By Bethany Peterson/editor-in-chief
When we look at the stars, we are reminded of generations past. From Greek gods to Enlightenment thinkers, each generation has recorded its society and ideals in the sky.
Lately, the practice in the scientific community has reflected the emphasis on computers, giving glorious galaxies uninspiring but easily classified names like NGC 4911 or Arp 274.
But with the turning of the generations, a new trend is looking to emerge.
A student in the Cisco College International Astronomical Search Collaboration program has possibly discovered a new asteroid. If her find is confirmed, she plans to name the asteroid “Black Pearl” after Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship in Pirates of the Caribbean.
For generations to come, when her find is discussed, students will by default also learn a movie with a ship named Black Pearl was famous in our time, just as we learned Orion was a Greek hunter of mythical proportions and Edmond Halley was the Enlightenment astronomer who predicted the comet’s path.
Scientific fields are not the only ones shifting. The current generation is also changing trends in Hollywood with novels that are first popular with young adult readers becoming box office sensations.
Such is the case with every generation. From passive child observers, we become our culture’s guides, changing, twisting, reinforcing and sometimes altogether destroying what came before.
As we move through college and then find careers, families or dreams, we will write our own version of the American Dream. It will be different from what our parents dreamed when they were our age and perhaps even different from what we think it will be now.
We will name roads after our presidents, write lyrics about our loves and fight our own wars.
So as we write our essays, study science or make art, remember we are also writing our own chapter.
We are leaving marks on the world future generations will study. Online, in textbooks and in the sky, our marks will tell who we were, what we cared about and what we hoped for the future.
Make your marks count. Make them worth making and worth reading.
