I thought I saw the aurora borealis tonight. All these gorgeous red, orange and white lines shooting upwards in the sky. Turn out they were only lights from buildings, reflecting off of icy air particles. This was almost as good as seeing the northern lights, I think. I am not so picky about my beautiful events that occur rarely in the sky and relate some way to atmospheric conditions. It was fun thinking I saw them for a little while, though.

It reminds me of a comment made in class about Frederick Douglass: “sometimes it is better to be ignorant and be a slave than to know all about slavery and have knowledge and things that make life harder”. Yes, she really said that, and yes, sometimes it is better to think you are seeing the northern lights than to realize the physical air is so cold that it has crystalized to the point of being reflective. in April.

Today, at the museum of American History, I learned about the creation of our wonderful universe from Robert Redford and Maya Angelou. Bursting forth from the inifinty of emptiness, our universe came into being like a chocolate bar in a factory: full of nouggat and endorsed in Japan by the Sundance Kid. Exactly as it should be.

 ps. If the universe were made of nouggat, I would eat it. Heck, I’d go back for seconds.