LOST IN A TRUMP AGE MOON DREAM

  

 

Back in the Sixties, I was a rabid fan of the space program. I watched hours of live coverage and did my first gonzo journalism experiments because I thought I could do better than Norman Mailer’s Of a Fire on the Moon in Life Magazine.

It’s all so different now. In 1969 the Earth stood still. All the TV and radio stations were talking about space. The whole world was going stark, raving sci-fi.

In 2026 it gets lost in the multimegamedia chatter of our preApocalyptic dystopia. I could probably find someone who didn’t know it was happening within walking distance . . .

Maybe that woman who didn’t believe in planets or dinosaurs is still in town . . .

This planet is in some serious shit with stupid wars and a batshit-crazy president . . . Anyway, I was sliding into my teens, and despite people saying that it was all going to end in about five years, reaching the Moon convinced me that anything was possible. For a couple of weeks the whole mediasphere was all about space!

Now that we’re going back, people are too busy doomscrolling to care. Even I am taking care of business rather than glued to a screen staring at live coverage.

It does make it easy for me to check in, through different outlets to see what’s going on.

Google News let me know that the movie of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary has made David Bowie’s “Starman” popular again. The song was part of the audio-montage intro of KPFK’s Hour 25 (a talk show about science fiction) back in the early Seventies. Put me in a strange timewarp.

Via YouTube I plugged into TV Azteca’s adn Noticias as a bearded intellectual talked about permanent settlements on the moon, while the news gerbils interviewing him treated him like an idiot. Dontcha love progress?

Radio.garden allowed me to hear a NASA rep on Milenio Noticias talk about “America’s not letting go of the moon” as he went on a colonial, jingoistic rant. 

Did he know that even though Commander Reid Wiseman is the traditional white male American astronaut, the Pilot Victor Glover has since become the first black person to travel into deep space, Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch is female, and Mission Specialist 2 is Canadian. And what about that European Service Module?

The launch was on April Fool’s Day. Trump babbled about how great the war is. He seemed to be keeping his distance. No comments or cheerleading like Nixon did. Guess the war had him busy, but this was happening because he had originally, the first time he was elected president, asked NASA if they could put an astronaut on Mars while he was still in office. It was explained he would have to settle for the Moon instead.

When re-elected, he promised Mars as a goal for a NASA that would be remade for his agenda. Musk and techi-types were delighted, but we all know how good Trump’s promises are.

I knew a libertarian science fiction writer, Brad Lineaweaver, who went around saying that getting out into space was so important that it would be worth it to give the country to an Adoph Hitler if he could pull that off. I wonder what he would think of this situation?

Then, there’s a technical problem! The zero-gravity toilet went on the fritz. And was heroically solved by Christina Koch. That and her demonstrating the possibilities of hair styles in a weightless environment made her my favorite astronaut.

This was during Holy Week. No escaping the religious implications. Like Apollo 8’s famous Xmas eve whole earth picture restaged in the now famous hi-rez Earthset shot. Victor Glover quipped his quotable “There’s no atheists on top of a rocket.” No mention of Coyolxahqui, Ixchel, Selene, or any other Moon goddesses.

And curiously enough, Trump kept quiet about it all.

On Easter, we got an astounding headline:

Artemis II Mission Progresses Smoothly as Focus Shifts to Frozen Urine Management

We got crystal-clear pictures of the far side of the Moon. Soon there were AI fakes circulating. As an artist, I noticed that the fakes are too perfect—tightly framed, symmetrical compositions. Try getting shots like that from the window of a moving vehicle . . .

Then Trump announced that “A civilization will die tonight” and put the war on hold, but the ceasefire didn’t last long.

Finally, he gave the crew a call, sounding like a kid forced to talk to a relative he didn’t like. He suddenly shut up. The astronauts were left staring into the camera as the microphone floated in front of them.

But everybody seems to like the zero-gravity group hug photo.

I’m still wondering if we’re going to see a Moon landing in the foreseeable future. This mission seemed rushed. And I can’t find much in this Information Age about a lunar lander.

The Apollo Lunar Module was a celebrity. I had a plastic model. 

For the Artemis it isn’t clear if they’ll be using SpaceX’s Starship HLS or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon.  Artemis III is slated to test the lander in 2027, and a landing planned for Artemis IV in 2028–election year!

Meanwhile, we’ve been promised a Moon base, and there has been no mention of Trump’s Space Force. And the chaotic wars charge merrily along.

It all feels weird.

CHICANONAUTICA ON THE MOON, MARS, AND CHICANOS

 

Chicanonautica goes to the Moon and beyond, at La Bloga.

Because of the Artemis II flyby:

 And Chicanos do things poetic:

With our own style:

Coyolxauhqui is proud:

FROM THE DRAWING BOARD

 

My wife brought in a bookshelf that used to belong to the Bombay Book Club (a family heirloom), and in her ingenious way found space for it in our already crowded house here at Hacienda Hogan.

This meant finding a new place to put my drawing board, and she amazed me again. It now sits in the corner of our laundry room, next to the kitchen. So I can now help out with cooking and clothes washing while creating my art.

It’s actually working out well. 

There’s a shelf above it where I can put art supplies, and I’ve been putting interesting things on the walls. It’s turning into a regular Ernestospace!

And I see it when I do all the walking I do to keep myself moving around at 70. I can check out the sketchbooks I’m juggling, see what I’m working on, realize that something needs to be done, and pick up crayon or pencil and doodle around.

It’s got me drawing more, not as much as I’d like to, but more than I’ve done in years past.

One of my few regrets is that I didn't spend more time making art. I’m a pretty good artist, but more time would have made me a great one. Unfortunately, I’ve got this writing career that demands most of my time, and I need to work for a living . . . 

Que sera, sera.

There’s also been an interesting side-effect. Drawing turns out to be good for my brain! Both my emotions and the neurological taking care of business run smoother, the way exercise keeps my body in tune. Any scientists working on this? 

Above it all, I’ve got this art piling up, and it gets me itching to show it to people. Thank Tezcatliopoca for the webs!

I’m not enough of a snob for fine art and my work is too ugly and messy for commercial art, but there are people who like my stuff. Maybe something will come of it.

CHICANONAUTICA IMMODESTLY PROPOSES A XICANXFUTURIST HOLIDAY

Chicanonautica gets holidazed, at La Bloga.

Suddenly, La Cultura is in flux:

 Can new faces in an ancient tradition help?

 How about the old ball game?

 And the escaramuza!