Challenger

[neadods]

Today was my generation's "Do you remember where you were when you heard?" moment.

I was at my first job, in a big open space with four desks in it (I would, over the course of my career there, sit at all 4.) Because this was when indoor smoking was still allowed, I was probably hunched over a fan, which I ran every day to try to cope with the chainsmoker who sat at another of the desks. I was probably wrestling with the office computer, a command-line DOS beast.

All I clearly remember is one of the bosses coming out of the window offices ringing our open area and saying in a hushed voice, "Challenger blew up. I heard it on the radio." (Only management was allowed stuff like that.)

I refused to believe it until I got home and saw it on the news. And then I still didn't believe it. I didn't want to.

Comments

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

The song that came to my mind-- and I still think of Challenger when I hear it-- was "Icarus" by Welsh folk singer-songwriter Anne Lister. She's not on YouTube, alas, but here's someone else singing a version of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ip2G-BkMgc

I carried the wings for you, up the path to the cliff face,
Kissed you goodbye and watched your eyes, already bright with sunlight.
It was so wonderful at the start, to watch you soaring higher;
There was a pain deep in my heart; the wings seemed tipped with fire, Like a seagull or a lark, rising up to heaven,
Like an ember or a spark, vanishing from earth forever.....
But then I saw the white wings fold, saw the feathers tremble,
Watched you fall like a ball of gold, the waves and waters ripple.
And there are some who are born to rise, some are born to follow,
Some head straight for the skies, some walk in the hollows,
But as I watched your body fall, I knew that really you had won,
For your grave was not the earth but the reflection of the sun.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the YouTube link! I know some of Lister's work; I've performed her Persephone song "Demeter's Daughter."

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

She has a website, http://www.annelister.com/ , with links to hear or buy her music. Many songs related to British legends and traditions, with thoughtful original lyrics.