Hudson Valley Astrologer

In 1979, Your Place in the Cosmos was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and the International Star Registry was born. ISR then shared the bright idea of offering a service for naming a star after individuals willing to register.

Since inception, over 3 million stars have been named and you can name your own star with a digital starter pack for just $29.95, but if you want to go all out, then buy the Ultimate Star Kit for $189.95 which fetches a framed certificate and chart. In between the starter pack and the Ultimate kit there is a Custom Star Kit and a Deluxe Star Kit.

I am not sure I want have a star in my name. Is it vanity or ignorance? But the concept as a business I think, only revivals that of growing pet rocks, which was also an absurdist business idea introduce four years, earlier in August of 1975. Gary Dahl, an advertising executive launched the product as a joke. Over 1 million pet rocks were sold before year end. The cost was originally $3.95 which is about as much as it costs to name a star in today’s dollars. Can you imagine?

I am not interested in a pet rock or having a star named after me. But I am interested in the gullibility of people that enables enterprising entrepreneurs to exploit the public’s vulnerability to believe in almost anything, including the “devil made me do it ,” or a foreboding astrology transit, perhaps the astrological full moon or an eclipse like happened yesterday at 6:47 EDT for the lunatic fringe.

Speaking of having something named after you, here in the Hudson Valley the former Tappan Zee Bridge was renamed in 2017 by Governor Andrew Cuomo, to honor his father, three time governor Mario Cuomo. The Tappan Zee Bridge has received bipartisan support to have the original name reinstated because of the lack of public input and the authoritarian way the younger Cuomo went about forcing the legislation. For me, the bridge is still the Tappan Zee, but the Mid-Hudson Bridge is also simply “the Mid-Hudson” and not the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge which is its official name.

It’s hard to imagine the level of self-importance, or lunacy necessary for someone to have something named after themselves. We could argue FDR was deserving of a bridge named after him, or a highway, a park, an historic site (Warm Springs, Ga.), and even a memorial but Roosevelt did after all have a hand in saving the world from fascism, he probably deserves being commemorated. For everyone else such an act seems to commemorate only their fascistic tendencies.

I knew about Saddham Hussein’s 12 meter statue in Firdo’s Square in Baghdad, but not about the numerous other statues erected around the country as a symbol of his authority and power. Two other examples of pathological self-aggrandizement that rival even Hussein’s are The Monument of the African Renaissance in Senegal, which cost an astounding $27 million, and the Turkmenistan’s Golden Statue of Saparmurat Niyazov. Niyazov was the former president-for-life and had a rotating golden statue of himself built in Ashgabat, which always faced the sun.

From naming stars to renaming bridges, these stories reveal something deeply human—our desire to leave a mark, even if it’s on something as intangible as the night sky. While some of these efforts are harmless fun, others—like erecting golden statues of oneself or rewriting history through authoritarian renaming conventions—veer into the territory of pathological self-aggrandizement. In the end, whether it’s a star certificate gathering dust in a drawer or a bridge name that that millions of motorists are forced to see on their daily commute. In the end, it’s not what we name after ourselves but how we’re remembered that truly matters. FDR probably earned his monuments by helping save the world; as for me, I think I’ll pass on the star kits and golden statues and focus on building a legacy in quieter, more meaningful ways.