Just A Peck 0039 // Artemis, NASA, Hope

4/5/26

Welcome to the latest issue of Just A Peck. I'm glad you're here!

JOURNAL

I have been fascinated by the space program for almost as long as I can remember. In the 80s, I poured over the Weekly Reader articles about the space shuttle, I attended Space Camp in Huntsville, and the Challenger Disaster impacted me deeply. I focused on Astronomy at Science Camps and built a huge reflecting telescope. Touring the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral still makes me teary, and I wear NASA baseball caps often enough that sometimes people assume I work for them. For much of my childhood, "an astronaut" was the only answer I had for the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?".

And yet, even though I've been knocking around this blue-green marble since 1973, there has never been a manned mission to the moon in my lifetime. In fact, the continually diminishing funds for NASA in recent decades made someone point out:

"If you watch NASA backwards, it's about a space agency that has no spaceflight capability, then does low-orbit flights, then lands on moon."

So this week's Artemis II launch carrying four astronauts around the moon was a pretty big deal for me. Brilliant scientists and engineers working together within a government agency to accomplish incredible things made me feel hopeful in a way I had kind of forgotten.

As I watched the rocket lift off and the stages separate, I realized that I was holding significant tension—part of which is almost certainly lingering Challenger trauma, but I think my friend Tom put his finger more accurately on where that anxiety was coming from when he shared that he was thinking: "Please. Let me be proud of one thing."

We met virtually for Family Movie Club and discussed one of Corey's picks—the anime feature A Silent Voice by Naoko Yamada. This is a movie I would not have otherwise seen, so I'm always glad for opportunities like this to dip a toe into new things. It was a good discussion. Kaylee was able to share some insight about JSL vs ASL (one of the characters is deaf); Corey, Spencer, and Kaylee brought their anime expertise; Alex pointed out some fascinating choices about the sound design and animation choices; Kelsie and Jody talked about how difficult it was to watch a depiction of vicious bullying between kids while every adult who should have been interceding failed to do so; and we gave our differing interpretations of various visual metaphors. I love that we can have these kinds of conversations as a family, while still laughing together.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016). I'm not familiar with the many subgenres of anime focused on teenage romances, so it was interesting to guess which things were genre convention and which weren't. This one was based on a manga and directed by Naoko Yamada. A middle-school student with a hearing impairment is viciously bullied. Years later, the former bully is tormented by his behaviour and sets out to make amends. It was well directed, but there are so many trigger warnings for this one—if you're considering checking it out, you might want to read a little bit about it before watching.

Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki is not everyone's cup of tea, but his brand of dry minimalist absurdism is a comfort watch for me. Leningrad Cowboys is a road movie that is like The Blues Brothers meets Pee Wee's Big Adventure with a European lens on American quirks and curiosities.

WHAT I READ THIS WEEK

In Progress:

The Director, Kehlmann
Gödel, Escher, Bach, Hofstadter
Middlemarch, Eliot
Hollywood: The Oral History, Bassinger, Wasson

MEMORIES

My grandpa would have turned 110 this week. I always experience a bit of cognitive dissonance when looking at photos of him as a young man that seem like they are from some distant historic era, and yet he was a large presence in my life well into adulthood.

Twenty Years Ago Kaylee was on a preschool field trip to a farm where she got to ride a horse for the first time.

QUICK LINKS

WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT

This week is the Playhouse's annual fundraiser, Singing With The Stars. It's such a fun event for an organization that I'm deeply passionate about. I hope you can make it!

My awesome friend Mary is opening a show this week at Zeitgeist. Tickets available here!

So many things to be excited about this week! My awesome friend Jess is also opening a show this week at UWS. Tickets available here!

The DSSO will be doing a performance of Raiders of the Lost Ark in Concert at Symphony Hall. I have to fit this in somehow.

MY FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Trust us, you look amazing. You look beautiful. From up here, you look like one thing. Homo sapiens is all of us–no matter where you're from or what you look like. We're all one people....We call amazing things that humans do 'moonshots' for a reason. This mission brought us together and showed us what we can do… when we bring our differences together and use all the strengths to accomplish something great."

— Victor Glover

That's it for this week. Stay safe, friends. Thanks for reading!

newsletter