Neil
Wednesday – May 18, 2022
Tonight I will have the opportunity to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Because I cannot possibly share everything I would like to share (and ask all of the questions I would like to ask) in a short meet & greet, I am publishing this letter to him as a page on my website so I can give him the link and he can read these things here. In this way I can also share links with Neil (that I cannot easily share in a written printed note!) So without further ado, here’s my note to Neil (which I will also print and hand to him tonight!)
Hello Neil!
Tonight’s opportunity (to come see you – with my aspiring-astrophysicist son, Avi) came up very unexpectedly. As soon as we heard about the event we were hoping to attend, but as a low income family with disabled kids tickets to the event were not in our budget… however “the stars aligned” as it were (last minute) and we were able to attend! As a result I am writing you a note (this note) that I will hand you in person (printed on a piece of paper), but I have also published this note on my website so you can have access to some of the additional information in live links. The link for you to find this letter (with live links to the info below) is: TamaraRubin.com/neil/
By way of introduction…
By way of introduction, so you have some background for who I am and some context for my body of work: I am a multi-federal-award-winning environmental activist and a documentary filmmaker – with a focus on childhood Lead poisoning prevention. I am the parent-activist who was the whistle-blower in the Portland Public Schools Lead-in-Water case (a case that helped to precipitate the current federal actions to address this issue nationally.) I first wrote about the issue of Lead in the water in Portland Public Schools in 2009! I am also a scientist (a citizen-scientist). I use XRF technology to test consumer goods for toxicants (Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Cadmium, Antimony, etc.) and report the test results on my website. I was the person who discovered unsafe levels of Lead in fidget spinner toys in 2017 [Here’s a link to the “CBS This Morning” coverage of that story.]
My children were acutely Lead poisoned in 2005 and I have since dedicated my life to generating awareness about the cause to help protect other children from being exposed to Lead as my children were. My website has had an average of over 1,000,000 unique individual readers every year for the past several years – readers from over 200 “countries” (per Google Analytics!) My documentary film (here’s a private preview screener link) includes footage from my presentation with Bernie Sanders in Flint in 2016 as well as footage from my interview with Noam Chomsky. It also has music donated by The Who and Tom Waits (among others!)
In addition to being a full-time environmental activist, I am also a mother to a posse of (4) science-geek, brainiac young men who are each mega fans of you and your work. My sons are currently 25, 19, 17 and 13 years old. My children have all watched pretty much everything you have ever been involved with that has been published on YouTube (or Netflix, etc.) My three younger children all have significant disabilities from being Lead poisoned as babies.
My son Avi (the 17 year old who is with me tonight) was the most acutely Lead poisoned. He was just 7 months old at the time of his Lead exposure. His goal in life is to be an astrophysicist. He has a diagnosed “brain injury due to Lead poisoning” with a visual memory in the 4th percentile. In spite of his brain injury – the full neuropsychological evaluation that he had done at 7 years old also found that he had an I.Q. of 130! One could say he wants to be you when he grows up, but since that is not possible I know he would do anything to be your intern or assistant (or to even just have the opportunity to shadow you) for a month or two or three (however long you might have him!) Short of that, he would love the opportunity to have lunch with you for an information interview about his intended career path (ether in New York or in Los Angeles – or next time you are in Portland! Whatever is convenient for you!)
In spite of his brain injury, at just 16 years old he started college this past Fall (at Portland State University – right down the street from the theater tonight!) and is now in his third term, getting straight A’s. Each term he is taking at least one academic class to help fulfill the prerequisites to move forward with advanced scientific studies.
The conundrum / the challenge that Avi would love the opportunity to talk with you about at length:
Avi is (academically / intellectually) far above grade level, however with his brain injury cannot read or write anywhere near what might be expected for someone his age. A simple example of how his brain injury impacts his education is that it is not physically possible for him to take written notes in class. He would love the opportunity to chat with you about the barriers for neurodiverse young people (Avi also has an Autism diagnosis) to excel in advanced scientific studies. One barrier (as an example) is the lack of books-on-tape (or other auditory learning devices) for folks like him who are extremely smart but have a brain injury that impacts their ability to read and write.
That said – I think it is very important to share that programs like yours are what has made Avi into a scientist! He has been able to do deep dives into the subject matter by watching highly educated scientists and researchers (like you) talk about the science in video form. Your body of work has shaped his life (and given him this opportunity) at the most fundamental level. I cannot thank you enough for the gift you have been to my family. When we got the tickets (this afternoon) I was in tears over the fact that Avi would have the opportunity to meet someone in person who has made such a signifiant impact in his life. So – again, thank you.
Avi has a dream of attending MIT (his older brother got an internship at the Biomedical Engineering Silk Lab at Tufts when he was 16 and Tufts is also intriguing to him) but it seems with his disabilities that attending the school of his dreams and pursuing the profession of his dreams has some almost insurmountable hurdles. He would love the opportunity to talk to you about these hurdles to see if you (together – the two of you) could perhaps forge some new pathways for neuro-diverse students to follow their science dreams in spite of their disabilities and the roadblocks that are currently in the way of those paths.
And that’s Avi – from mom’s perspective! [One final thought… when I interviewed him for my YouTube series over a year ago he said that one of his dreams was to meet you (here’s that video link), so at least we accomplished that tonight!]
Here are thoughts directly from Avi (transcribed by “mom” – but all Avi’s words!):
Hello, my name is Avi Rubin and I am a very big fan of your work! I grew up watching Cosmos and it was always a fascinating and moving experience. I think your work, along with “Connections” and the work of Michael Stevens from Vsauce, have been among the most influential and inspiring resources in my life so far, inspiring me to become a scientist and a science educator.
I think one of my main goals is to contribute something to the knowledge of humanity, and help bring science to individuals all over the world in an attempt to educate our way as a society towards understanding and inclusivity, compassion for others as a way towards having a fundamental medium to permit rational discourse between peoples of differing opinions.
I want to take every opportunity I can to interact with the science educators who inspire me and to learn from them so that I can help others.
With all that in mind, I want to ask if there are any ways you can help me with this. I’m particularly interested in doing internships as I am now 17 years old (which is the cut off for many of the restrictions for young people pursuing professional internships.) Is there some way that I could communicate with you in the future about this? [I will hand write my email address on the printed version of this note!]
The current educational system is not (in my opinion) offering me enough to pursue what I want to do, and to communicate directly with actual individuals in the science and teaching realms to learn directly from them would be an amazing opportunity! If there is anyone you know who is looking for an intern who is genuinely passionate about science I would love for you to put me in touch with them. I have many questions and ideas that I would like to discuss and explore with actual professionals in their fields – conversations which perhaps I could incorporate into my work towards becoming a science educator through interviewing those individuals.
It is my goal to one day have a successful educational science-focused YouTube channel, and I have just gotten my start exploring this medium. [Here’s the link to my YouTube channel, “The Terran Informed” – at the moment, while I am in college and do not have much time to produce full videos I am just using that channel to publish digital art that I have made, and other various projects.] I want my YouTube channel to some day be in the style of your work or the work of Vsauce, making educational videos that also inspire others.
I also think it is important to express my shared commitment to what I have heard was one of Carl Sagan’s strong beliefs – that I am a stand for cooperation within the different scientific disciplines and my hope is that by sciences working together across disciplines we can accomplish extraordinary things.
Thank you for taking the time to read what I have written. I want you to know that even if you cannot help me personally (for any reason) I will continue to pursue my goals and dreams and your work has been a true inspiration for me!
Avi Rubin, Portland Oregon – Age 17
And on other fronts (back to thoughts from “mom”)…
Outside of making my son’s dreams come true (which happened tonight with the chance to meet you in person and see you speak live!) – I would love the opportunity to talk to you about my advocacy work. I think you might have some insights that could help move the needle far and quickly. The big battle I am tackling right now (that I have not been able to get any traction on with the CPSC or via news coverage of the issue) is generating industry-wide change based on my findings of Lead painted baby bottles being sold in America (and other countries) today via Amazon and other vendors. Here’s a link to a recent overview post on that – and here’s the full category of related posts which includes XRF test results for many examples of Lead painted glass baby bottles purchased in the past 12 months. If I could even just chat with you for 20 or 30 minutes about that (to get your ideas on moving forward in creating change) I would love your insights!
If possible, I would also love to interview you (via Zoom?) for my YouTube video series “Ten Minutes With Tamara” [Here’s a good example (link) of one of my interviews – this is part #1 of a 3-part interview with Jon Fishman, the drummer of the band Phish who is also the parent of a child who tested positive for Lead.]
Thank you for your time! Thank you for taking the time to read this note! We’re excited to see you and are headed to the theater now!
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Owner – Lead Safe Mama, LLC