Why we keep looking up
54
Ideas
Why we keep looking up

An essay on wonder, written on a borrowed typewriter.

Every generation gets one sky event it never forgets. This was ours.

“Wonder is a habit. You can lose it.”
Paul Ventner11 min
55

Written by

Paul Ventner

Section

Ideas

Reading time

11 min

Every generation gets one sky event it never forgets. This was ours.

How it started

Every ideas story in this magazine starts the same way: somebody says “you have to see this”, and we go. This one began on a hot evening in July, with a full tank and no plan.

By the second day we had a notebook full of names, three rolls of film and the strong feeling that the real story was a little further down the road.

What we found

The people we met were generous with their time and suspicious of our questions, in that order. They told us where to stand, when to look and which coffee to avoid.

“Why we keep looking up” is what we brought back. Read it slowly. It was written that way.

Wonder is a habit. You can lose it.

HALCYON

Letters to the editor

Stories worth looking up, since 1971. Seventy-five cents, or free online.

© 2026 HALCYON. A demo magazine; stories and people are fictional.

HALCYON

Letters to the editor

Stories worth looking up, since 1971. Seventy-five cents, or free online.

© 2026 HALCYON. A demo magazine; stories and people are fictional.

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