![\"Source:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/r9f.352.myftpupload.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/solar-eclipse-1024x697.jpg?resize=584%2C398\" "\\"Source:")
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\u201cThe New York Times<\/a><\/em> is trying to guilt-trip us into not being blas\u00e9 about the solar eclipse,\u201d my husband remarked the other day.<\/p>\n I am so blas\u00e9 that I will be in the dentist\u2019s chair at the transformative moment. I will not be on a field trying to nab some elbow room in the zone of totality, or on a congested highway trying to get to said field. I will not be worrying about whether back-ordered special eclipse-viewing glasses will arrive on time, or whether the pair I\u2019ve scored is part of a blindness-inducing scam hawked by some ruthless entrepreneur. I will not be dealing with pinholes in cardboard and reverse shadows on pieces of paper. I still remember those DIY projectors from childhood, in which the image that was safe to view was about the size and impressiveness of the dinged piece of paper that emerges from a three-hole punch.<\/p>\n I know many people who are more excited than I am, and who have made meticulous plans. Some people we met at a Bed-and-Breakfast several months ago had booked a house in South Carolina years ago for the event. My brother, who is excited but not a meticulous planner, thinks he will get in his car in Western Massachusetts around midnight and drive to a lake in Tennessee. He expects to have the waterfront all to himself. I expect him to not even make it to the lake.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about traffic?\u201d I point out.<\/p>\n \u201cTraffic?\u201d he asks blankly.<\/p>\n We go back and forth for some time about this wondrous cosmic spectacle.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you think it will be fantastic to go from brightness to total darkness?\u201d my brother asks.<\/p>\n \u201cI already experienced that on the evening of November 8,\u201d I reply. For the record, \u201cfantastic\u201d is not the word that springs to mind.<\/p>\n Still, I am not entirely immune from the pull of the heavens. I have clipped out an item on Nova<\/em>\u2019s coverage, which promises to offer more than pinhole viewing or blindness. I may even throw a colander in the backseat of the car in case my dentist is running late, or running outside to view the eclipse. I picked up this tip listening on NPR to Andrew Fraknoi, professor emeritus of astronomy at Foothill College and author of\u00a0When the Sun Goes Dark<\/a>.<\/em> \u00a0He advises holding a colander (minus the pasta) over your head with your back to the sun, then watching the shower of tiny eclipses appearing on the pavement.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll be the hero of your neighborhood,\u201d Fraknoi enthuses.<\/p>\n That\u2019s me, hero of the neighborhood\u2014if the neighborhood is well outside the zone of totality, and as hassle-averse as I am.<\/p>\n *<\/p>\n What are your plans for the solar eclipse?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe New York Times is trying to guilt-trip us into not being blas\u00e9 about the solar eclipse,\u201d my husband remarked the other day. I am so blas\u00e9 that I will be in the dentist\u2019s chair at the transformative moment. I … Continue reading