtime, fertility, yadda yadda yadda...I'm not going to rehash the quirks of Christian holidays and symbolism here. Instead, let's talk about the biology of these fuzzy, floppy-eared lagomorphs, and the dinosaur eggs we love to artificially dye and shove in pictures with them!

Now, rabbits do actually have eggs. Just like we do. But their eggs, like ours, aren't exactly large and don't have shells that we can dye fancy colors. They're kept internally, waiting for the male equivalent to come along.

What we usually think of as an egg is actually an unfertilized chicken egg, laid by a hen in a controlled environment. Or maybe you're more of a naturalist, and the first thing that comes to mind is a nest full of blue robin eggs. Regardless, I'm guessing when you hear the word "egg", you think of a bird egg. And that's fine! Bird eggs are eggs, after all. However, sometimes it can be fun to remember that eggs come in many shapes and sizes.

Fish and amphibians lay eggs that are squishy, like jelly, to allow water to seep in and out. Reptiles have a shell on their eggs. It's usually soft, but it serves its purpose--it allows for nutrients and water to be held inside the egg without getting out, and keeps the egg from needing to be laid in water. Dinosaurs have hard shell eggs, which allows for greater protection (especially when you consider the sheer size of some of the dinosaurs that would've been sitting on their nest!). Birds, which are dinosaurs themselves, have this type of egg as well. And it is this type of egg we associate with Easter.

Rabbits, on the other hand, are lagomorphs--a special type of mammal that generally is herbivorous and has four ever-growing incisors. They're well nestled in the family tree of placental mammals, making their eggs completely internal, as mentioned before. Definitely not what we think of when with think of the Easter Bunny and its basket of eggs. However, there are mammals that do actually lay eggs! Namely, the platypus and the echidna.

So what about the eggs of those odd mammals? Well, unfortunately for Easter egg hunt enthusiasts, platypus and echidna eggs most closely resemble soft-shelled reptile eggs rather than hard-shelled dinosaur eggs we generally stick with our rabbits for Easter pictures. Not exactly things we could dye and hide safely.

So what does this all mean?

It means that our Easter symbolism is a little wonky. The eggs we use with our rabbits are actually from an entirely different group of animals. If you wanted to get more accurate, you could use actual rabbit eggs, but they would be impossible to find on an Easter egg hunt, since they'd be microscopic. If you didn't care that it was specifically a rabbit ringing in the holiday, and just wanted a fluffy creature with large enough eggs to see, you could use an echidna or a platypus as the symbol instead. However, their eggs aren't hard-shelled and wouldn't dye as easy. Not to mention those animals live in Australia, where the seasons are opposite ours and therefore this "Spring" ritual would be entirely in the wrong time of year.

Moral of the story: Easter symbolism doesn't make a lot of scientific sense, and there's no easy way to make it more logical. But shh! I won't tell if you enjoy your adorable bunny pictures and have a Happy Easter anyway!

Boston Blizzard!

 
So I decided to post my running commentary of the past two days from Facebook and Twitter here on my blog, including relevant pictures. It might not be the most "science-y" of posts, but it does tell a fun story of one girl, a blizzard, and only a computer as means of social contact. Also, the tragedy of THUNDERSNOW.


From 2/8/13:

The media is treating this THUNDERSNOW event as COMPLETELY EPIC, and I'm more than happy to keep up the dramatics for them. As such...

Boston Blizzard check-in #1:

7am. Woke up. All is quiet. Not a flurry in sight.

7:20 am. Opened blinds. Noticed some poor soul forgot to move his car for the Somerville parking ban. Orange ticket sighted.

7:30 am. Really getting intensely weirded out by the silence. Gov. Patrick ordered all traffic off road by noon, but it seems most of us have already hunkered down in wait. Usual morning honking, car-sputtering, and engines roaring (as cars inevitably decide to use my sidestreet as a shortcut) is all...quiet.

7:31 am. One car noise, just as I typed the above! And...it's a plow. Moving into tactical position, I'm sure.

...More updates to come.


Boston Blizzard check-in #2:

9am. Normal rush hour traffic is nonexistent. It's usually a parking lot around here at 9, but today it's empty.

9:35am. First flurries falling.

9:55am. Flurries switching over to real snowfall. Beginning to accumulate on the ground. Here we go!

9:57am. No sign of THUNDERSNOW yet. But we can hope.



Boston Blizzard check-in #3:

11:30 am. Nice solid dusting of snow over everything.

11:40 am. Electric company called to tell me they're going to "try their best". They did this for Sandy, too. Nice of them, but still an awkward recorded phone call.

11:45 am. Decided to tackle the dishes in the sink. Made it more exciting by imagining the water going out later and this being my last chance to assure myself clean dishes for the weekend.

11:50 am. Thrill of emergency-dish-washing has passed. Weather Channel running out of things to talk about.

11:56 am. Snow is getting heavier and is now blowing in fun new directions such as "sideways" and "up".

11:58 am. Sirens outside as cops patrol the neighborhood, urging drivers and pedestrians to get off the streets.

11:59 am. Still no THUNDERSNOW. I'm patient, though.


Boston Blizzard check-in #4:

12:45 pm. Gov. Patrick BANS all road travel beginning at 4pm. Let's see how well that actually works.

1:10 pm. My view of the Boston skyline is completely blocked by snow. Is the city still there? I'm assuming so, because I just watched Fisher broadcast from the Common on TWC. Though, I suppose that doesn't mean the buildings haven't disappeared...hmmm...

1:25 pm. Winds starting to plaster snow to the sides of buildings. They say 2pm is when things are going to get heavy, but I think some of the heavy snow is sneaking in early. (THUNDERSNOW still holding out.)

1:37 pm. Blaring cop sirens. Car parked on the banned side of the street just outside. Frazzled looking dude had to run out and move his vehicle, or face the wrath of Somerville's finest.


Boston Blizzard check-in #5:

3:05 pm. First plowing of our street!

3:40 pm. Definitely a good inch or more on the ground now. Weird to think it's going to be way more in less than 12 hours. Snow is in eensy tiny flakes and wind is gusting so it looks like someone's just waving giant semi-translucent white sheets around outside.

4:00 pm. Travel ban starts NOW in Massachusetts. Outside, people speeding along the roads trying to get home. Not sure that's the safest decision, though apparently driving after 4 today gets you a $500 fine or a year in jail, so...I'm not judging.

4:02 pm. Also, coastal communities asked to evacuate now. Living west of Boston on top of a hill means I'm a-okay to stay. Thank goodness, because we're not allowed to drive anymore. Really curious as to what this means for people who are meant to evacuate. Hmm. Not sure they thought that one through all too well.

4:06 pm. Closer to two inches on the ground now. Things are ramping up! Bring on the THUNDERSNOW! (Noisy wind gusts, you aren't fooling me! Give me some real thunder!)

Boston Blizzard check-in #6:

4:30 pm. Decided to head outside and clear off my car, which had about two inches of clumpy wet snow on it, to avoid it freezing over when the major snow hits tonight.

4:40 pm. Went back inside, my footprints from when I'd walked out had already disappeared.

4:50 pm. Last of the snow melted through my hair, soaking me even while indoors.

4:55 pm. Double plows now out and about in the neighborhood. Also, sun going down. Night Blizzard time!

5:04. TWC reports: Gonna be going "gangbusters" in Boston by 5 am tomorrow. Also, Cantore's gonna get jazzed on Dunkin' and he'll be "rockin' it" all night. Most importantly, THUNDERSNOW heard just south of Long Island. It's coming!


Boston Blizzard check-in #7:

6:30 pm. Plows visited our driveway, and I went outside to inspect things. Discovered 3 or 4 inches of snow had fallen.

8:30 pm. Peeked outside again. Snow had easily doubled in amounts. Wind ripping through the neighborhood. Still waiting for my THUNDERSNOW.

9:05 pm. Power outages climb. http://outage.nstar.com/outage/outagemap.aspx

9:27 pm. Getting close to my bedtime, blizzard or no blizzard. Charging all my gadgets in case I lose power overnight. Decided to sum up the evening in one final check-in just in case. Sleep will happen soon. All wittiness has already turned in for the night. I think I'll follow suit in a few minutes. Looking forward to waking up in the middle of the night to loud claps of THUNDERSNOW!

Expect a new report in the morning, unless I lose power! ;)


From 2/9/13:

Boston Blizzard check-in #8:

6 am. Woke up because my cat was coughing up a hairball. So much for sleeping in on this wintry day!

6:05 am. Realized I must've slept through any THUNDERSNOW we'd had a chance of getting. Drat! Oh well, it's not like I haven't heard THUNDERSNOW before...

6:16 am. Peeked out the windows to see, by my estimation, at least a foot and a half of snow on the ground with more still falling.

6:55 am. Took some pictures out the window, decided I needed to go outside to see things better.

7:02 am. Put on my tennis shoes and my jacket, telling myself if I did that I wouldn't stay out for long.

7:05 am. Stood on the porch, woefully watching others enjoy the snow (or in some cases, not enjoy the snow...some people were trying to dig their cars out already). Darn my knee, holding me back from awesomeness.

7:06 am. Attempted to make a tiny snowman, but the snow was way too powdery.

7:10 am. Someone brought their dogs out. Cannot promise this had no bearing on what happened next.

7:11 am. Made the decision to brave my completely buried building stairwell and venture forth. Carefully.

7:12 am. Made it to the bottom of the stairs! Also, now standing in waist-high snow on the sidewalk.

7:14 am. Shoved through the plowed snow to get onto the street.

7:20 am. Made random blizzard friends and began to wander the neighborhood.

7:30 am. Finally caught up to the dogs. Pet them. My morning goal was now complete.

7:55 am. Headed back indoors to report: It is still snowing. And it is still windy. And we have somewhere between 18-24 inches of snow, like they forecasted. With all the drifting, I can't get more precise than that.


Boston Blizzard check-in #9:

11:51 am. Somerville called to say "Yeaaaaaaaaahhhh...there's a sh*t-ton of snow. We're not ending our bans anytime soon, and neither is the governor so...ya'know, just sit tight." (Not an exact quote of their update, but you get the idea.)

11:55 am. Sky is very bright. Still cloudy, but bright. Snow has slowed. Decided to venture out once more to reassess the whole "digging out my car" scenario.

12:00 pm. Technically, we still have one hour left of our Blizzard Warning. I've discovered even more snow than there was earlier today, probably around 25 inches, maybe even 26 now. We may see another inch fall before the day is done, so I'm safely saying my area of Somerville is going to total about 26 inches for this storm.

12:02 pm. Turning the corner to my building's lot, I also notice there is more snow on my car than there was earlier this morning. Strange how that works.

12:03 pm. Shovel in hand, I optimistically approach. I mean, the front of my car really doesn't look that bad at all.

12:04 pm. I rapidly realize even a non-injured human being would be destroyed at the prospect of digging this car out. Especially since there is zero place to go with the snow covering my car. The snow is higher than my car. My car is in a drift that is almost the height of ME. 

12:05 pm. I take some pictures, then turn to go back inside, defeated. Alas, dear car, you'll have to remain buried until I can think up some way to get you out while not spraining my knee all over again.




Boston Blizzard check-in #10:

1:10 pm. Snow appears to have stopped.

1:25 pm. I've discovered Somerville's "official" snow total is 28". Sweet!

1:55 pm. First sounds of snowblowers! Alas, not for my own driveway. For the one across the street. But still, it brings hope.

2:27 pm. Strange engine noises from outside. Looked out to discover that we have a plow stuck in the snow on our street. Yes, that is correct. The PLOW is stuck on our street. I think this has cemented my decision to remain a hermit for the duration of the weekend.       



So that's it! The storm has passed, and now all that's left is to clean up. I'm sad to have missed the THUNDERSNOW, but experiencing a record-breaking blizzard was still a fun adventure, even for a born-and-raised Michigan girl. Hope my other Northeast friends made it through with power and minimal damages! 

And hey, just as I'm wrapping this up minutes before sunset, I see the first sunrays of the day shining through. Tomorrow should be beautiful!  

NASA's Day of Remembrance

Today, NASA remembers their fallen.

Ten years ago, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon reentry. I was 17, and remember listening to a news report on the radio as my family drove to visit our grandparents. We all got very quiet as we realized what they were saying. I have to admit, I first thought they were discussing Challenger and was confused as to why they kept saying "when the astronauts were in the midst of reentry". Challenger exploded upon launch, that much I knew, despite it actually happening when I was only a few months old and far too young to understand at the time.

But then, at 17, I finally did come to understood the crushing sadness that had been experienced January 28th, 1986. A few days past Challenger's anniversary in 2003, the unthinkable happened again. Such an event is a shock to the system, and I sincerely hope it isn't one that will occur again in my lifetime, or at any point in the future, though I know that's a lot to wish for.

Astronauts represent the best of us. The bravest. The smartest. The fittest. They are not just national heroes, but international heroes. To lose symbols like that is hard on everybody. But these people weren't just symbols. The people involved in these disasters--Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia--had families and friends who grieved not for a lost astronaut, but for their lost loved one.

All I can hope is for those who lost someone special that day, that they take some comfort in knowing what an effect each of those people had on all of us, and how much we each dearly wish it hadn't ended as it did.

May these brave souls rest in peace among the stars.

END OF THE WORLD POST

Well, this is it, folks. The world's supposed to end today. We all know it, now we just need to sit back and wait for it to happen.

Uh...right?

Actually hold on. How do we all know the world is supposed to end on December 21st, 2012?

Some Mayan calendar thing, right? 

Right. The Mayan's. An ancient civilization that knew everything about the universe and always got the answers right. Like that heart-cutting-out business. That was right on the money.

And actually...wait. Has anyone actually looked into the whole Mayan calendar thing? Are we sure they predicted the end of the world to be today? Like, really sure? Because while it is kind of rainy and windy out there, it's all in all not that bad of a day so far.

Huh. Turns out, if you take even thirty seconds to do any proper research, you'll find out that the Mayan's didn't say anything about the end of the world on December 21st, 2012. In fact, they have calendar systems that continue on for millions of years past today.

What ends today is one cycle of their b'ak'tun time measurement. This is kind of like our "century". A b'ak'tun is 394 years long, and we've gone through many of them already. Thirteen, actually, according to the Mayans. And all the past ones never gave us trouble. Is this one special for some reason?

No. Once again, the Mayans did not think the world would end at the end of this cycle. Who knows what they did think would happen, but they wouldn't have charted stuff past this date if they thought it was the end of the world. Duh. I like Phil Plait's idea that for all we know, today could've been like a Mayan New Year celebration, with parties and drinking.

So why do people think the world is ending today? Hype, mostly. Greedy television channels looking to make money (I'm looking at you, History Channel). Silly blockbuster movies. People ALWAYS want to think the time they're living in is "special" somehow, and hey, the end of all time would be a pretty special occasion.

All this day proves is that people also don't always think rationally or do their own research. This is why science education is so ridiculously, hugely important. We need to train our youth to think reasonably. To research before coming to conclusions. To test things. Our country is a laughing stock because of our general ignorance and inability to use logic.

So if this really is the start of a new cycle, like the Mayan's did predict, let's hope it's one of reason and sensibility. I'd be more than happy to see the end of the world of stupidity our culture just loves to embrace. Let's start a new era of rational thinking, please.

Also, Happy Solstice to all!