19 July 2008, 07:44 PM
biplane1Ray Bradbury and AARP
I was getting ready to disard my July/August, 2008 issue of AARP, The Magazine since I read the interview with Martin Sheen and flipped through the other articles and many ads when I happened to notice on the upper left corner of the front cover the name Ray Bradbury and below a caption "On Love." Wow! I was so close to throwing it out and just happened to catch his name.
On page 69 is a photograph of Ray sitting in his den (I believe) with hands folded and looking comfortable. The article is rather short but quotes Ray as saying ""You're never too old to be in love with what you do." Ray goes on to mention how he was educated in libraries and ends up with saying "I awake each morning with metaphors running through my head."
Last evening I had a friend over and we watched the video: Ray Bradbury/An American Icon. Afterwards I called Ray and put him on Speaker Phone. My friend worked on the Space Shuttle program at Cape Canaveral for eight years and got to know quite a few of the astronauts. In fact he helped to train the crew members of the Challenger and was especially affected by the horrible tragedy.
Ray enjoyed taking with Rick, especially after learning that Rick had worked for NASA on the Shuttle program. Ray stated that NASA has meant a lot to him over the years. I mentioned about the new discoveries on Mars in regard to it having had lots of water and you could tell that Ray was excited about the news. In fact hementioned that he attended a meeting with scientists on Mars about a month ago. He sounded great.
My friend Rick was very honored to speak with Ray and tell him that between Ray and Robert Heinlein, they were the motiving factors for him going into Aerospace Engineering.
19 July 2008, 09:57 PM
Mr. DarkVery cool post. Thanks for sharing it. Ray has had that influence on thousands. I have two masters degrees.....a direct result of Ray's influence on my life.
20 July 2008, 01:09 PM
jktBiplane1:
I have to admit that I am qualified to become a member of AARP but refuse to go without kicking and screaming.

Besides, I received three copies of that page in the mail and two people at work gave me their copies of the magazine.
20 July 2008, 03:38 PM
Doug Spauldingquote:
Originally posted by jkt:
I have to admit that I am qualified to become a member of AARP but refuse to go without kicking and screaming.
Good - I can't imagine
Ray ever joining!
quote:
I received three copies of that page in the mail and two people at work gave me their copies of the magazine.
Whatcha gonna do with all those
extra copies? (Are you reading between the lines?)
20 July 2008, 04:05 PM
jktQUOTE]Whatcha gonna do with all those
extra copies?[/QUOTE]
My well meaning friends do not have the reverence for all things Bradbury so they are not in the best of shape. Can you imagine folding or dog-earing the pages?!?!?!?!?
20 July 2008, 04:15 PM
Doug Spauldingquote:
Originally posted by jkt:
...folding or dog-earing the pages?!?!?!?!?
Please watch your
language, sir!
21 July 2008, 01:36 AM
philnicquote:
Originally posted by Doug Spaulding:
quote:
Originally posted by jkt:
...folding or dog-earing the pages?!?!?!?!?
Please watch your
language, sir!
Indeed! Besides, MogtheDog might be upset by this talk of dog-earing.
AARP sounds like something you say as you jump off a cliff (building your wings on the way down, of course).
21 July 2008, 06:49 AM
biplane1Can you imagine that my wife suggested that I simply tear out the page and throw the rest of the magazine away? What a sacrilege! I always keep the "whole" of anything that contains an article about Ray.
I write and sell advertising and send my clients the whole publication (it is usually only 16 pages) to them so that they might see how their ad appeared in relation to the other ads. So I like to keep the whole of anything that has Ray mentioned. To me it only makes sense.