A Wild Story

How I Went Viral 

Dear students/ parents: 

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, so rather than waxing eloquent on some soapbox, I figured I would just share a good old-fashioned storytime of something wild that happened to me while I was on vacation. 

The story actually begins with my late grandfather, Ray Wiley. Ray flew C-130s in Vietnam during my mom’s early childhood. By the time I knew him, those years were long behind him, and while he was eager enough to talk about airplanes, he decidedly did NOT talk about war. In later conversations with my mom and grandmother, they both agreed that the experience left him with strong anti-war beliefs. In retirement, he dived into his passions: spending time with his kids and grandkids, eating lobster whenever he came to visit Maine, planting and maintaining wildflowers (especially bluebonnets) at his ranch in his native Texas, scuba diving, and stargazing. When my mom was a young adult, he actually built his very own telescope, grinding the lenses by hand in his garage. I remember as a little kid that one of the highlights of our visits was, on a clear night, to go out back behind his house into the field of wildflowers and look up at the moon and planets through “Grandpa’s telescope”. He was also a wonderful storyteller and loved a wild story. So, buckle up! 

Since his death in the 2010s, the result of a surgery complication, our family has held a belief that he watches over us all, bringing positivity and guidance, and smoothing out affairs for all of us. So fast forward to my spring vacation, where all the coincidences started to emerge: 

#1 We had a long flight to our destination and, as usual, I picked out a book to read on the plane. My husband had given me a We Were Soldiers Once and Young, an autobiographical account of one of the major Vietnam War battles. Naturally, as I was reading this very horrible and moving story, I thought of my grandfather, wondering if there was any chance I’d come across his name or the name of someone he knew personally. The theme of the horrors of war was one that pursued us throughout our travels - at every destination we somehow ended up having an in-depth conversation with a traumatized veteran (my husband is a paramedic so he has one of those faces that makes people want to share very personal stories). It felt like we couldn’t get away from it! It also felt like a very sobering perspective, given the current conflicts in the Middle East. 

#2 We had a very nice vacation, and when it was time to leave, boarded the plane from St. Croix to our layover in Charlotte, NC. When we had purchased tickets for the flight, we noticed we had only a 30 min layover, so we decided to pay a little extra to book seats near the front of the plane - an aisle and middle seat on the right side. Despite this, when the plane departed, it turned out that no one had purchased the window seat, leaving it empty beside us. Score! We didn’t know at the time how much of a score it was... 

#3 I had read on the news earlier in the day that the Artemis II launch was scheduled for April 1st (I actually asked my husband, who is also a huge space nerd, if the press release was an April Fool’s joke, but he said it was real). I knew it was of huge historical significance because it is the furthest any human has ever been from earth, and the first trip back to the moon since the moon landing. But I didn’t think too much more of it until an hour or so into our flight, when the pilot announced “if you look out the right side of the plane in 6 minutes, you just might see the Artemis launch at your two o’clock”. My husband and I looked at each other as if we hadn’t quite heard right. “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” 

#4 Well, naturally, we scoot over to the (conveniently) empty window seat. However, even from the window seat, a two o’clock angle would make a difficult view of the launch. We expected to have to crane our necks to maybe see it. But our luck hadn’t run out yet. We had signed up for the American Airlines Advantage because my brother, also a pilot, had recently started flying for them (does that also count as a coincidence??) so we had access to inflight wifi. This allowed my husband to text his friends, who were watching the launch on NASA’s Livestream. They informed us that the launch had been delayed by 10 min! We were able to track our flight through an app and realized that the additional 10 minute delay would actually put us at the perfect angle. 

At this point, my husband is buzzing with excitement, so I decided to take one for the team and be the camerawoman to allow him to have the full, unadulterated experience. I glued myself to the window and proceeded to take this video: https://youtu.be/MgM_pSRdZGQ?si=2LsHsqNM0nPC0pDy . The experience was quite exciting and I definitely felt as though I was seeing history in the making. I decided to make a cute Instagram video featuring “Don’t Stop Me Now” By Queen. It took a while to upload (airplane wifi is slow) but within 10 minutes it was already gaining traction. 

Readers, I went viral. The next few days were a whirlwind of 1,000 plus notifications every time I opened my phone, direct messages from news outlets, and even a zoom interview with CBC. My favorite was when NASA’s Instagram account liked my post (!!!) I gained millions of views and thousands of followers between Instagram and TikTok. I kept laughing because, in the wake of the release of my debut single, going viral for a rocket launch video was not on my bingo card! I did somewhat try to leverage the buzz to promote my song through additional videos, and got a little bit of traction (37k views of a second video with my song as the backing!), but not a lot of streams. I guess the demographic that enjoys rocket launches may not be the same that enjoys ancestral feminist reggae anthems… 

So where does that leave me today? The buzz has (mostly) died down, though the launch video is still circulating the internet. I do have a few more followers than before, who might still listen to my music! And I am left with a bigger question, what does it all mean? My grandfather was a huge fan of space observation and exploration - and would have been thrilled about the Artemis launch. And he was a huge fan of my music - as I was growing up, my mom would send him videos of my singing and I know he would have loved my song “Grandmother”. I don’t think it's a coincidence that I got this view of the launch - and a small taste of fame - right after its release and right after talking to veterans and learning more about the Vietnam War. So, what was he trying to tell me? What was he trying to tell the whole world? 

I think the message is this: war comes at a terrible cost and there is plenty of it in the world right now. That’s why it's important to remember what humanity can achieve working together towards something amazing and joyful. Our creativity and curiosity are what makes us human and are worth sharing with the next generation. Our grandparents, who have lived through so much, can teach us valuable lessons about what is truly important. This message is naturally significant for us musicians - our voices matter tremendously in the face of hardship and division in the world and the sharing of music is an integral  aspect of passing on wisdom intergenerationally. 

And I think he left a small lesson for me: fame is fleeting and totally a matter of luck. I really did find myself getting drawn into hoping that my music would somehow magically blow up from this. But the real work of putting out music doesn’t rely on that once in a lifetime “winning the lottery” moment. You can go viral and it still not be enough. You have to remain connected to your purpose as an artist, which is to create and share without expectation of how it is received. Success can’t be measured in how many people (or bots) viewed your clip that had your song in the background but rather in the genuine connection you make with other people. There is no “cheat code” to success, but it's fun to stop and recognize the wild stories that happen along the way. And who knows? Maybe someday I’ll write a song about my experiences! 

Have you ever had a crazy string of coincidences teach you valuable lessons about the world and your art? Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you. 

Warmly,

Dr. Jane