My Alternate Universe

Tonight, the space shuttle Discovery is lifting off for a two-week mission. As part of the mission, the astronauts will be delivering replacement parts to the International Space Station.

I'm feeling a little bit wistful about this mission for one rather odd reason. Friends of mine may recall that back in 2003 I applied for the Educator Astronaut program. (Looking back, I see that I didn't really blog about that much, but the four posts I did make are listed at the bottom for anyone who wants to read them.) I made the first cut, but then NASA decided that my medical profile did not meet their standards. (Given my nearsightedness, I can understand that.)

People may see where this is going. In 2004, NASA selected a class of Educator Astronauts, and I was not among them. Five years later, two of those astronauts, Joseph M. Acaba and Richard R. Arnold II, are getting ready to go into space on their first mission, STS-119.

Both of them are extremely qualified to be astronauts, of course. According to their entries on Wikipedia, Acaba studied geology in college and graduate school and served in the Marine reserves, and Arnold studied Environmental Science and worked as an Oceanographic Technician for the United States Naval Academy. Also, both had distinguished careers as teachers before they were selected to be astronauts. To be honest, I'm proud that my former profession is being represented tonight by astronauts such as these two men.

Still, I can't help but imagine that in some other universe, I'm getting ready to go into space myself.


My Educator Astronaut Posts from 2003:

• MTELs
  
• I Have My License
  
• Educator Astronaut Application Update
  
• Grounded, Alas
  

Running for Town Meeting

Back in 2001, I ran for Brookline Town Meeting and won. Ever since, I've been a Town Meeting Member representing precinct 9.

Last December, Nomi and I moved from precinct 9 to precinct 12. Conveniently enough, we ended up buying the condominium of another Town Meeting Member, one whose term, like mine, expired in 2009. Furthermore, she moved out of town entirely, leaving an open seat for me to run for in the new precinct.

However, because we're new residents in precinct 12, I'm no longer considered an incumbent for my seat. So over the past month, I've been collecting signatures from registered voters in my new precinct, asking them for the opportunity to represent them the way I represented the voters of my old precinct for these past nine years.

Yesterday, I filed my nomination papers with the Town Clerk's office and am now an official candidate for Town Meeting once again.

Interestingly enough, there's not a lot of competition going on in town this year in the local elections. The TAB posted an article today from tomorrow's paper, Prospective Selectmen, Town Meeting candidates sitting Brookline election out, in which writer Steve Bagley notes that a large number of precincts have no competition in the local races. I'm quoted in the article, pointing out that there tends not to be a lot of interest in the races unless there's a pressing local issue. And this year, the biggest issue on the table is the economy, which doesn't really have a clear-cut way to be addressed on a local level (as noted by TMM Marty Rosenthal, who is also quoted in the article).

As it stands, I may end up having an actual race, because six people have pulled nomination papers for the five Town Meeting Member positions up for election in precinct 12 this year. As a candidate myself, I'll be honest and say that it would be a lot easier for me if the race ended up uncontested. Even if that were the case, I'm still planning to call up many of my new neighbors to introduce myself as a candidate for Town Meeting Member from precinct 12.

But as a proponent of democracy, I wouldn't mind seeing more contested races throughout the town.