If you had asked me at age ten what I was going to do with my life, I would have said that I was going to study math and astrophysics at MIT, join the Air Force, log my required flight hours, and after that, become an astronaut when I grew up. That is the power of childhood heroes. None of that has happened (yet), but I can't blame Montclair's hometown hero Buzz Aldrin for that, and reading his new autobiography Magnificent Desolation reminds me of why I had those dreams in the first place.
The autobiography, written with Ken Abraham, has become a New York Times bestseller since it came out this past June. Buzz writes thrillingly enough about his adventures to inspire a whole new generation of young explorers, from his exploration of the Titanic in a submersible three miles below the ocean surface, to playing baseball on the ice of the North Pole. Of course, nothing comes close to his memories of the 1969 lunar landing. The astronaut who traveled to the moon with a slide ruler (because he didn't trust the accuracy of the computer) recounts the hard work, meticulous planning, and sheer luck it took to land two men on the moon in a module that had less computing power than some cell phones today.
Just as I was getting over my concern about the first alarm, another 1202 alarm appeared on the display, another computer overload problem. Nearly seven minutes in, we had descended to 20,000 feet. I felt a shot of adrenaline surge through my system. I'd been a fighter pilot during the Korean War and had shot down two Russian-built MiGs that had been gunning for me. I knew instinctively the sense of danger a pilot experiences when he is in serious trouble and knows he needs to head back to his home base. Neil and I were in serious trouble, and we were a long, long way from home.
I might not have made it out into space yet, but Buzz had his own failings too, which he discusses candidly in Magnificent Desolation:
My life seemed a perennial struggle, in which I often wondered, Where do I fit in after being an astronaut on the moon? The Technicolor had drained from my life, and I felt discouraged. . . Inevitably, it seemed, I would spiral downward when the people at NASA or the aerospace companies for whom I served as a consultant refused to consider my ideas, ideas that I knew beyond a doubt could forward our space program. When I was "up," I charged ahead, believing that change was possible, and that I could make a difference. But when I was "down," numbness overcame me and after a while I soothed my uneasiness by turning to alcohol.
It's jarring to find out that my childhood hero was rotating through various Alcoholics Anonymous groups and selling used Cadillacs in LA not too long before my parents were enrolling me in extra math lessons at Kumon to help me get into MIT. Not to give away the ending, but he manages to kick his alcoholism, find the love of his life, and he now spends his time trying to re-ignite interest and funding for NASA's space exploration programs. Luckily for space-hopefuls like myself, he is also a passionate promoter of the privatization of space tourism to create opportunities for civilians to reach the stars.
Throughout the book, Buzz Aldrin's grace and humor are evident (as they are in this interview with British prankster Sasha Baron Cohen) and I am still as excited to be from his hometown now as I was when I was ten. To infinity and beyond!
Magnificent Desolation is published by Harmony Books of Random House, Inc.
Buzz Aldrin bust photo was taken at Mt. Hebron Middle School.
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Comments (18)
Montclair's (appointed) Board of Education will soon be soliciting public opinion before taking a vote to name the new school.
It would be wonderful to see widespread support for honoring Buzz Aldrin.
Walter you beat me to the punch.
I agree.
We should.
And continue to rename our schools after our current and former citizens who have achieved a certain level of status in their field (the Yogi School?).
That some kids don't know that this great man was himself a little kid in our schools is a shame.
Naming a school is in order.
Given the criticism of the way this whole school has been handled, some may think it less than a full honor to have Dr. Aldrin's name associated with it.
That's just one possible counter-argument, and I can anticipate others.
But "The Buzz Aldrin School" is my choice and I'll do what I can to see it happen.
Who else is with us?
The Cathar Conservatoire de Ostentatious Condescension.
I would support the effort to get the school named for Buzz Aldrin. It's long overdue.
prof, I would agree about Yogi as well, but I think a park or a ball field would be more appropriate. How about Yogi's field?
Yogi already has his name on the baseball stadium at Montclair State and his museum. And before we go naming a middle school after him he should at least have to finish eighth grade.
Many thanks to Joyce Li for writing this piece!
I agree with the posters that the school should be named for Buzz Aldrin.
I take it that Ms. Li did wind up being inspired and going to MIT. That's great!
Too few women wind up in "STEM" careers -- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Our schools do not sufficiently encourage women in pursuing these careers, and then there's the difficulties they experience when they do graduate.
I believe one of the problems for both male and female students is the absence of "heroes" and role models. In the 60's kids looked up to scientists and astronauts and thought "that's what I want to do." Two of my uncles were brilliant engineers (in the space program) and from 7th grade on that's what I wanted.
But for women, the assumption is still too often that it's too difficult "for them."
Cary Africk
You keep say Baristaville? Where that be? I went to Starbucks but them say no such place. Did you make mistake?
We ought to name something prominent after him. Orlando has a John Young Museum.
Naming the new school after him is a great idea.
Are any of the schools named after people? There is a George Innes annex at the HS. Are Rand or Bradford named after anyone?
And did you become a rocket scientist in the end, Cary? Or did you give up that dream to be a councilor?
I suppose Aldrin is a worthy character, but naming a school after him might have the unintended consequence of promoting pot smoking.
Since Nishuane School isn't on Nishuane Road, Watchung School is not on Watchung Ave, Mount Hebron School is on Bellview Ave and Bradford is on Mount Hebron Road, maybe we shuld name it Upper Mountain School.
The Cathar Conservatoire de Ostentatious Condescension.
Ah, to have a poster who defines his whole existence in terms of another. What devotion!
I totally agree that the school should be named after Buzz. A great American hero and homegrown to boot. Unfortunately Buzz falls into a particular demographic (old white men) that is not going to advance anyone's politically correct agenda at this point in time. Nothing in it for anybody. More likely we would name the school after a transgendered American Indian activist from New Mexico.
Sorry to mislead Cary, but I didn't end up going to MIT... In fact I took a very different path and ended up with a liberal arts degree from Bard College, which usually welcomes another sort of intellectual hero (although in recent years the school has committed itself to incorporating the sciences into a well-rounded liberal arts education). But it's true that Buzz Aldrin inspired me to sign away a large part of my summers and my youth to extracurricular math classes.
I'd like to hear more form Buzz about this.
"transgendered American Indian activist from New Mexico."
Dances with Big Hands Elementary.
How 'bout the Frank Sinatra school to go with the dorm at MSU?
Tell the students they can do it "their way."
"transgendered American Indian activist from New Mexico"...
The Angry Androgynous Apache Academy.