Clare, in Clare and the Reasons, is Clare Muldaur, daughter of Maria and Geoff. Here she sings in defense of Pluto, the little put-upon planet that scientists say may not actually rate being called a planet. Listening to the French version, “Pluton,” on her MySpace page, with its dreamy use of a theramin sound, I get a sense that this was intended to be the missing final part of Holst’s suite The Planets, which was composed before Pluto had been discovered.
Laurel — I’m with you. An off-plane orbit does not make Pluto an off-planet.
And niece of Diana Muldaur.
The wrongful demotion of Pluto has inspired many songs, poems, and works of art. As a singer and actress, I have either bought or downloaded most of the songs and love to sing them. I also wrote a fantasy drama play about Pluto.
As a writer, I have been advocating the overturning of Pluto’s demotion for three years, and one of the things I have learned is that it is not “scientists” but only a tiny fraction of astronomers that voted on Pluto’s demotion to begin with. Four percent of the International Astronomical Union approved the resolution demoting Pluto, and most of them are not planetary scientists. Their decision was immediately opposed by hundreds of professional astronomers in a formal petition led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto. Many of these scientists are either ignoring Pluto’s demotion or actively working to get it overturned.
I love Clare’s song and will watch this ballet. At the same time, I emphasize that this is an ongoing debate, and that it is perfectly legitimate scientifically to continue viewing Pluto as a planet.
Oh! I love it! I didn’t see the video before just the song, very beautiful song 🙂
I love it! Count me in as a new fan. Naturally, I like the French version meillieur. And, she looks more than a little like her mom at that age.
OK, can’t resist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K-hF-Tlp0Y&feature=related
But here’s mom now, talking about the song! We all age, don’t we?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkYfAK73-H0&feature=fvw