So in a process like this one is supposed to take cues from dreams and signs. My dream last night took me back to a grad school classmate who had become a salesperson for a bar code company. She was working hard to convince me to purchase said system for the collection of books in the unidentified museum where I worked.
Enter a coworker from UC Berkeley who was responsible for analyzing bar code systems for possible use in managing our collection of 3.8 million artifacts and a newly organized library of hundreds of books. The two of them debated when I heard shouting outside only to find people arguing in a street next to a 1950s baby blue sedan. They suddenly flicked a cigarette into dry bushes and a wildfire spread immediately down the embankment and toward the building where we stood. We ran up a circular staircase to get out and all I could think about was “bar codes don’t matter if the building is gone”!
While waking up and analyzing that I decided to check Facebook for possible inspiration or signs and found these three posts at the top of my feed in this order:
1) From Disneyland: Walt Disney once said, “Disneyland is like Alice stepping through the Looking Glass; to step through the portals of Disneyland will be like entering another world.”
2) From Gregory Crosby (poet/former Las Vegan now in NYC) : There’s the Statue of Liberty,/And there’s the United States of America,/And America’s holding the Statue of Liberty up in the air/Just exactly the way a grinning actor holds up his Oscar. –Frederick Seidel, “Istanbul”
3) From NPR: “Weird Al’s Advice: Follow Your Muse To Grow Up”
These posts actually work together for my mind as signposts for this quest of mine. First, Disneyland is part of the reason I believe in combining entertainment and education in museums. I lived near LA for part of my childhood and trips to Disneyland never disappointed. Even as a child I thought Walt Disney was genius in creating a place that brought people together from around the world and managed to teach some concepts and ideas while they rode rides and ate crazy foods. I have often joked that “It’s a Small World” was the root of my interest in comparative Anthropology. But if I’m getting back to basics perhaps it’s not such a joke.
As far as today’s quote I can’t tell you how many times I said I felt like Alice when immersed in aspects of museum work that to me felt removed from the mission and/or pure logic (such as worrying about bar codes when you don’t have a fire suppression system or Disaster Preparedness Plan?!)
The Statue of Liberty quote ties into my idealism about this country and my idea that museums can help keep the melting pot from boiling over. The story of my grandfather arriving at Ellis Island came alive to me as a kid during the Bicentennial hoopla in 1976. As our school choral reading group wore red white and blue (the girls had Holly Hobbie inspired dresses) and recited “The New Colossus” in its entirety, I was as proud as child could be to have that Statue mean something to my family and to embrace patriotism. Seeing the statue in person and being able to research the records and images from Ellis Island is still a gift to this country that I believe we should preserve.
Finally, Weird Al. I happen to share a birthday with him and have always been a fan of his satire and thought he was another genius in being able to interpret someone else’s work in a funny way and get paid for it! His interview on NPR is about his new book for children that uses Seuss-like rhyming to inspire kids to follow their passions and to realize they have as many options as they can dream. He pays homage to his Dad who used the cliché but ever so true line that true success comes from doing work that you love. My parents said those words as well, and my Dad always told me I should write a book for kids….. I’m liking these signs so far and it’s only Day 2!
I’ll leave you with the words of Alice-
I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think. Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is ‘Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle!
Check out the British Film Institute’s restored copy of the first Alice in Wonderland movie !
Museum Life 