Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s biography is like being on the wing of a WW2 fighter plane

But not while it’s airborne

I literally finished reading the biography of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin five minutes ago.

You know that feeling when you are at the movie theater and watch a movie and when it ends you are seething with emotion? Somehow the underdog prevailed, or a particular unwavering virtuous character is recognized as such by a system, a courtroom, a classroom, an institution, a society. Perhaps there is a situation in which something is expected of someone — because of customs and traditions and societal norms — but a person has the courage to speak out or act against all odds and in defiance of the establishment.

I don’t watch a lot of movies: they are very long and I have so many interesting other things to do (like read books). But I do love a great movie. I can’t remember off the top of my head what movies made me sit for a few minutes in the theater transfixed as everyone else was clearing out, but I am sure you know what I am talking about: you sit there in your seat as the credits roll down, emotions boiling to some degree somewhere in your body, a renewed energy present to act in the spheres of your own life that require acting upon. How about Inglorious Bastards as an example? They killed Hitler in the end…