How Sally Ride Launched Her Career as the First American Woman in Space

I would like to be remembered as someone who was not afraid to do what she wanted to do, and as someone who took risks along the way in order to achieve her goals.

Did you know May 26 is Sally Ride day?

Sally Ride was an astronaut, physicist, and science educator—and she shattered one of the highest glass ceilings to become the first American woman in space.

Throughout her life she inspired millions and defied gender stereotypes at every turn.

Freedom to Explore

Sally was born in Los Angeles in 1951 and grew up loving science and sports. Her parents encouraged her and her sister to explore, be curious, and pursue their interests even if they were outside the norm. According to Sally’s mom:

[Her father] and I simply forgot to tell them that there were things they couldn’t do. But I think if it had occurred to us to tell them, we would have refrained.

In high school and college, Sally pursued her love of tennis and became a serious player, competing in tournaments at the national level. Tennis legend Billie Jean King encouraged her to drop out of college and pursue a professional career—advice she fortunately did not take.

She stuck with science, in part because of her experience attending an all-girls high school:

It was probably very important to my future. I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself. I did well in math in high school, but I didn’t know if I would be able to do well at math in college. At Westlake, it was all girls in the trigonometry, calculus and chemistry classes. That environment gave me the confidence and motivation to declare a physics major in college.

Sally double-majored in physics and English at Stanford, and was a few months away from completing her PhD in physics when she saw an ad in the student newspaper—NASA was looking for astronauts. The moment she saw it, she knew that’s what she wanted to do. Sally ripped the ad from the newspaper and applied that afternoon.

Here’s a tip: Sally’s parents and peers encouraged her to pursue her dreams, regardless of cultural norms. But many of us haven’t had that same encouragement. Maybe you grew up with society or even friends and family telling you there are things you can’t do because of who you are.

Take a moment to consider: Are there negative messages or limitations you’ve internalized? Are there interests, projects, or careers you wish you could pursue but feel are off-limits?

Living Fearlessly

Sally applied to NASA’s astronaut program—along with 8,000 other applicants—and was one of thirty-five selected. For the first time in history, NASA had opened its program to women, and Sally was one of the first six women to join.

In 1978 she began her astronaut training at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and quickly fell in love with flying. She worked as a communications officer for mission control for the Columbia STS-2 and STS-3 shuttle flights, and she put her skills as a scientist to work developing a robotic arm for the shuttle to deploy and receive satellites.

Finally, in 1983 she got her chance to fly. She was selected for the crew of the Challenger STS-7 mission and was about to become the first American woman in space.

Sally’s sole focus and passion was on doing her job—she never set out to make history—but her inclusion in the Challenger crew set off a media frenzy. While she experienced the respect and acceptance of her male colleagues at NASA, the media took it upon themselves to bombard her with sexist questions during every interview.

Her NASA training prepared her for space flight—not the pressure of international celebrity. Fortunately a key character quality of astronauts is composure. Sally handled the spotlight with grace and remained unrattled despite the media circus.

The Challenger STS-7 mission was a success, and millions of women and girls around the world were inspired by Sally’s historic achievement.

Here’s a tip: When Sally saw the recruitment ad she didn’t disqualify herself—she just went for it. And she went on to become the first American woman in space. One of the hallmarks of her life was that she lived fearlessly, refusing to let anything hold her back from pursuing her dreams.

Take a moment to consider: Are there ways that you’re holding yourself back, out of fear? Are there dreams that you’re disqualifying yourself from? Writing a book, starting a business, making a career change?

Sometimes when our dreams feel big or unattainable, we psych ourselves out of even trying. What might be possible in your life if you chose to take action despite fear?

Entitled vs. Titled

You can say that a book is entitled “so and so,” but to say that it’s titled might be a more elegant and middle-of-the-road solution.

It doesn’t take a large leap of imagination to see how this blog might be read by someone who is working on his or her first book. To those of you who are working on novels, we wish the best of luck, offer some advice, and present you with a conundrum—will you title your book, or will you entitle it? Because, depending on who you ask, you might be able to do either, or you might just be able to title it. This warrants a deeper look.

Title the Verb and How to Use It

Title can be a noun and a verb. For the purposes of the entitled vs. titled debate, the verb is more interesting to us. To title something means to give it a name:

Nurturing another great love, last month Odom released his self-titled debut album of jazz and Broadway classics on S-Curve Records. —Forbes

The bestselling writer, who resigned from his New Yorker gig and lost his whiz-kid reputation in 2012 when the public learned that his book “Imagine” included made-up quotes attributed to Bob Dylan, is out with a new work titled “A Book About Love.” —The Washington Post

Titled can also be an adjective that describes people who have high social status or rank:

The community leaders and titled chiefs from different towns in the state backed Ogah at a meeting at Ogah’s Campaign Office in Umuahia. —Punch

Entitle and How to Use It

But it’s not the verb title that people find strange when talking about naming books or papers or works of art. Entitle is the verb that some deem objectionable for use in the context of giving names, even though this is one of the meanings the verb can have:

The book, entitled Stand Up China 2017 – China’s Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, was published this week in Taiwan. —The Guardian

The book entitled ZIKA: The Emerging Epidemic is set to be published on July 6, 2016, just a month before the August Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. —Science World Report

The thing about entitle that rubs some people the wrong way is the other meaning the verb might have—“to give the right”:

A Fair Work Ombudsman spokeswoman said the national minimum wage would have entitled him to $16.87 per hour, equating to about $641 per 38-hour week. —Herald Sun

Hamilton was ahead on a line that entitled him to turn in, the stewards concluded. —The Guardian

This is the main definition of entitled when it’s used as an adjective. When we call people entitled, we are saying that they believe they have a right or privilege they don’t actually have:

You may have seen it, or felt it—that phenomenon that seems to have taken over kids in recent years and turned them into entitled, me-centric beings? —Today

Clearly, the reputation of entitle as a verb that means “to give a name” is damaged by the other meaning of entitle—“to give a right.” And the adjective entitled isn’t helping either. So, while you technically are entitled to use the verb entitle in both its senses, a case can be made that title would be a better choice for the sense the two verbs share.

Despite vs. In Spite Of

What’s the difference between despite and in spite of?

The easy answer: none. Despite and in spite of, despite what you may have heard, work identically in a sentence.

In other words, these two prepositions, in spite of what you may have heard, are basically identical.

In most cases, both mean “notwithstanding,” “even though,” or “regardless of.”

Despite their similarities, keep these things in mind to make sure your usage gives no cause for complaint.

Where they go in a sentence

Both despite and in spite of are prepositions that show contrast. They can show up at the start of a sentence or in the middle, but you’ll often need an extra clause to show the flip side. For example:

In spite of this dependent clause, this sentence needs an independent clause (this one!) to be a full sentence.

As you may have guessed, the same would be true if we replaced the “in spite of” in that sentence with “despite.” What matters is that the independent clause—the one that could stand alone as a sentence—is there to balance out the dependent clause that starts with “in spite of.”

What comes after them

Not just any part of speech can be used with these two little prepositions. For the most part, you’ve got three options for what can follow your spite-related phrases.

A noun

For the next two hours the new boy’s behavior was exemplary, despite the spitballs, shot from the nib of a pen, that occasionally splattered against his face. —Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Grammatically savvy, and classy, too.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself! —Clement Clarke Moore, The Night Before Christmas

This take on Santa Claus (not be confused with an independent clause) demonstrates the common construction, “in spite of oneself.” This speaker means he laughed without meaning to. Sorry, Santa!

This is also an important exception: “in spite of oneself” is a fixed idiom: you wouldn’t say “despite oneself.”

A gerund

A gerund is a verb masquerading as a noun. Here’s how it looks with our words of the day.

‘Now, above all, he must be convinced that he is on an equal footing with all of us, in spite of his taking money from us,’ Alyosha continued in his rapture. —Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

“Taking” works as a noun here—same as the nouns in the examples above. That -ing is what sets it apart.

Despite ‘throwing rocks,’ Mike knew, we all knew, that mighty Terra with eleven billion people and endless resources could not be defeated by three million who had nothing… —Robert Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Phrases with what or how

When not used to start a question, what, how, and their other wh- friends function as relative pronouns when they connect phrases in a sentence, or as adverbs when they modify a verb. Here are a few now.

The shower head. It worked fine despite how it looks. —TripAdvisor comment

“The shower head” is a fragment. But at least it works (grammatically and water-wise).

In spite of what happened to it, the pounding rain and hurricane-force winds, the barn still stands intact. —Peter H. Hare and Edward H. Madden, Causing, Perceiving and Believing: An Examination of the Philosophoy of C.J. Ducasse

Where they come from

“Spite” is a noun defined as “ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart.” That’s a fancy way to say “holding a grudge.” “Spite” is also a verb, which means “to purposely hurt or annoy.” For example:

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

In other words, don’t look for revenge out of spite if you may end up harming yourself in the process.

Contemporary usage of despite and in spite of isn’t quite so, well, spiteful. But in some cases you can still pick up a hint of contempt in the “spite” part of these prepositions:

Cory ate all of the cookies in spite of his mom’s warnings.

In Cory’s case, “in spite of” means “regardless of,” but Cory may also hold a grudge against his mom for trying to curtail his cookie-eating.

Despite the many examples, now you’ve got a solid grasp of how these words work. Just don’t use them in spite, in spite of where they come from.

5 Amazing Library Facts

We know that libraries are portals to amazing knowledge and insight, but libraries themselves are also pretty amazing. Here are 5 facts about libraries that will amaze you.

1. According to the American Library Association, 58% of adults in the United States have a library card.

2. The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library. It contains over 160 million items!

3. According to the American Library Association, students in the United States make 1.5 billion visits to school libraries during the school year.

4. The highest library in the world is in Shanghai, China, 60 floors (over 757 feet) above street level.

5. The largest overdue fine for a library book was $345.14. The book was 47 years overdue!

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

5 Book-to-Movie Adaptations Worth Your Time

1. Great Expectations (1947) Book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Fresh This film adaptation of the literary classic immediately became the standard for Dickens adaptations. However, none have really been able to live up to the power of this version. The use of black and white film (despite the availability of color technology) lends a degree of austerity that reflects themes from the novel quite well on the screen.

2. The Godfather (1972) Book: The Godfather by Mario Puzo Rotten Tomatoes: 99% Fresh Given that Puzo assisted with the screenplay, it may not be such a surprise that the film adaptation maintains so much of the book’s integrity. This relationship paid off, however — the film (and its franchise) is known as a cinematic behemoth. It remains one of the most frequently quoted and referenced film franchises in popular culture.

3. The Big Sleep (1947) Book: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler Rotten Tomatoes: 96% Fresh This film is a great example of what skilled casting and shared vision do for a piece of art. Director Howard Hawks captures and keeps the essence of the novel while Bacall and Bogart embody it perfectly.

4. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) Book: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh There is a reason that Gregory Peck won Best Actor for his portrayal of Atticus Finch. He nails it and makes the film work. Strong screenplay and outstanding casting make this adaptation utterly wonderful.

5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Book: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Rotten Tomatoes: 94% Fresh This film has become such a landmark in cinema that some may not realize that it was first a best-selling book. It is the careful and intimate adaptation of the dark and difficult themes of the book that make this film adaptation a masterpiece.

What is your favorite book-to-film adaptation?

Advice on Positive Thinking From Winnie the Pooh

1 The simplest things in life are the ones you should appreciate the most.

“What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying ‘What about a little something?’ and Me saying, ‘Well, I shouldn’t mind a little something, should you, Piglet,’ and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing.”

2 Bad things are less bad if you have friends to help you.

Christopher Robin had a question to ask first, and he was wondering how to ask it.

“Well,” he said at last, “it’s a very nice house, and if your own house is blown down, you must go somewhere else, mustn’t you, Piglet? What would you do, if your house was blown down?”

Before Piglet could think, Pooh answered for him.

“He’d come and live with me,” said Pooh, “wouldn’t you, Piglet?”

3 Every problem has a solution.

Then he had an idea, and I think that for a Bear of Very Little Brain, it was a good idea. He said to himself: “If a bottle can float, then a jar can float, and if a jar floats, I can sit on the top of it, if it’s a very big jar.”

4 To make a good meal great, share it with a friend.

But Christopher Robin and Pooh went home to breakfast together.

“Oh, Bear!” said Christopher Robin. “How I do love you!”

“So do I,” said Pooh.

Words for Peace Around the World

We invent words all the time: movie, jeggings, Internet . . . Did you know underwhelmed has only been around since the 1950s? Of course, we drop words just as often. When was the last time you met a cordwainer? But important words tend to stick around and influence other words in all kinds of interesting ways. Let’s take a look at one of these words, which also happens to be one we hear a lot this time of year: peace.

The words for peace in many Romance languages are direct descendants from the Latin word for peace, pax. Spanish has paz, Italian has pace, and French has paix. Paix is the modern form of the Old French word pais, which was the word that English borrowed almost a thousand years ago and transformed into peace.

Before that, the English word for peace was frith, a cognate of the modern German word for peace, Frieden. Although frith disappeared, its linguistic cousin, friend, is alive and well.

In the 1960s, Americans began to use peace, and eventually peace out, as a way of saying goodbye. The Hawaiian word for peace, aloha, is used as both a goodbye and a greeting. In Korean, the standard greeting anyoung haseyo translates literally to something like “Are you at peace?” The Arabic greeting salaam and the Hebrew greeting shalom both share a common root, sal, which means—you guessed it—peace. This same root is also an element in place names like Jerusalem and in personal names like Solomon. The Russian word for peace, mir, was the name of a space station and is an element in given names like Mirna and Vladimir.

“Peace on Earth” is a refrain we often encounter in speeches, songs, and of course, holiday cards. Depending on exactly where on Earth you happen to be, the phrase might sound completely different in the local tongue. But no matter where you are, words that mean peace are certainly worth saying.

How do you say “peace”?