We have ninety signers!  Well done, Eclipse Escapaders!  Welcome, new signers.  Please help us break three digits, and beyond.  Reaching 100 signatures changes our status as a petition with Change.org, strengthens it somehow; I don't know how, but we will see.  The more signatures we get, the better chance we have of impressing community leaders and creating a movement.  I am working on a mental list of the types of people who could be signers.  For now, please think on what friends and associates you have that might sign, and reach out to them  Remember, even just sharing the petition with people will build awareness of our endeavor, and will build up excitement and anticipation.   For this endeavor to succeed, we must count on the the kindness and creativity of people.  I certainly don't have all the details worked out, but I am relying on the might of many minds working in concert, starting with YOUR minds.   Also, please share the rock anthem "Eclipsecstatic."  It does not have as many views as I would like.  

Today, I wrote a letter that will be circulated among the local Quakers.  Obviously, this eclipse is for all the big-brained bipeds that are here, and that can come; and obviously, not all Eclipse Escapaders share my Quaker faith.  Nevertheless, I would like to share the letter with you, my supporters.  This letter reveals how the Eclipse Escapade brings together science and ideas from religion.  

Please find my letter below.  

//As most of you know, I converted to Quakerism in my late thirties after having been ordained as a minister in an American, main-line denomination.  Part of the reason for this dramatic change was, of course, the Quaker commitment to pacifism.  The mainline church, it seems to me, does not take Jesus's teaching, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9) seriously enough.  The pacifism of Quakerism is explicit; one of our testimonies is the peace testimony, and we have a long history of refusing military employment. Another, less explicit, feature of Quakerism is our respect for science. While it is less explicit than our pacifism, this respect for science among the Friends is impressive to read about.  For example, the Quakers have produced such notable people as Fred Sanger, a chemist who won, not one, but TWO Nobel prizes, and Sir Arthur Eddington, who helped Einstein prove his Theory of General Relativity. The respect for the discipline of science sets Quakers apart from certain sects of Christianity who are quite anti-science.  Indeed, I came to Quakerism because I yearned for a pacifist, pro-science version of Christianity.

So, now you have read a little about me, my choice to join the Quakers, and a little about the Quakers, our pacifism and our pro-science attitudes. Now forget about who I am, and who you are, and who we are; forget for just a moment.  Something is going to happen that is not just for me, not just for you, not just just for the Quakers,not just for any one person, or any one religion, or any one human being of any kind of race, class, or creed.  We, the Humans of Western New York, are anticipating a total solar eclipse.  This total solar eclipse will happen over Western New York on April 8, 2024, and it is for all the Big-Brained Bipeds of Planet Earth to enjoy, so long as they can get here.  Please sign this petition to help make a place for eclipse-chasing bipeds to stay. We have nearly 100 signatures already; help us get to triple digits and beyond.  

Quaker and physicist Sir Arthur Eddington's work is particularly relevant to us, right now, in the place we live.  Astronomically speaking, we are living in a time like no other time. We are expecting a total eclipse of the sun, and we should be expecting eclipse-chasers to come.  How does this expectation connect to Sir Arthur Eddington? He was an eclipse-chaser, and a Quaker one at that. In order to prove General Relativity was correct, Eddington had to travel to a place where he could witness and photograph a total eclipse of the sun.  The necessity for the scientist's solar eclipse expedition arose from a strange prediction from Einstein's theory.  Odd as it was, Einstein predicted that light would bend near extremely massive objects, objects like our sun.  It sounds very strange, but if General Relativity was right, the mass of the sun would actually bend the path of light inward toward itself.  So, light from stars that shine in the sky all "around" the sun would bend toward the sun on its way to Earth.  This bending of light toward the earth would make the stars shining "around" the sun appear closer to the sun than we would expect.  If you find it hard to believe that light could be "funneled" toward the sun, well, a lot of people in Einstein's day also found it hard to believe. But Eddington could tell Einstein's equations made sense, and being a "Seeker after Truth," the Quaker wanted to see if Einstein was right. The only way to prove the reality of the light-bending was to photograph the stars that appear around the sun in the sky, to see if they looked closer to the sun than we would expect. But, obviously, the light from the sun usually overwhelms these stars. So, the only way to photograph the stars "around" the sun is to do so at the exact moment of a total solar eclipse, when the light of the sun is blocked.  Eddington thus had to chase an eclipse. 

Every given patch of real estate on Planet Earth only gets a total solar eclipse once every three-to-four centuries, and there was not one happening over England that year. So, Eddington had to travel from England first to West Africa, and then later to Brazil, where he could witness and photograph eclipses.  One of the amazing things about solar eclipses is that, at totality, the stars shine at midday.  Therefore, as planned, when totality happened, Eddington photographed the place in the sky where the moon was blocking the light of the sun. He thus captured an image of the stars that would normally be invisible during the day, and the image showed that, indeed, these stars seemed to be closer to the sun than one would normally expect.  Eddington thereby proved Einstein correct.

Eddington, who was not only a Quaker and an astrophysicist, but also a poet, wrote this verse to celebrate the discovery. 

Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate
One thing at least is certain, light has weight
One thing is certain and the rest debate
Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight.

— Arthur Stanley Eddington
 
We Quakers have a tradition of pro-science faith to maintain, and we honor Eddington when we celebrate an eclipse.  Actually, just the fact that we are "Seekers after Truth" should be sufficient reason to eagerly anticipate the approaching eclipse in Western New York.  However, while we expect an event in the sky, the grounded, human-centered aspect of our faith calls us to action as well.  The approaching eclipse could bring in a torrent of tourists.  The likelihood of this tourist-torrent is evident from what happened n August of 2017.  400,000 eclipse-chasers went to Colombia S.C. just to see the eclipse. Erie County only has lodging available for about 11,000.  Now, remember, every given patch of real estate on Earth only gets a total solar eclipse every three-to-four centuries. The so-called "umbraphiles" (eclipse lovers) will not miss their rare chance to witness an eclipse just because they can't find lodging.  Eclipse-chasers will drive in the day-of, and if there is no room at the inn, will drive out at 4:30 in the afternoon when the eclipse ends, right at the Monday rush-hour.  We could have a calamitous traffic jam that would be a small, environmental disaster. 

So, what is to be done?  Of course, we should be hospitable to sojourners in whatever ways we can.  One project all the people of Erie County could do together would be to address what has been a perennial problem in our region, the problem of abandoned and vacant houses.  It seems to me the county needs an initiative to restore houses well enough that the houses could be hostels for eclipse tourists, or domiciles for umbraphiles.  Thus, I am circulating this petition, which has at this moment 90 signed supporters.        

Thus far in this letter, I have spoken mostly of science.  However, when we look holistically at what the approaching solar eclipse entails, we can see the spiritual side of our expectation.  One way to think of the covenant of Abraham in Genesis 12 is that when we think of the place we have been given, our "promise land," or maybe our "land of promise," we can think of it as a place where we can both receive blessings and BE a blessing.  Now, Buffalo will not have another total solar eclipse until the 1140's, so, this happening is a one-time opportunity for us. This singularity acknowledged, the coming eclipse gives us Western New Yorkers the chance to receive blessings. We will have the blessing of an ethereal sight in the sky, of tourist's dollars flowing in, and of the chance to meet people from other towns.  We also have the promise to BE a blessing, that is, to extend hospitality to our guests, and to share with them all Western New York has to offer. Thus, like Abraham, we are promised not only to receive blessings, but also to BE blessings to others. To turn to the teachings of Christ, he said "I was a stranger and you welcomed me." (Matthew 25:35).  This teaching tells us that when we welcome sojourners, we welcome the Messiah himself into our midsts.  So you see, while the expectation of the total solar eclipse comes from the discipline of science, it also presents the opportunity to put our faith in practice in a very real way.  

The approaching eclipse resonates with the testimony for peace, in fact, it IS a testimony for peace, for it is for all people, and is thus a unifyer.  The solar system does not care about the petty little wars that happen we bipeds stop using our big-brains.  Obviously, an eclipse increases our appreciation for science.  With the right kind of mentality in expecting the eclipse, we can also see the very rare moment we are living in as a time for spirituality.  ///

In Friendship,

Fred Harold Jensen