MY HISTORY
For
as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an astronomer. As far
back as first grade I told everyone that I wanted to be an astronomer
when I grew up. I also wanted to be an astronaut. I remember wishing
in that childlike I’ll-die-if-it-doesn’t-happen way that I could be put
on my own personal spaceship filled with LOTS of food and fuel and just
let me fly out there where ever I wanted to. Yes, I was also a science
fiction freak and I’m sure my rocket flight wish was fueled by Ray
Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark, among others.
But
in those earlier days of space flight, you had to have perfect vision
and perfect hearing. I have worn glasses since the 6th grade and lost
most of the hearing in left ear from a childhood disease, so being an
astronaut at that time was impossible. By the time shuttle came around
and you could wear
glasses in space, I was too old and too established in my lifelong
career as the director of the Kirkpatrick Planetarium of Science Museum Oklahoma.
But at least I got to study and teach about astronomy and all the
wonders of the universe that so attracted me as a 5-year-old by my
father’s side in the cold nights looking through his telescope.
I
have also always been interested in writing. In the 3rd grade, I
created a comic book character called “Otapot.” Sharp-eyed readers may
recognize that as an anagram for potato. Otapot was
a potato, but one that got thrown into a nuclear waste dump and was
mutated into an intelligent and oddly shaped spud. Isn’t that how ALL
superheroes are created? I made two comic books, graphic novels as
they are now called, about Otapot. I actually had a short story
published in my high school senior anthology. Not about Otapot...
Otapot
As the director of the Kirkpatrick Planetarium,
I have written a monthly astronomy article since 1984. I have also
published a few poems and a science fiction short story. But I am most
proud of my new children’s picture book Why Am I Me?.
I am an Honorary Life Member and the newsletter editor of Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc. (OWFI)
and much of what I have learned about writing came from the many
friends, colleagues and teachers I have met at the OWFI annual
conferences. If you are a budding writer, you really should consider
attending this conference!
I
have had the privilege of judging several categories in OWFI’s annual
writing contest. I appreciate the judges who took the time to give me
useful critique and I always strive to do the same for those manuscripts
I judge.
MY FAMILY
My first marriage brought two wonderful kids into the
world. They are now grown. My first son is a PhD Civil Engineer doing
post-graduate work on river ecology and is very concerned about the
environmental impacts of any engineering project in a watershed. My first daughter, after five years working
hard for a marketing firm, went back to school to learn to be a chef. She is now the Sous-Chef of an upscale
restaurant.
My second wife brought into our life together a then 3-year-old second son and we were later blessed with my second daughter, still
a toddler. Never thought I’d be raising
kids again, but I am not the least bit sorry that my life turned that way!
When we got married, we decided to use the ceremony to
express what we shared in common. We
both have some Welsh-Irish blood in us and I have ALWAYS loved wizards and
dragons so we chose to have a recreation of a 5th century Celtic
wedding ceremony complete with handfasting.
I, of course, was a wizard and she was a woman of nobility. You can’t easily go to your local church and
order a Celtic wedding so we had to research and write our own ceremony.
We had family and friends play various characters necessary
to make a complete union. Our marriage
was blessed by the Mother Goddess, the Father God, Mother Earth and the four
Elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire.
The Celts actually believe in a fifth element they called Ir, what we
might translate as Spirit. Ir was the
glue that held the other four physical elements into a cohesive whole so that
the world and all its physical matter could exist. That part was played by the priest! And since this was a second marriage for each
of us, we asked those who attended to not get us any stuff; we had enough
stuff. We asked instead that everyone
buy/rent an appropriate costume for the ceremony. We had 80 out of 85 people in costume!
We did make one change from a traditional Celtic
wedding. We had no designated
Bridesmaids or Groomsmen, as was common in Celtic ceremonies. We actually asked the entire gathering to
stand up and collectively act as our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen.
As a part of this total union idea, we both changed our
names. Many people do not realize this
but the reason women take the last name of their husband was because in the
past, she became his property! We wanted
it known to the world that we are truly equal in this relationship in ALL ways.
Her last name was Harris, mine Wyrick.
We both changed it to Harris-Wyrick.
Funny thing about the laws of Oklahoma:
all she had to do was sign the wedding license with her new last name and it
became legal. I had to spend a day in
court and a chunk of money to have my named changed! But Harris-Wyrick is now my legal last name.
About me 
