Light and Noise

On the dilution of stars and the omnipresent drone of humanity.

When I was young, my cousins from Los Angeles visited my family and me in Massachusetts. Their stay happened to coincide with a meteor shower. We were in an area of low light pollution, a good place for stargazing. After dark we turned off all of the lights and stood outside to look at the night sky.

Almost immediately, my younger cousin ran through the …