The Upcoming Solar Eclipse: What to Think of All the Hype

And what it means to be in the center of it all.

Susan Poole
6 min readMar 29, 2024
Photo by Bryan Goff on Unsplash

I live in the center of the ‘path of totality’ — a narrow stretch of land in the U.S. between Texas and Maine where a total solar eclipse is expected to be visible on April 8, 2024. This long-awaited celestial phenomenon has put our community of approximately 26,000 people on high alert.

Several news outlets report that hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to travel to view the eclipse. I sure hope that doesn’t mean they’re all coming here.

Will witnessing the moon’s shadow completely cover the sun be as breathtaking as they predict? Or will the anticipated influx of visitors from around the world bring challenges that we can’t handle?

Good thing our community leaders seem to be hoping for the best while planning for the worst.

The opportunities that await (and have even begun).

There’s increasing buzz in the air about this eclipse, and I’m excited to be part of it. April 8th offers a rare chance to witness something that experts say won’t happen again in the United States for another 20 years. So far, I feel lucky to be smack dab in the middle of all the hype and appreciate the opportunities this…

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Susan Poole

Mother, lawyer, nonprofit executive, breast cancer survivor, and aspiring author. Recently left her day-job to write about topics that she’s passionate about.