Anne's blog

(this intro is from the liner-notes to my CD Colum­bia: We Dare to Dream)

I didn’t know them.  I didn’t know their names, or that they had been in space for six­teen days, or that they were called the “STS-107” crew, or even what “STS” meant.  But I was sit­ting next to my piano on the morn­ing of Feb­ru­ary 1^st, 2003 when I heard the news… the awful news that the space shut­tle Colum­bia had just bro­ken apart upon reen­try, 200,000 feet high in the skies over Texas, and that the entire crew had undoubt­edly per­ished.  (more…)

(liner notes for track 1)

There must be a day, I imag­ine,
when a great ship is finally
born to the world…
a day unlike all the others.

The sound of horns is in the air,
call­ing all the peo­ple… (more…)

(liner notes for track 2)

Got to keep going
got to keep going
keep up the pace
what’s the next step to do
look at the check­list
look at the check­list
check it again
all must be per­fect. (more…)

(liner notes for track 3)

They speak of it
reluc­tantly,
the astro­nauts of few who admit
to the sen­sa­tions
and frus­tra­tions
of the first days
in weight­less­ness:
(more…)

(liner notes for track 4)

Born from hum­ble roots in Kar­nal, India, Kalpana Chawla trav­eled one of the longest and hard­est roads to become an Amer­i­can astro­naut.  Though small in stature, she became hugely known the world over as “Kalpana” or “K.C.”, the Indian girl who against all odds wanted to become an aero­space engi­neer, the Indian girl who wanted to fly and explore and who per­se­vered to make it hap­pen.  (more…)

(liner notes for track 5)

They were com­ing home.

They were com­ing home to us,
where we were wait­ing
so proudly and assuredly.
(more…)

(liner notes for track 6)

He is the son
who puts his anger aside
and bravely chooses to wear a flight suit
just like his father wore.
She is the daugh­ter
who helps her mother to cope
when­ever they think of
the wed­ding ring
that was never found
in all the fields of Texas.
(more…)

(liner notes for track 7)

It’s been a year,
or two, or more it seems,
and you’re miss­ing them,
again…
those heroes in your life
who are now gone from your life…
miss­ing them, again,
espe­cially one,
one who shined so brightly,
one who was so very close.
(more…)