Anousheh
An original from 2006, when Iranian-American engineer (and Plano resident) Anousheh Ansari flew as a paying passenger to the International Space Station. As her crew was donning their spacesuits at Baikonur Cosmodrome for their Soyuz flight, she gave a Vulcan salute for the cameras, and won my geekly heart....
Tornadoes, memories, and gaps
Originally posted on LiveJournal in four entries over May 9-21, 2006. (I was on LJ from 2005 to 2011 and am presently going through looking for lyrics and longer-form stuff.) The F2 tornado struck near where I lived then in Waco in the early morning of May 6, 2006. The first time I remember seeing my father crying, I was nine years old. We were living in a trailer house then, out on Spring Street on the edge of Marfa. He had been on the phone in the living room; my mom was on the extension in the guest bedroom/sewing room/office, just off the living room. I think I knew…