Good morning. We don’t have to travel to the moon to gain some of the insight that astronauts do.
Living spaceVacation photos: Instant postcards of you, your family, on the beach, or on skis, somewhere enviable. Snap the picture, post it or text it and you’ve cemented the experience — I am here right now, and now my friends and followers know, can ogle or envy or delight in my adventures. Even when we’re far away, we’re in constant contact, sending pictures, texts, voice memos, phone calls. In a couple of days, the four astronauts of the Artemis II mission will fly by the far side of the moon, getting perspectives on the lunar surface that have never been observed by human eyes. And when the moon is between the spacecraft and Earth, the astronauts will be completely incommunicado for 30 to 50 minutes. No radio signals, no instructions from Mission Control, no transmissions of any kind. Once the astronauts pass beyond the moon’s visible edge, known as the lunar limb, they will be as far from Earth as humans have ever been, the least contactable people in the solar system. Buzz Aldrin characterized the moon’s surface as “magnificent desolation.” Is there any desolation more profound to our 21st-century proclivities than a total communication blackout? While we may joke that we wish we could flee to some far-off island where no one can contact us, we know that we are always tethered to Earth, that we can get our phones from the hotel room if we need them. We may decide to be offline for a certain amount of time, but we’re in control of the duration. No matter how far we travel or how disconnected we feel, we are always grounded in certain constants: our weight on the earth, the blue sky above, twilight, the sound of the wind. The Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, part of the Artemis crew, said at a news conference this week that in the lead-up to the launch, he would go out at night and look up at the moon. “I really feel like, gosh, that is really far away,” he said. “And it just gives me great appreciation for it.” He gazed up at the moon as we all do, admiring its brightness, pondering its distance with his feet planted on the ground beneath him. But he moongazed with the knowledge that he would soon be seeing it up close, that the world as the rest of us know it is only part of the picture. The change in perspective, the feeling of awe that people experience when they see Earth from space, is called the overview effect. Astronauts speak of recognizing the beauty of the planet, a feeling of interconnectedness, a deep understanding of Earth as home. These are insights we, forever terrestrial, may understand intellectually but have a hard time truly embodying. Christina Koch, another of the astronauts on the mission, described the phenomenon: “You don’t see borders, you don’t see religious lines, you don’t see political boundaries. All you see is Earth and you see that we are way more alike than we are different.” The Artemis II astronauts are the first who’ve been permitted to bring smartphones into space. Will we see selfies at Earthrise, TikToks in zero gravity? And NASA has made it possible for anyone with an internet connection to track the crew, celestial Find My Friends. Even in outer space, the phone abides. Here’s hoping that the astronauts will be able to capture, whether with their cameras or their consciousness, some of the insight that the Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart described experiencing when he looked at Earth from space: You realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you. All of history and music and poetry and art and war and death and birth and love, tears, joy, games — all of it on that little spot out there that you can cover with your thumb. And you realize that that perspective has — that you’ve changed. That there’s something new there. That relationship is no longer what it was. What’s good today?One of the best parts of putting together the Good List newsletter each week is hearing how readers are finding joy and meaning in their lives. Sarah Morford of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote: Last year, my 8-year-old son was diagnosed with acute leukemia. My friends decided that asking me “How are you?” was just straight-up banned. My friend Tricia replaced it with, “What’s good today?” It stuck. To this day, one year later, we still say, “What’s good today?” It’s how I frame my conversations with my friends, how I share my day on social media, and it has shaped my thinking. Even on my darkest, lowest days, I could find something good. Sometimes, that was three minutes of sunshine on my shoulders, or a hot coffee, or a hug, or a preferred nurse, or that he was still here; sometimes, it was way better. What’s good today, April 1st? A year of remission. Crawling roses on the fence. A smoothie for my dog. A glass of crisp rosé. Falling asleep in a house with everyone under its roof. Sign up for The Good List here.
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It was inevitable that there would be a sequel to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which earned over $1.3 billion at the global box office in 2023. Less certain was whether that sequel would be any good. Here’s what our critic, Alissa Wilkinson, thinks of the new installment: The best moments come whenever the characters land on a new planet or enter a new environment. That’s when the animators at Illumination (responsible for unleashing the Minions upon society) let their imaginations loose. But she adds: Still, there’s a flat empty nothingness to “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” even more than its flat empty predecessor, and that’s a huge bummer. Even the children in my screening were strangely quiet for longer stretches than I expected.
Croque-Monsieur Breakfast CasseroleEaster is tomorrow! If you’re still looking for something to make for a celebratory brunch, Sarah Copeland’s croque-monsieur breakfast casserole is a burnished, custardy beauty, filled with sliced baguettes, ham and a gooey topping of Gruyère cheese. It’s quick to assemble, too, and can easily be done the night before (tonight). Then tomorrow, you can help the Easter Bunny hide eggs while the casserole bakes and let its nutty, cheesy scent greet your loved ones when they arrive at the table.
The Hunt: Looking for a quieter life in an arts community, a couple left Oakland, Calif., for New York’s Hudson Valley. What house did they choose? Play our game. What you get for $1 million in the Greek Isles: A four-bedroom, stone-built villa with a swimming pool. An apartment in a neoclassical building. A four-story house with a roof terrace. Gathering space: Conversation pits, also known as sunken living rooms, appear in many styles in these homes — built as far back as 1878 and as recently as 2021.
Bug’s eye view: In a new book, two botanists hope to reintroduce the 19th-century hobby of “botanizing” — taking a very close look at the botanical world. Diagnose me: Doctors couldn’t help them. So they rolled the dice with A.I. Living small: These eleven architectural plans could help solve the housing crisis.
Wear-anywhere sneakersA sleek, timeless sneaker can look just as polished as — and feel far more comfortable than — a pair of flats. This is the litmus test I used when I considered more than 50 pairs of chic sneakers for our brand-new guide. Ultimately, I found eight superb pairs that look cool but are still practical enough to tackle a 10,000-step day. Consider styling a lithe silhouette with pooling wide-leg pants or slinky midi skirts for elevated jaunts around town. For a day at the office, try a sleek leather pair with tailored trousers, cigarette jeans or slim pants. It’s sneaker season, at last. — Zoe Vanderweide
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