A placard commemorating NASA’s “Send Your Name to Mars” campaign was installed on the Perseverance Mars rover on March 16, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Three fingernail-sized chips affixed to the upper-left corner of the placard feature the names of 10,932,295 people who participated. They were individually stenciled onto the chips by electron beam, along with the essays of the 155 finalists in NASA’s “Name the Rover” contest. Liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket is targeted for mid-July of 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch.
You can watch the Perseverance Launch as well as briefings HERE
So all kidding aside, me and my dog are going to Mars.
The Pergola in Pioneer Square in Seattle Washington is on of those places that you take your out of town friends to see when you’re showing them around town. It’s also a good meeting spot if you want to split up and strike out on your own because this is Pioneer Square and it’s not a major patch of real estate and it’s easy to find if you get lost.
But what I love about the beautiful, artistic, historic and boy do people get MAD when it gets hit by trucks and cars Iron Pergola- is that it’s was built as the upper level of a spiffy state of the ( then ) public bathroom in 1909.
No, it wasn’t just an ornate entrance to a bunch of toilets – it was where people waited to catch the cable car- but if you need to use the potty there was some right under your feet- which is more then we commuters get now!
Still, the pergola in all of it’s glory- the wrought iron ornamentation and it’s iron columns was a work of art then and it is now.
However, my Dad’s family has been around Seattle since God was a baby ( well maybe a toddler ) and they really emphasized the underground toilets when they told stories about ‘old Seattle’ – and my imagination worked that story and the images overtime.
I used to have this idea in my head off fancy toilets sitting on penny tile floors, banks of fancy marble sinks with gold taps and people handing out warm towels and fancy soap after you used the facilities… and how those toilets must have done what toilets used to do in that area when the tide came in- they blew up.
My Dad’s family, who love to pass misinformation down the way other families pass out candy and little presents to the kids in the family did absolutely NOTHING to clear that little piece of info up and I really believed that a long time ago the toilets under the Pergola used to explode when the tide came in.
After I was burdened with the reality of the restrooms under the Pergola I still enjoyed the memories of ‘what might have been’ so when I took my friends and family to the Pergola or when I saw people shooting wedding pictures there…
in my mind I could hear a ‘foooom’ and the sounds of wild rushing water and people screaming, ” No no no! Is that poo? Oh God, don’t let it be poo!”
It still makes me smile.
PERGOLA DAMAGED 07252013 An automobile ran into the pergola in Pioneer Square early Thursday morning taking out a pole and damaging this iron fence near the corner of First Avenue and Yesler Way.
Just as a side note- I was reading this article on ‘show don’ tell’ in writing and I was experimenting with an exercise and I used this prompt. I liked it so much I left it as it was.
Show don’t tell- How she waited on the bridge facing the traffic, exhaust and grit from the cars roaring by forcing her to smile and blush like a bride her hands clenched against her chest until her knuckles were white and as bloodless as her face.
Show don’t tell- how it was always noon when she appeared on the bridge rain or shine, Show how her eyes narrowed as they searched every single face that raced by her . Show how she sometimes she raised her hand and other times she almost raised her hand in the same smooth mechanical motion.
Show don’t tell- how one day a car slid to a stop and how she glided with the wind up to the driver’s side and looked in, her eyes rimmed with grit, her hair tangled with leaves and bits of paper her clothes just a little damp.
Show don’t tell how the woman in the car rolled down the window and asked the women if she needed help, show the confusion and disgust on her face when she looked up and saw the Woman On The Bridge’s up close. Show how she kept her hand on the window button and how she clenched with steering wheel with her other hand and leaned back into the car. Show how she leaned forward again and sat up straight and asked firmly if the Woman on the Bridge needed help.
Show don’t tell, how the Woman On The Bridge pointed out over the railing and said ” My car. It’s stuck down there. Can you help me get it out?”
Show don’t tell how the woman in the car looked down and saw that the woman on the bridge had no feet- and then she realized she did have feet but they were backwards show howthe woman in the car tried to roll her window up, tell how she wanted to drive away but she couldn’t take her eyes away from the woman’s feet- or the empty patch of concrete where they should have been
Show don’t tell how the woman in the car didn’t drive away, didn’t look up until she heard the passenger door open and then close and in just a few heavy heartbeats felt the air in the car wrap itself around her like cold heavy water.
But do tell how in the end the Woman On The Bridge thanked her for taking her to her car.
