The Astronaut, The Social Studies Teacher, and Me

Hey, remember that building with the green neon that I posted a picture of last night?



We were on the top floor of it tonight.

So why were we on the top floor of one of the biggest buildings in Dallas? We were there for a reception honoring Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to go into space. She's the keynote speaker at the conference we're up here for, but the banquet tonight was for the school where the conference is being held, a Catholic high school here in Dallas.

Dr. Jemison was very cool to listen to and to talk to. She grew up on the south side of Chicago and read a few passages from her book tonight. I got a chance to talk with her for a bit, and we joked about how the oldest siblings always pick on the youngest. She was the youngest in her family. I am the oldest in mine.



Another highlight of the night was the "small world" event that happened. When we were at dinner last night, we were talking with Anita and Roger (our gracious hosts, and the GIS gurus) about funny town names. I happened to mention that I was from Normal, Illinois, and Anita said, "That's where Fred Walk is from...he'll be here tomorrow."


Anita and Roger, our gracious hosts

I did one of those double takes, and asked her "Who?"

"Fred Walk," she said again.

"He was a social studies teacher at my high school," I said, still a little bewildered by this turn of events. I can't remember now if I ever had Mr. Walk as a teacher, but I knew him, and most of my friends had him for class. We had a nice conversation when he got there, and yes, Sarah, he even remembered you.



Overall, it was a pretty entertaining night. I got to meet an astronaut, ran into someone who knows that Ironmen isn't just a Black Sabbath song, and got to eat good food.

Oh yeah, since all of this stuff we're doing is taking place at a Catholic high school, I was a very good Catholic today...actually I didn't have much of a choice. The lunches we had today were either veggie or tuna, and none of the food tonight had meat in it. Still really tasty, though!

Tomorrow, Eric and I present a couple of things at the conference and head home late tomorrow afternoon. It's been fun here, and I've learned a lot, but I can't wait to get home to my beautiful wife and sleep in my own bed.