Is it dark out? What about that street light on the corner, the string of party lights in the neighbor’s backyard, the motion detector light across the street? No, it’s not dark. We live “under skyglow,—diffuse artificial brightening of the night sky,” as author Leigh Ann Henoin writes in her book Night Magic. I live under skyglow. I can barely see any stars. It’s as if we, as a species, have grown afraid of the dark. We are so afraid of the dark that we close our parks at dusk.
As a child, I was deeply afraid of the dark. I remember when electric cooperatives began offering large security lights to their customers. Dusk-to-Dawn Mercury Vapor Lamps, designed to withstand the weather and provide bright, broad-area coverage for buildings and livestock, began popping up everywhere in rural communities. It created a wide spread of light on our driveway right outside our kitchen window. But the light did not reach the end of the driveway where the mailbox stood, and when I was sent out to get the evening newspaper, the dark surrounded me.
