Today England put to rest her longest-reigning monarch, Elizabeth II. Here is a reflection on her long life in relation to the Eclipse Escapade.
During World War II, when she was still a princess, Elizabeth worked as an army mechanic. Can we appreciate how transgressive the princess’s move was? American Gen Xers like myself will remember rock star Billy Joel in the video for “Uptown Girl,” working as a mechanic, singing to, wooing, and winning a very royal-looking cosmetics model, the “Uptown Girl.” At the end of the video, the “backstreet-guy” mechanic rides off on a motorcycle with the uptown “princess.” It’s a great song, and the music video makes it greater. And now you may have it stuck in your head. So, let’s take five so that you can sing the song to yourself a while, or even look up the music video on Youtube.
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Back from your song break? The idea of a romance between a princess and a mechanic is endearing, right? Well, the real-life story of Elizabeth takes this conjunction a step further. Princess Elizabeth WAS the mechanic. Now, if a fanciful song of a mechanic sharing a romance with an up-town girl charms us, surely a real-life story of a princess BECOMING a mechanic should be impress us. Maybe it doesn't impress you that much. However, if I am correct that the princess to grease-monkey metamorphosis impresses you, try to imagine the sun becoming like a huge pupil of an eye in the sky, the stars coming out, and it becoming cool for three-minutes and forty-five seconds in the middle of the day.
Hard to imagine, right? Though we Americans don't have a monarchy, we can surely appreciate the transgressiveness of the young, aristocratic princess’s extraordinary decision to become an army mechanic. She did so under the dire circumstances of blitzkrieg bombs dropping from Nazi planes and bringing down her city. Extreme circumstances will challenge us to take on roles we would not ordinarily take on. In this distinct time, betwixt and between two Great American eclipses, we should ask OURSELVES what extraordinary roles WE are willing to take on to anticipate the rarest of all celestial phenomenon, an eclipse, an impetus and an opportunity to build up our city for the sake of hospitality and resplendence.
The roles we take on as we anticipate the eclipse will no-doubt transgress, if nothing else, our ordinary way of doing things. And why not? Since our moment betwixt and between two Great American Eclipses is a unique, and shall never be repeated, why not take on extraordinary, transgressive roles we have never taken on before and may never take on again? Remember, a total solar eclipse is ITSELF a transgression. Ordinarily, the moon reflects the light from the sun to the earth. During an eclipse, the moon blocks the light from the sun and makes a shadow…an “umbra.”
Perplexingly, a number of my friends seem a tad confounded by the concept of the Eclipse Escapade. To speak like an Englishman, my mates are “miffed” at me. But really, the basic concept of the Eclipse Escapade is quite simple. Western New York is anticipating a total solar eclipse of the sun. Based on what happened in 2017, Western New York should anticipate a torrent of tourists that day. 400,000 tourists traveled to Colombia, S.C. to witness totality of the last solar eclipse. That’s 5.5 Highmark Stadium’s full of people. Even with every single hotel room and AirBnB full, Western New York cannot house that many; we only have lodging for about 11,000. The lack of lodging will not keep eclipse-chasing tourists away; these tourists will not miss their possibly once-in-a-lifetime chance to see a magnificent, total solar eclipse. Some have pointed out that the eclipse tourists need not stay the night; they can drive out the same day. True, they CAN drive out the same day, and given the present dearth of domiciles, they will have no other option but to drive away. So, imagine what the throughway is like on a day the Bills are playing, and multiply that by 5.5 times. Only, people are also taking the bridges to Canada. And the Exodus is happening at 4:30 P.M. on a Monday.
How do we prevent chockalock traffic congestion on a day that many will have had a profound, cosmic experience? The obvious solution is for Western New Yorkers to find a way for our sky-gazing guests to stay the night. Since eclipse tourists are called “umbraphiles,” we should welcome umbraphiles to Buffalo until dawn breaks on April 9. Let the eclipse-experienced enjoy everything that Western New York has to offer the evening of April 8. How? Why not rehabilitate some of the many abandoned homes we have in Buffalo? We could thereby house eclipse tourists AND address the problem of vacant homes in Buffalo, feeding two birds with one pone. So; to reiterate, eclipses bring tourists, Western New York will have an eclipse, eclipse tourists will need lodging, Western New York has many vacant houses that could serve, with some repairs done. The concept of the Eclipse Escapade does not seem complicated to me. I dare say, it would be simply daft not to do it.
Granted, we might have to think and act in ways that transgress what is generally regarded as “normal.” Organizations in Buffalo that are normally indifferent to each other, or even competitive with each other, or even hostile toward each other, will have to learn to work together. Those of us with white-collar jobs might be rolling up our sleeves and doing renovation work. Actually, though, like many project-loving Americans, I would enjoy doing so. I have volunteered for Habitat for Humanity in the past, and have found the work quite rewarding. I have no doubt many of you feel the same. If the young princess was willing to roll up her sleeves and be a mechanic for the war, surely all of us can work in different, unusual ways for this once-in-a-lifetime experience of preparing the Queen City for a total solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse is anything but normal; why treat the coming day containing three minutes, forty-five seconds of darkness as if it were any other day? Maybe somewhere in Western New York, a mechanic will host a cosmetics princess as an AirBnB guest, and they will fall in love under the umbra.
More on the Queen tomorrow. Remember to get in touch with your own “rulers,” that is, the movers and shakers you are close to and the politicians you can get in touch with. And of course, find your own inner, ruler-ship and help me make the Eclipse Escapade happen.