The following link has some information on Ray's video-conference with the President's Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond.
]http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/16/moon.marscommission.ap/index.html]

While it is kind of short, it presents some of the give and take. Bradbury positioned space exploration as a means of moving away from politics and terror on earth. He also argued that if money is consistently spent on space exploration, we could achieve the objectives laid out in Bush's plan.

He also argued that if we put off space exploration until we solve all of earth's problems, we'd never get there. He said that if Spain and Portugal had solved all their problems before exploration, "there wouldn't have been an America". He also said there is risk in exploration and that thousands of persons died exploring North America.

It would be fun to get the entire transcript.

Here's another link with more information:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-04-16-bradbury-speaks_x.htm



[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 04-18-2004).]

Mr. Dark.

Thanks! For the information.

That first link doesn't seem to work... try this one...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/04/16/moon.marscommission.ap/index.html

Thank you for posting those sites, otherwise I wouldn't have access to new information about RB

Hi Mafalda:

You finished your MA degree on Bradbury, if I remember correctly. Are you teaching now? What's up for you these days?

Mr. Dark

Hi! I've been teaching but unfortunatly not B, perhaps next year. And there aren't many funs of B in Portugal that I know, so you here are my window to B's world and news. I've read LET'S ALL KILL CONSTANCE and I see this as a biographical book, I recognise the characters and siytuations with those lived by B, I may be wrong, but...

Mafalda: Congratulations on the grad. work! If your curriculum requirements do not allow for a major RB study, you may try working in a selected short story or two from time to time. They can, of course, be selected by their themes, plots, or conflicts and then used to stimulate conversation, parallel other reading assignments, or motivate composition efforts.

Just a thought! It will be interesting to hear how your students take to his style and fantastic storytelling. Your enthusiasm for the work will make it contagious.

Best wishes for a very rewarding life as a teacher!!

I teach in a military school, so it is very difficult to introduce B. The yaers before I had more authonomy so they had to read "A Piece Of Wood" and it was very interesting and they enjoyed very much, but this year it is another curriculum and less hours so it becomes more difficult. And most of my students don't enjoy reading only the few women I have are used to read.

Mafalda,

Did you ever find any more information about the cover artist of Long After Midnight?
( http://www.raybradbury.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000865.html )

- Phil


[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 04-22-2004).]

No Phil I didn't find, I tried the sources you gave me but I din't get any answers.

Well, it seems Mr. B was over half a century ahead of his time on this one too. "Rocket Summer" draws ever closer to reality:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/06/01/moon.nasa.ap/index.html