Thank you, Amanda Nguyen
She’s a civil rights astronaut!
You may have heard about the all female space flight courtesy of Blue Origins that took place this week. You’ve probably seen the media blitz and the memes about Katy Perry and Gayle King and Jeff Bezos. If you haven’t- I’m glad. Because it’s been A LOT this week. People have very strong opinions about those two having gotten to go to space for a few minutes. I initially felt the same, like how ridiculous that they’re the ones chosen to go. I scoffed at the entire thing being championed as Women’s Empowerment and inspirational.
I was wrong to scoff.
Do I really care that KP and GK got to go up there? No. The optics of it and the media’s narrative focusing solely on them is the bigger issue.
Who I do care about and who is by far one of the most inspiring people, on and off the planet, is Amanda Nguyen. She’s a real astronaut, a freaking Nobel Prize nominee, a literal world changer. Please watch this short video of her story.
I dare you to watch that and not feel awe or be inspired. I didn’t know her story until this week, when I saw this image I immediately felt everything:
She is who we should all be talking about, sharing about, celebrating, and championing. She was part of a space flight that held famous people, yes, but the bigger story is her.
She finally got the opportunity she’d been wanting her whole life. That she’d had to give up because someone had sexually assaulted her and she suffered for it, and then realized countless women had experienced the same thing she had.
She fought for us instead and changed the world- literally.
This week she finally got to realize her dream.
And I don’t want that to be cheapened because we’re too busy talking about what KP and GK did or didn’t do. Yeah, there’s bigger problems in the world. And yeah we hate Bezos for all the things he’s done or not done. But for this one moment in time he helped this amazing woman realize her dream. I cannot find fault in that. I cannot be angry about that. I cannot sit by and not say something about how beautiful it is to see her sheer joy and know that after everything she’s endured - she won.
So this is my thank you to Amanda Nguyen, for all of it. May you continue to reach for the stars and inspire all of us to remember our dreams.
Read more about Amanda here: I’ve Been Given These Cards. Now What Do I Do With That?’ Blue Origin’s heavily criticized all-female flight was Amanda Nguyen’s best shot at space.
Thank you for cutting through the memes and hate and gifting me with this information. There's been so much noise around the two celebs that I almost missed this beautiful story. :)
Thank you, Mesa. I read the article in The Cut and then felt kind of guilty for writing a snarky poem about the Blue Origin flight. Then again, I’m pretty sure there were others like her who would have been more « worthy » (it’s the wrong word but I hope you know what I mean) of going up with her instead of the celebrities. C’est la vie .