Happy birthday, astronaut Wally Funk!

Mary Wallace "Wally" Funk, born February 1, 1939 in Las Vegas, New Mexico,  is the oldest woman to go into space.  At age 82, she went into space aboard Blue Origin's NS-16 in July 2021.   At the time, she was the oldest person in space, but later the same year, William Shatner, at 90, broke her record.

Funk is an original member of the Mercury 13 group, thirteen women who were selected to receive the same training as the male astronauts selected by NASA.  They were not part of NASA's official program and none of them went into space.

After the program ended, she completed her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education at Oklahoma State University, and at age 20, she became a professional aviator.  She became a civilian flight instructor at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  In 1971, she became the first woman to complete the Federal Aviation Administration's General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course.  

In 1974, she became the National Transportation Safety Board's first female Air Safety Investigator.  

In July 1, Blue Origin announced that Funk would fly on the first New Shepard flight with passengers.  On July 20, she spent over 10 minutes in space. 

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Deb Haaland, first Native American US Cabinet Secretary

Deb Haaland, born December 2, 1960 in Winslow, Arizona, is the first Native American to be appointed to the US Cabinet.  She assumed the office of Secretary of the Interior under President Biden in March 2021, after being confirmed by a vote of 51-40.  

Haaland is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, and earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of New Mexico, and later earned her Juris Doctor in Indian Law from UNM's School of Law.  She ran for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico in 2014 with Gary King, but lost the election.

She ran for the US House of Representatives for New Mexico in 2018 and won the election.  Haaland was one of first two Native American women to be seated in Congress, with Sharice Davids, a representative from Kansas.  

Haaland had the support of many Democrats in Congress for the position of Secretary of the Interior before Biden announced her nomination.  She wore traditional Laguna Pueblo regalia for her swearing-in ceremony.  

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Joe Martinez, WWII Hispanic recipient of the Medal of Honor

Joe Martinez, born in Taos, New Mexico July 27, 1920, was the first Hispanic-American recipient of the Medal of Honor during WWII.

Martinez was assigned to Company K, 32rd Infantry, 7th Infantry Division after his basic training.  On May 11, 1943, arrived on the island of Attu in the Aleutian Islands, where the Japanese had been since they invaded in June 1942. 

Martinez led two assaults on Japanese foxholes, killing five machine gunners.  He was shot in the head while approaching one foxhole during the second charge.  He passed away the following day.  He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. 

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Octaviano Larrazolo, first Hispanic American to serve in the US Senate

Octaviano Ambrosio Larrazolo, born in Chihuahua, Mexico in December 1859, is the first Mexican-American to serve in the United States Senate.  He moved to Arizona when he was 11.  

He studied law and was a teacher and principal.  He was instrumental for securing the Spanish language for use in conducting public business.

In 1918, he was elected as a Republican as governor of New Mexico.  In 1928, he was elected to fill the senatorial seat of Andrieus Jones, who had died in office.  Upon taking the seat on December 7, 1928, he became the first Hispanic-American to serve in the US Senate.  Unfortunately, he passed away after serving only three months.

"Cowboys & Aliens" released 2011

I enjoyed this movie despite all the negativity surrounding it.  Cowboys and Aliens was released into theaters July 29, 2011.  It starred Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde.  Jon Favreau.  Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard were among the producers.

Based on a comic book, the story is about an alien invasion in 1873 New Mexico.  It received mixed reviews but was nominated for several awards for its animation effects in a live action film and for its stunt ensemble. 

Celebrating Pride Month: Lynn Riggs, openly gay Cherokee playwright

Lynn Riggs, born August 31, 1899 near Claremore, Oklahoma to a mother who was 1/8 Cherokee.  He started attending the University of Oklahoma in 1920 and taught English for a year, but developed tuberculosis and did not graduate.  After recuperating in Santa Fe, New Mexico he traveled to New York and began writing plays.

After receiving a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928, he traveled to Europe and began writing his most famous play Green Grow the Lilacs, while in Paris.

The play went onto become the musical and movie Oklahoma!

Being gay, he was often a non-romantic escort in Hollywood for actresses such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943.

He passed away in NYC in June 1954 from stomach cancer.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Drew Gaffney!

Drew Gaffney, born June 9, 1946 in Carlsbad, New Mexico, went into space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-40) as payload specialist in June 1991.  Gaffney used his experience as a doctor and in cardiac research to study life sciences, the primary goal of the mission.

He stayed in space just over 9 days.

Remembering Bill Daily (1927-2018)

While we were mourning the loss of Burt Reynolds, another one of our beloved characters from our youth passed away.  Bill Daily, who played Major Roger Healey on I Dream of Jeannie and Howard Borden on the Bob Newhart Show, died September 4 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His family announced his passing on September 7. 

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Daily served in the Korean War before going into entertainment, as a musician playing bass.  He appeared in several TV shows, including Bewitched, before being cast as the bumbling, playboy sidekick to Larry Hagman's Major Nelson in I Dream of Jeannie, which also starred Barbara Eden. 

Happy birthday, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt!

Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, born July 3, 1935 in Santa Rita, New Mexico, flew to the moon on Apollo 17, becoming the twelfth person to walk on the moon.  He received his PhD in geology from Harvard University in 1964. 

He was assigned to be the Lunar Module Pilot for Apollo 17, with Eugene Cernan and Ronald Evans.  He  is the second to  last person to have walked on the moon.

He resigned from NASA in 1975 to seek election to the U. S. Senate for New Mexico and won in 1976.

Celebrating Pride Month - Jacob Candelaria, first openly gay man to serve in NM Legislature

Jacob Candelaria, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the first openly gay man to serve in the New Mexico State Legislature.  He won 69% of the vote during the Democratic primary election in June 2012.  He then ran unopposed in the 2012 November election.

Celebrating Pride Month - Jose Sarria, first openly gay man to run for public office in the U.S.

Jose Julio Sarria, born December 13, 1922, became the first openly gay man to run for public office in the United States, when he ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961.  The issue of the city government becoming lenient toward homosexuals had become an issue in San Francisco's mayoral election in 1959.

Sarria had been performing in drag at the Black Cat bar, which seemed to be under constant police harassment, when raids on gay bars were routine.  He did not expect to win but almost did because of default.  Less than five candidates had filed to run on the final day to register, which would have guaranteed Sarria a seat.  However, by the end of that day, thirty-four candidates had filed.  Sarria came in ninth but garnered about 6000 votes.  That stunned many politicos in the city, who now realized that the gay voting bloc had power.

Sarria continued to perform in drag but also remained very active in fighting for gay rights. 

He passed away in August 2013 from adrenal cancer in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Patricia and Mike, Philipine monkeys, launched 1952

Several years before Sputnik and the on-set of the space race, scientists were already dabbling with the effects of weightlessness and what happens to the human body if was exposed to zero-g environments for extended period of time.  On May 22, 1952, Patricia and Mike, two Philipine monkeys were strapped into the nose section of an Aerobee rocket and launched from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.  Patricia was in a seated position and Mike was put in a prone position, so scientists could see if there were any differences in effects of rapid acceleration.

They reached an altitude of 36 miles (the highest any primate had reached before.  Scientists had been sending monkeys into suborbital space since 1948) and speeds of 2000 mph.  Patricia and Mike were recovered successfully after they parachuted back to Earth from the upper atmosphere. 



https://history.nasa.gov/animals.html

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Little Green Men" airs 1995

One of the funniest episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was Little Green Men, which aired November 13, 1995.  It answers the decade-long question of what happened in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.  For seventy years now, people have been speculating that an alien spacecraft crashed in the desert and has been the subject of the largest government cover-up in history.

It appears they were right.  Quark, Rom and Nog are on their way to Earth when they realize their shuttle craft has been sabotaged.  Nom figures out a way to keep the ship from tearing apart and they crash on Earth but in the year 1947.

It has some of the best lines ever:


Rom: Maybe we are dead.
Quark: What're you talking about?
Rom: Maybe this is the Divine Treasury.
Quark: Oh, don't be ridiculous, the Divine Treasury is made of pure latinum. Besides, where is the Blessed Exchequer? Where are the Celestial Auctioneers? And why aren't we bidding for our new lives, hmm?
Rom: You don't think we're in the other place?
Nog: The Vault of Eternal Destitution?


Nurse Garland: For all we know, it could be the mother.
[Quark is shouting at Rom in Ferengi]
Jeff Carlson: If she is the mother, she's quite a shrew.


Major Kira: Quark, Rom and Nog together on that ship all the way to Earth? Glad I'm not going with them.
Captain Ben Sisko: Only thing that worries me... no one warned Earth that they're coming.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Sidney Gutierrez, first U.S.-born Hispanic astronaut

Sidney McNeill Gutierrez is an astronaut born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which makes him the first Hispanic astronaut born in the U.S.A.!  The previous Hispanic astronauts had been born elsewhere and some of them immigrated to the U.S., becoming naturalized citizens before going into space.

He has a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Academy and was a member of their Parachute Team with over 550 jumps. He became an astronaut for NASA in 1985 and has flown on two Space Shuttle missions.

His first trip into space was as pilot for Columbia (STS-40) in June 1991.  It was also the first mission dedicated completely to life sciences and the first to carry 3 women crew members.

His second mission was as commander on the Endeavour (STS-59) in April 1994.  The mission's objective was to study the Earth and her atmosphere.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Susana Martinez, first US female Hispanic governor

Susana Martinez is the first female governor of the state of New Mexico and the first ever Hispanic female to become governor of a U.S. state.  She grew up Democrat but changed parties in 1995.  She was elected in 2011 and was re-elected in 2013.

She studied law at the University of Oklahoma where she met her husband.  Early in her gubentorial career, she was listed as one of the most popular governors in the U.S.  As of late, her popularity has slipped.

In 2013, Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 most Influential People in the world.

Book review - The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

I started reading this twice before but always got side-tracked or some other excuse, and put it aside.  So after reading two previous non-fiction books which take place during the same generation.  I decided to tackle Timothy Egan’s The Worst Hard Time.  This work centers on the 1930’s Dust Bowl, where over-plowing and careless use of resources created one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters ever.

In the late 1920’s and early 30’s, people swarmed to the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, northeast New Mexico, southwest Kansas and southeast Colorado.  The native Americans had been routed from the area (again) and “great American hunters” had decimated the bison almost to extinction.  The path was paved for white farmers to make their way to endless free land, grasslands for miles with no trees in sight.

It seemed like a boon to anyone trying to get rich and establish a huge farm spread.  Then acres of land were being plowed and turned over by the millions.  An area half the size of England had been turned into wheat farms.

It was good while it lasted, maybe two years.  Then the rains stopped and the stock market crashed.  All of a sudden, wheat sold at a fraction of its cost to harvest it.  Bumper crops in Russia and elsewhere helped drive the price down as well.  At the start of the 1930’s, people in the northeast starved while tons of grain rotted on the ground in Oklahoma.

This was just the beginning of the Dust Bowl.  The destruction of the top soil and the hearty grasses that could withstand extremes in weather holding it in place left soil open to the wind and elements.  Egan’s description of the years of drought, frequent sandstorms that blotted out the sun, and the desperation of the people as they watched family members suffer and die from dust pneumonia is heart-wrenching and the reader can almost feel grit between his teeth.

Egan’s book is also a testament to the human spirit, determined to go on, not letting the fury of Mother Nature’s revenge run them out of their homestead.  He took first-hand accounts from the survivors of the Dust Bowl who remember those terrible years as if they were last week.