Welcome to The Edge of Space-Time
Hi Friends!
You're getting this email from Buttondown because I've migrated away from Substack, who suck, as a company. Since I don't have paid subscriptions, this involves making a move from a (venture capital-backed) free service to one with a monthly cost. I'm glad I can afford this without any concerns. Even so, I am considering whether I will activate some kind of tip jar (maybe later). In the meantime, you can always send a bit my way by shopping for books through my Bookshop affiliate store. This has the added benefit of sharing profits with local, independently-owned bookstores (which you should shop directly, if you have the option). If you'd like to try Buttondown too, use my referral link to sign up.
I don't expect much to change for you, except you'll visit me at buttondown.email by navigating to newsletter.chanda.science or buttondown.email/chanda. My archives have been imported, so you should be able to find old newsletters here.
This is a bit of a relaunch because I'm now working on another book, tentatively titled The Edge of Space-Time, and I thought it was time to give "The Disordered Cosmos" a rest after using it since I started my first blog around 2007.
While I have your attention, here are a few new pieces that dropped recently.
The Infinite Possiblities of Afrofuturism. My review for Foreign Policy of the Smithsonian's new Afrofuturism exhibition:
Imagine that Benjamin Banneker, Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and Frederick Douglass, instead of being tasked with fighting slavery and arguing for Black humanity, crewed a spaceship together.
A call to cite Black women and gender minorities. Symmetry Magazine covered the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography.
Nadra Nittle at The 19th generously did a Q&A with me about the significance of my achievement as one of under 20 Black women to earn tenure in American physics. I enjoyed this sentence in it: "Today, the teen who didn’t recognize her own galaxy is not only an expert on the cosmos but also a trailblazing scholar."
That's all for now. Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter! Feel free to encourage others to subscribe too, and don't forget to grab a copy of The Disordered Cosmos from your local bookstore and/or library.
Chanda
