02/01/2003 Entry: "Colombia; Madeleine."

As soon as I heard Scott Simon's mention the shuttle Columbia this morning, suddenly I was back in 9th grade. There was an announcement on the intercom of the Challenger accident during my English final. We had Chemistry next, so of course our science teacher had the TV on, so while we took our test we watched the trails of smoke from the debris of the shuttle and did our best not to think about it.

Between the Edward Tufte lecture on how a better presentation might have stopped the launch, and stories on the anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the shuttle had certainly been on my mind.

Though I'd rather we didn't have to have this reminder today.