Disclaimer: I am so over this updating tumblr situation, but here’s a post anyways.
So, I have a lot of favourite things. Most things I see are my favourite things. Unless they are angler fish.
Currently, my favourite thing is a 450 year old automaton that is currently living at the National Museum of American History. Like most things, the object doesn’t have any inherent awesomeness, but it’s does have a fantastic story.
But, right now I don’t really have the story telling skill, or attention span, to effectively re-tell the tale, so here’s where I heard it: http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2011/jun/14/clockwork-miracle/ (Not surprisingly this is a Radiolab episode)
In case you need motivation to listen, here’s the description.
In 1562, King Philip II needed a miracle. So he commissioned one from a highly-skilled clockmaker. In this short, a king’s deal with God leads to an intricate mechanical creation, and Jad heads to the Smithsonian to investigate.
And here’s some pictures
Hi there, I’m a monkbot. Once they put the 100 year old corpse of the holy man I represent into the bed of the dying King of Spain’s son. That was neat.
Hello, i’m 450 years old. how are you?
Hi again. Aren’t my arms interesting? All the better for prayin’ with
And Meghan thinks my feet are interesting too. But sometimes they get chilly.
Vroom, vroom
MLK Dedication: Stevie Wonder - Happy Birthday
I spent part of the weekend trying to decide if I would go to watch the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication ceremony that was Sunday morning. In the end I decided to go, and I’m really glad I did.
It was a pretty freaking big deal, despite the controversy, because this is the first monument on the National Mall to honour an African American and it’s been about 25 years in the making. Also, many older attendees and speakers were veterans of segregation, Civil Rights leaders, and individuals who grew up facing severe oppression and therefore never believed they would see an event of this significance in their lifetimes. Because I’ve been born with types of privilege, which I haven’t done anything to deserve or earn, I don’t have the same personal experience, or connection, to the man being honoured and the events’ larger significance as most of the crowd did. I can then only imagine what this event might mean to the older generation, in particular, that was represented at the dedication. I certainly felt extremely fortunate to have been able to have a place alongside the rest of the crowd, and to be able to celebrate victories and progress in issues that haven’t caused me oppression.
The dedication was originally scheduled to take place in August, but Hurricane Irene caused the event to be rescheduled; but despite the change, tens of thousands of people attended. I found it really excited to walk down to West Potomac with such a huge crowd of excited people. However, the huge amount of folks selling ‘historic bookmarks’; “I was there” lanyards; MLK bags, t-shirts and hats added a layer of weirdness. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get wanting to have something to commemorate an event that is personally significant; this just was so aggressive, and the items so trite, that it didn’t resonate with me well. But anyways.
When we started to get closer I could hear a speaker from the ceremony, which I realized was Obama. Then it turned into one of those things where you don’t realize how excited you are to see something until you get there, and I definitely started walking faster.
I find it absolutely intriguing to imagine what it must be like to have a leader who is actually engaging, and even inspiring. Just saying.
Once I got to the park I was fairly blown away by just how many people were there. Unfortunately that meant that I really couldn’t hear or see all that much, but luckily this wasn’t a problem for most speakers and performers.
Sadly though it made it nearly impossible to hear the video being played of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech, made nearly 50 years ago in Washington, D.C. A family standing near me had two kids who seemed really quite disappointed that they couldn’t hear either. I really wish they could have heard, young kids being excited about stuff that isn’t the nintendo, or whatever, is the best.
My favourite part though was Stevie Wonder’s performance - especially when he sang Happy Birthday and the crowd loudly joined in. I liked seeing the people around me become so excited about the song, and maybe it’s just the idealist in me, (ok, not maybe) but I’d like to think that was a heart-swelling moment for most people there. I’m pretty sappy though.
However, if anyone has been following the NYC Slutwalk ‘whyonearthwouldyoumakethatsign?!” disaster/controversy it’s very apparently that there is still a lot of progress to be made, even in the places we’d last expect.
- M
p.s that wasn’t a very happy note to end on…..
Look! I also got a hat!
So, I’ve been here for about two weeks now, and that means I’ve had the chance to check out some of the awesome museums! So far I’ve visited the US Botanic Gardens, Library of Congress, Folger Shakespeare Library, National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Know what is great though? Two things, actually.
1) Most of the museums are free!
2) I’m here for long enough to take my time visiting them.
I’m used to planning my entire day around visiting a museum - If I’m going to pay $20+ to get in, and especially if I’ve travelled to a different city for it, then I’m darn well going to see every inch of that museum. I’m going to watch all the videos, and read every last sentence, even if it kills me. (well perhaps that’s a bit dramatic, but I’m not deleting it.) If I could afford to pay admission multiple times then my experience would be drastically different.
But I can’t, so for me going to a museum can sometimes be a completely ridiculous and unnecessary test of physical and mental endurance. I’ll need to plan my trip in advance so that I’ll have the whole day free. I’ll also need comfortable shoes, layers of clothing (because museums are chilly), and money for overpriced food.
And that’s just if I’m going alone. If someone is foolish enough to agree to go on one of my museum expeditions than I also have to negotiate a mutual agreement with them, without sounding completely insane. If that succeeds than whoever I’m going with will hopefully promise not to hate me afterwards for my sloth-like pace, and in return I’ll promise not to get frustrated over the perfectly understandable fact that most people won’t find the venation patterns of ginkgo biloba leaves worthy of 20 minutes of their time.
But that’s what’s so fantastic about being here - I don’t have to do any of that! I can wander through a museum for as long or short as I want. If it’s too crowded, if I’m tired, or if I’m hangry (that’s the worst) there’s absolutely no need to see all of a museum in one day.
It’s really quite luxurious to be able to saunter through a museum knowing that I can have the type of visit that I want on that particular day. If I just want to look at dinosaurs for 30 minutes and go home, it doesn’t feel like a waste of a visit. And I’m pretty sure that I’d get a lot more out of this than if I forced myself to see the entire museum and then spent 30 minutes looking at dinosaurs.
And yes, I realize in most cases that there’s nothing inherently built into other museums that make me impose my ridiculous expectations onto them and my visit. (At least in terms of the content or physical layout of other museums.) But, realistically, a financial commitment and travel time can be pretty powerful forces, and without them my museum visiting experience has gotten a lot less intense, and a lot more enjoyable.
- M
I’ve never considered writing words about myself and then putting those words on the internet. Mostly because I am generally far too boring. But due to my recent geographic relocation I think I’ve become slightly more interesting. Or at least the circumstances surrounding my day to day life have become more interesting, and by proxy, so have I. Because of this I’m going to try and use this tumblr thing to keep people who might be either interested, or mind-numbingly bored at work/school, up to date on my large and small adventures here. I arrived in Washington, D.C last Sunday, and then the next day I started an internship with the National Museum of American History. Although I’ve been able to adjust to most things quickly, the one thing I just can’t get a handle on is finding my way around. I’ve been here for a week, and I really think I’ve spent about 80% of my time being completely lost. In my defence, I always look up the route beforehand when I’m trying to go somewhere, but even this doesn’t help. A possible explanation that was suggested to me is that my complete confusion and inability to navigate might be because I’m now on the ‘wrong coast’. I think I’ll go with this explanation; although I’m pretty sure the actual reason is that I’m severely lacking spatial intelligence. When I’m trying to get somewhere and need to decide which way to go I can use every ounce of my logic and intuition and still end up walking for, literally, 5 to 10 blocks in the exact opposite direction. If I need to go north, I’ll probably walk south. If I’m trying to find my way to the National Mall (museum district area), I’ll probably wander aimlessly around a residential area for a good 20 minutes before realizing if I was anywhere near the National Mall there wouldn’t be quite so many houses. But, that’s part of the fun I guess. Just as long as I don’t have somewhere to be by a certain time. Then I’m almost always late. - M For your amusement, here’s a map of the route I managed to take to work my first day (at least to the best of my memory). In hindsight it’s quite funny. At the time it just sucked. 
