Fox Tales: Are You a Lone Star,
a Big Dipper, or a Milky Way?

By Susie Lynn Fox, 2007-2008 LSC President

This past summer while hubby and I were semi-camping out in a sportsman’s cabin in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near Lake Superior’s southern shores, I was amazed by many sights, but none more than the night sky. As we drove up to Lake Superior for the first time, I was astonished at the deep blue color of the water, the ocean-like immensity of the lake, the incredible Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, the white sandy beaches, and the lush national forests that blanketed the area.

Each day we took sight-seeing trips to quaint light houses on the lake, to remote beaches dotted with agates, and to unexpected waterfalls that seemingly sprang from nowhere in the cool forests. The townsfolk we met each day were friendly and loved to talk. They said they enjoyed the tourist season because everything quiets down too quickly when winter closes in. With average snowfall at over 200 inches per year, the biggest concern is not whether they’ll have a white Christmas, but whether they’ll have a green Christmas.

Isolated Landscape Is Full of Life

When we arrived late at night, we quickly figured out how isolated we were when trying to find the sportsman’s cabin. There were no street lights, no city lights, no lights, period. Finally, we saw a sign for the Boot Lake Bar and Restaurant, which was located a little way off the highway and on a snowmobile trail. The Boot Lake proprietor was kind enough to jump in his truck and lead us straight to the cabin.

The sportsman’s cabin was tucked away on the side of a highway. The highway, which was little traveled by day and even less at night, seemed like an odd place to build a cozy cabin. But after hearing about the area’s heavy winter snows, I thought you’d probably have to build a cabin on the highway just to be able find the cabin in the winter.

The woods behind the cabin seemed thick and impenetrable, and I wondered what creatures lived there and called it home. The wildlife brochures talked about bear, deer, moose, bobcats, wolves, coyotes, foxes, and other woodland creatures.

We also quickly learned that trying to get a cell phone signal was not easy. It seemed like you had to go to a town of a certain size, stand on a certain street corner, and face a certain way to possibly make a call. When we were on Lake Superior itself, especially near a light house, it seemed like we could make cell phone calls easier, too.

Front Porch View Stuns City Folks

Surprisingly, the most incredible sight of our entire trip was just a few steps off of the front porch at the sportsman’s cabin. Generally, we’re too busy to look up or even around us as we trundle through our normal day-to-day tasks. However, on vacation, I suddenly remembered to look up one night at the sky, and the sight took my breath away! I had to grab a hold of hubby before I was brave enough to look up again.

Looking up, it seemed like a million stars were bearing down on us, closer to Earth, more brilliant, and more incredibly infinite, than I have ever seen. In all my life and travels in 49 of the 50 states, and even here and there around the globe, I don’t recall ever seeing or maybe forgot that there were that many stars in the night sky. I guess it’s easy to forget when stars are hidden from view by the big city lights of more populated areas.

The Milky Way was as thick as spilled milk poured across the heavens from horizon to horizon. The constellations, including Big Dipper and Orion, barely stood out from the multitudes of stars surrounding them. The flash of shooting stars and falling stars (aka meteors) kept catching our eyes. “Did you see that?” “Wow!” “There’s another one.” “OK, look this way now.” “Unbelievable!”

White Plastic Chairs Are Preferred Seating

After the first night’s discovery of the stars outside the cabin, we made a habit of bundling up in coats each night, turning off the cabin lights, switching on the flashlight, picking up the white plastic chairs off the front porch, and moving the chairs as close to the highway as possible without falling into the ditch. We switched off the flashlight and settled down for each night’s show.

At first, it seems like we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces, and it was kind of scary. I hoped no animals were prowling around looking for a late night snack. As we got more used to the dark, we could see the outline of trees across the highway and also behind and beside the cabin. The silvery ribbon of the dark highway lay just across the ditch.

The heavens were heavy, dripping with millions of stars, all sizes, shapes, and distances from where we sat in our white plastic chairs on planet Earth. No clouds stood in the way between us. The air was crisp, clean, and clear. The sensation was so intense that we could look only for a little while. We knew it was time to go in when our necks hurt from looking this way and that, searching for the next falling star.

Lone Stars, Big Dippers, and Milky Ways Are Like STC

This Fox tale reminds me that our technical communication work environments come in different shapes and sizes, just like the night sky offers a variety of lone stars, constellations, and galaxies. Sometimes tech comm professionals might feel isolated, without resources, or unable to immediately see all the like-minded folks that light up the Society for Technical Communication (STC) sky around them.

I’ve worked as a lone writer, in tech pubs teams of two to seven other writers, and with a large team of more than 60 writers. No matter what our current job situations are by day, STC members can find the teams, training, and professional growth they’re looking for by working within the larger STC organization and in a local geographic community, such as the Lone Star Community (LSC), or in a special interest group (SIG).

To continue to enjoy the great benefits of STC, remember to renew your STC membership in 2008. Whether you are a Lone Star, Big Dipper, or a Milky Way, they’ll be folks sitting on the sidelines in white plastic chairs, watching you shine in your corner of the technical communications sky!