My History

For my history I researched and learned about the events and achievements of NASA. Next I connected these events to songs and song lyrics and wrote a rationale of why I connected them.
Sputnik 1 - Primavera by Ludovico Einuadi(no lyrics)

Rationale: I chose this song for this event in history because at the beginning the song starts off slow and suspenseful. It's almost as if you can feel the wonder and fear at the same time throughout each of the notes. This song has no lyrical content but the instrumentals speak volumes. On October 4, 1957 the Soviets launched the first satellite which was Sputnik 1. This sent America into a frenzy. Sputnik had threatened the confidence of America.
          1957 was a peak time for America. The suburbs were growing, it was becoming the norm for families to have colored televisions and 2 cars. Not to mention this was also the year of the highest federal budget($71.8 billion) and there were advances in public health. Sputnik had knocked America of their feet. Many articles today refer to Sputnik as "the mouse that roared." Sputnik as scary and as threatening as it was back then helped shape life as we know it. It was the beginning of the Space Age.
          It jumpstarted a lot of our advances in technology that we still use today. It brought waves of fear across America but this fear also pushed us to dream. In the song the notes of fear and wonder progress into notes of haste as if it hits a climax. I see those notes as a representation of our climax. Our climax was a response to Sputnik and our enrolling in the "space race." Just as those fearful notes were needed in order to get to the haste and the climax of the song Sputnik was needed to start the exploration of space.
         President Dwight D. Eisenhower was surprisingly not bothered by the arising of Sputnik. But he rather accepted it with open arms saying it brought the idea of "freedom of space" and that space belonged to everyone. There were many gains of Sputnik. It helped the U.S. strengthen their ties with Britain due to the fact they were under a common threat. It also led to the development of microelectronics and other vital parts in science and technology we use today. Many Americans questioned the time, effort, and money put into the astronomical programs. Americans accused the government of wasting engineering talents on something so "useless" as space travel. If only they knew what a single satellite would bring. At the end of Primavera there is still that sense of wonder and beauty. That represents the production Sputnik brought long after it had left the orbit of Earth.
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Explorer 1- If I go I'm going by Gregory Alan Isakov

If I go I'm going by Gregory Alan Isakov
This house
She’s holding secrets
I got my change behind the bed

In a coffee can, 
I throw my nickels in
Just in case I have to leave

And I will go if you ask me to
I will stay if you dare
And if I go I’m goin shameless
I’ll let my hunger take me there

This house
She’s quite the talker
She creeks and moans
She keeps me up

And I will go if you ask me to
I will stay if you dare
And if I go I’m goin on fire
Let my anger take me there

The shingles man they’re shaking
The back door’s burning through
This house she’s quite the keeper
Quite the keeper of you

I will go if you ask me to
I will stay if you dare
And if I go, I’m goin crazy
I’ll let my darlin take me there




Rationale:   On January 31, 1958 the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was launched. The song If I go I'm going speaks of a house. As I went on to read the rest of the lyrics I saw more and more how the song represented the historical event of Explorer 1. The song says the house holds secrets and he's saying he will only go if they ask him to and to let his hunger take him there. The exploration of space was driven by hunger as well. We were hungry to know more about it. Before the Space age, space was a mystery to humankind as if it were a house that held secrets. The Explorer 1 was sent into space by Dr. William H. Pickering, Dr. James A. Van Allen, and Dr. Wernher Von Braun. The satellite was meant to measure the concentration of ions and electrons in space. Explorer 1 had uncovered one of spaces many secrets, it discovered the Allen belts.
Alan Shepard going into space-Peace Train by Cat Stevens 

Peace Train by Cat Stevens 

Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh I've been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it's going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Now I've been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder
Glide on the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the peace train
Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too
Cause it's getting nearer, it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, it's not so far from you
And it's getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Now I've been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

  Rationale: Alan Shepard was the first American in space. On May 5, 1961 he launched of in a Mercury spacecraft. He was chosen out of seven men to be the first American man to lay his eyes on space. He flew 116 miles high the flight lasted 15 and a half minutes but no matter the length, the mission was a success. Alan had named the spacecraft "Freedom 7." Him and the other astronauts couldn't go anywhere without being swarmed by fans and the media.
        On the news Alan Shepard was displayed to the people as a hero and soon became a household name. The reaction to this advance was incredible. The reason I chose this song is because this song has joy and hope oozing out of every note and lyric. This accomplishment of getting one of our own into space broke down barriers it was a deep breath for those who had been working so hard. It was a moment of peace, bliss, and wonder. "Now I've been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come" this had open doors and the future looked unimaginable. It was almost as if it said if we can do this, there are endless possibilities of what we will be able to do if we keep working. This was definitely a boost of confidence for America and the pressure of getting ahead in the space race was relieved for those fifteen minutes of success. "Oh peace train take this country." 
      This song is a roar of joy that is celebrating all the great and wonderful things that could happen in the future. It is celebrating everything the world could be and to me Alan Shepard going into space was doing the same for America.
Kennedy saying we need to go to the moon- Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton


Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton
Just a day,
Just an ordinary day.
Just trying to get by.
Just a boy,
Just an ordinary boy.
But he was looking to the sky.
And as he asked if I would come along
I started to realize
That everyday he finds
Just what he's looking for,
Like a shooting star he shines.

He said take my hand,
Live while you can
Don't you see your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand

And as he spoke, he spoke ordinary words
Although they did not feel
For I felt what I had not felt before
And you'd swear those words could heal.
And as I looked up into those eyes
His vision borrows mine.
And I know he's no stranger,
For I feel I've held him for all of time.

And he said take my hand,
Live while you can
Don't you see your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand
In the palm of your hand.

Please come with me,
See what I see.
Touch the stars for time will not flee.
Time will not flee.
Can you see?

Just a dream, just an ordinary dream.
As I wake in bed
And the boy, that ordinary boy
Or was it all in my head?
Did he asked if I would come along
It all seemed so real.
But as I looked to the door,
I saw that boy standing there with a deal.

And he said take my hand,
Live while you can,
Don't you see all your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand
In the palm of your hand,
In the palm of your hand.

Just a day, just an ordinary day
Just trying to get by.
Just a boy,
Just an ordinary boy.
But he was looking to the sky.

       Rationale:  After such a positive response to Alan Shepard finding his way to space President Kennedy saw this as the perfect time to set a goal for America to go to the moon. On May 25, 1961 he asked congress for permission to add an additional $7-$9 billion in the next five years to the space program. "This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." 
        The song Ordinary Day tells a story of a boy who's asking a girl to live life to the fullest and he's telling her all the dreams that seem impossible are possible and they are in the palm of your hand. In the song I see President Kennedy playing the role of the boy telling America "Don't you see all your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand." He committed us to the goal of exploring space and the stars "Touch the stars for time will not flee." Though some Americans did not see going to the moon as a possibility that did not discourage president Kennedy "he was looking to the sky."
John Glenn orbits earth 3 times- We Are Golden by Mika


We Are Golden by Mika

Teenage dreams in a teenage circus
Running around like a clown on purpose
Who gives a damn about the family you come from?
No givin' up when you’re young and you want some

Running around again
(Running around again)
Running from running

Waking up in the midday sun
What’s to live for?
You could see what I’ve done
Staring at emotion
In the light of day
I was running from the things that you’d say

We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden
We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden

Teenage dreams in a teenage circus
Running around like a clown on purpose
Who gives a damn about the family you come from?
No giving up when you’re young and you want some

Running around again
(Running around again)
Running from running
Running around again
(Running around again)
Running from running

I was a boy at an open door
Why you staring
Do you still think that you know?
Looking for treasure
In the things that you threw
Like a magpie
I live for glitter, not you

We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden
We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden

Teenage dreams in a teenage circus
Running around like a clown on purpose
Who gives a damn about the family you come from?
No giving up when you’re young and you want some

Now I’m sitting alone
I’m finally looking around
Left here on my own
I’m gonna hurt myself
Maybe losing my mind
I’m still wondering why
Had to let the world let it bleed me dry

We are not what you think we are
We are not what you think we are
We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden

Teenage dreams in a teenage circus
Running around like a clown on purpose
Who gives a damn about the family you come from?
No giving up when you’re young and you want some

Running around again
(Running around again)
Running from running
Running around again
(Running around again)
Running from running

We are not what you think we are
We are golden, we are golden


   Rationale:   When Kennedy requested for America to go the moon many people inside and out of the U.S. didn't think America could do it. So on February 20, 1962 when John Glenn Jr.  had been the first American to orbit Earth and to do it 3 times it sparked a lot of hope in Americans. This pushed them to believe and dream again. This accomplishment had inspired and motivated many that were working towards the goal that Kennedy had set. 
       John Glenn had just assisted America in washing away the doubts of people from all over the world. I chose this song because of the line "We are not what you think we are. We are golden," I could not find a better lyric to symbolize this event in history. When John Glenn Jr. orbited he proved so many people wrong and had erased people's ideas of who they thought America was and he had showed them we are golden. After this success we couldn't give up on our goal to reach the moon it just wouldn't be right. "No giving up when you’re young and you want some."
America goes to the moon- Glitter in the Air by Pink


Glitter in the Air by Pink
Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands?
Closed your eyes and trusted, just trusted?
Have you ever thrown a fistful of glitter in the air?
Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, "I just don't care."?

It's only half past the point of no return
The tip of the iceberg, the sun before the burn
The thunder before the lightning and the breath before the phrase
"Have you ever felt this way?"

Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone?
Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone
Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?
Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?

It's only half past the point of oblivion
The hourglass on the table, the walk before the run
The breath before the kiss, and the fear before the phrase
"Have you ever felt this way?"

La la la la la la la la

There you are,
Sitting in the garden,
Clutching my coffee,
Calling me sugar
You called me sugar

Have you ever wished for an endless night?
Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight?
Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight?
Tonight

      Rationale:   July 20, 1969,  Apollo 11 landed on the moon carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Half a billion people were watching from tv screens as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Soon after Armstrong stepped out Aldrin followed right after describing the moon as a "magnificent desolation." On the moon they left an American Flag, a patch honoring the fallen Apollo 1 crew, and a plaque that reads "We came in peace for all mankind." 
         Later Armstrong called it the beginning of a new age. The last Apollo mission left the moon with the words "We leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace, and hope for all mankind." During this trip America put a lot of emphasis on the fact that this was not just for Americans but for all of mankind. It was kind of like "inviting a stranger to come inside." The song Glitter in the Air sings of those indescribable feelings. These feelings and these wonderful moments can make you wish for an endless night. I feel as though men on the moon made all of mankind to wish for an endless night. 
        Reaching the moon almost sounds like a fairytale. This achievement for mankind had pushed people to dream, love, and hope for the impossible. "Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, "I just don't care."? It's only half past the point of no return. The tip of the iceberg." Going to moon the men aboard were most concerned with the landing but instead of not going through with it they looked fear in the face and they knew it was to late to turn back. This event sent a message to the whole world that it was okay to reach for the stars and "Lassoe the moon and the stars and pull that rope tight."

My Art

For my art I made a virtual gallery through a presentation platform.

My English
I did an analysis of poems that reminded me of space.

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
By Walt Whitman
When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.

Summary: The poet is talking about an experience he had hearing a lecture by a man who had spent a lot of time studying the stars. This man during his lecture begins to show the audience the stars in diagrams and charts. He continued to show these charts and at the end of his lecture he received a great applause. But the poet did not like the lecture saying it made him "tired and sick." So the poet decides to go get some air outside and looks up and enjoys the stars in silence.

Analysis: What I think Walt Whitman is trying to say is too many times all the statistics, information, and science of things begins to ruin the beauty of it. We spend years trying to come up with theories and explanations for why things are the way they are instead of just enjoying its simplicity. I feel as though this poem could be applied to everything. Humans have a habit of overthinking and overanalyzing which most of the time turns all the things we've ever loved into something ugly. I think this is why Walt got "tired and sick." We all need to learn to just "look up in perfect silence at the stars."

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The Star
By Ann Taylor, Jane Taylor
TWINKLE, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are !
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav'ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often thro' my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

'Tis your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the trav'ller in the dark :
Tho' I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.


NOTES: co-author: Jane Taylor

Summary: The poet begins by wondering what a star is. She talks about how the star provides light when the sun is gone and how the star guides the traveler in the dark. The poem is all about all the things the little star has done. And at the end she says even though I don't know what you are keep shining.

Analysis: I think this poem is an abstract interpretation of the twinkle twinkle little star song. The poem speaks all about how in reality the star is not little at all because of all the big things it does. It guides the lost, shines when the sun is down, and stays awake through the night.

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April Midnight
By Arthur Symons
Side by side through the streets at midnight,
Roaming together,
Through the tumultuous night of London,
In the miraculous April weather.

Roaming together under the gaslight,
Day’s work over,
How the Spring calls to us, here in the city,
Calls to the heart from the heart of a lover!

Cool to the wind blows, fresh in our faces,
Cleansing, entrancing,
After the heat and the fumes and the footlights,
Where you dance and I watch your dancing.

Good it is to be here together,
Good to be roaming,
Even in London, even at midnight,
Lover-like in a lover’s gloaming.

You the dancer and I the dreamer,
Children together,
Wandering lost in the night of London,
In the miraculous April weather.


Summary: The poet is talking about walking the streets at midnight with his lover. It is April and the spring weather lured them outside to roam the streets after a long day of work. The poet has been watching her dance all day on a stage. But as they are roaming the cities streets are in a uproar. But even now the freedom of roaming makes him feel childlike.

Analysis: To me this poem is saying there is chaos roaring outside but through it all I sit and watch as my lover dances in the spotlight of a stage and I escape it all. But then his lover calls him to go outside and feel the wonderful weather. "How the spring calls to us, here in the city, Calls to the heart from the heart of a lover?" And as they exit the place they have been escaping to the city is in flames. It's midnight and the city is rioting but still in all of this he feels childlike and free in this beautiful April weather. Outside though it is dark and troubled he continues to dream and she continues to dance.


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The Night of the Shirts
By W. S. Merwin
Oh pile of white shirts who is coming
to breathe in your shapes to carry your numbers   
to appear
what hearts
are moving toward their garments here
their days
what troubles beating between arms

you look upward through
each other saying nothing has happened   
and it has gone away and is sleeping   
having told the same story
and we exist from within
eyes of the gods

you lie on your backs
and the wounds are not made   
the blood has not heard
the boat has not turned to stone   
and the dark wires to the bulb
are full of the voice of the unborn

Summary: The poet is talking about a pile of white shirts and how they have never been worn. He is asking who is going to be wearing them. Also what is troubling the hearts of those who are going to be wearing the shirts. In the poem he says these shirts speak of nothing and have no proof of wear. But he is also foretelling that eventually they will be worn.

Analysis: When reading this poem I envision soldiers who have not gone to war yet wearing these white shirts. And they are all wondering who is coming that is trying to destroy us "to breathe in your shapes" to breathe in your bodies and the blood they have shed and this wonder is troubling their hearts. And as the poem goes on to talk about how the shirts tell each other that nothing has happened and the boat hasn't turned to stone. I visualize these soon to be soldiers saying to one another that in this moment they are safe and nothing has happened yet and that they still have hope in the fact that there is a chance they won't sink.




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The Light the Dead See
By Frank Stanford
There are many people who come back
After the doctor has smoothed the sheet
Around their body
And left the room to make his call.

They die but they live.

They are called the dead who lived through their deaths,
And among my people
They are considered wise and honest.

They float out of their bodies
And light on the ceiling like a moth,
Watching the efforts of everyone around them.

The voices and the images of the living
Fade away.

A roar sucks them under
The wheels of a darkness without pain.
Off in the distance
There is someone
Like a signalman swinging a lantern.

The light grows, a white flower.
It becomes very intense, like music.

They see the faces of those they loved,
The truly dead who speak kindly.

They see their father sitting in a field.
The harvest is over and his cane chair is mended.
There is a towel around his neck,
The odor of bay rum.
Then they see their mother
Standing behind him with a pair of shears.
The wind is blowing.
She is cutting his hair.

The dead have told these stories
To the living.


Summary: This poet is talking about the people that live through their deaths. Their spirit still lingers and they watch over the people still "living." This poem speaks of the experiences of the dead that are still "living" so ghosts.

Analysis: Two lines that changed the meaning entirely for me were "They die but they live," and "The dead have told these stories to the living." I believe Frank Stanford is saying those on Earth are the ones that are dead and those who have left us are the living. He and his people are the dead that have told these stories to the living. I feel as though this is his interpretation of believing in an afterlife.

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