In MUST205, the students worked on the labels for their final display project, and I started installing my display.
We welcomed DJ White and the Rise-Up Studio dancers from the Akwesasne Mohawk. They put on an amazing Social dance at the Foothills Performing arts center in Oneonta. SUNY Oneonta (who co-sponsored the event), also welcomed them with a wonderful reception.
I said goodbye to my friend and colleague Phil Young, who died late last week. Phil was professor emeritus of Art at Hartwick College, and a long and often lonely champion of Indigenous artists, thinkers, and ideas at the College. He and I have been working on putting together an Indigenous Artists Residency at Hartwick, which would bear his name to honor that legacy. My hope is that it can still happen, though I’m sad he didn’t get to live to see it. Rest in Peace and in Power, Phil.
I gave a guest lecture on Ancient Greece and its afterlife in Museums and architecture, and in American colonialism.
I did some good work moving our NAGPRA responsibilities forward.
True Things
Trump’s Big Beautiful Ballroom by Know Your Enemy–My favorite political podcast uses Trump’s plans to build a White House Ballroom as a window into thinking about the politics of architecture, the contradictions of the right’s “populist” classicism, and the ways that our social orders unevenly manifest in the built environment.
Dominic and I finished reading “City of Ember”. It was well-written, and the characters were rich and interesting. The whole thing felt to me like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in YA novel form.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation… It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support… May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
I devoured, almost in one sitting, Premee Mohamed’s “The Butcher of the Forest”. It’s a thrilling rescue fairytale, featuring the kind of unnverving, ancient magical world that never fails to grab me. It’s also a thoughtful meditation about violence and war and their consequences. I couldn’t put it down.
I started de-installing our now discontinued exhibit “Of Time and The River: 12,000 years in the Upper Susquehanna Region”. It was an excellent exhibit, curated by the great Dr. David Anthony, and we’re looking forward to showing off objects from Willard Yager’s collection in new ways in the coming years.
In MUST205, the students formally began their final projects of installing a display in one of our display cases.
I returned some objects that we had borrowed from the Milford Historical Society (26 years ago!) back to them.
We hosted our Halloween storytelling event “The Horror in the Museum”. It’s a fun, lively event that I love putting on at the Museum.
In MUST205, students began working on their final projects, planning displays for our display cases using the skills they’ve learned in the class.
I did some work moving along our NAGPRA consultation, and getting ready for the upcoming Mohawk Social Dance.
Halloween promises to be wet and windy tonight. On the plus side, the Oneonta parade is cancelled, which means more time for trick-or-treating!
I finished reading Paul Tremblay’s “Horror movie”. I love his smart, modern take on horror fiction and several of his novels are some of my favorite recent horror writing. This was…okay; well-written and thoughtful about the relationship of film and reallife. But on the whole it felt kind of shallow to me, which is not a thing I usually expect from him.
I worked on trying to finalize the paperwork for an up-coming Indigenous social dance in Oneonta. It’s happening, but man, it’s been a lot of work.
In MUST205, we talked about how to conceptualize and plan cases and displays, and de-installed one of the two cases the students will be using for their final project displays.
We welcomed a group of middle and high school students from Stamford, NY to the Museum for a brief but fun tour.
I finished reading Brian Evenson’s “The Glassy, Burning Floor of Hell”, another in a long line of creepy, subtle horror collections. Perfect timing for spooky season!
Good Things:
I rediscovered what a great Fall record The Books “Lemon of Pink” was, and played it quite a lot, as the leaves grew golden and crimson outside my window.
In MUST205, we talked about the materials used in making labels, and then I had the students mount their test labels in the Museum’s planning room.
I did some packing and planning for our annual trip to coastal New England.
I finished reading Colin Wilson’s “The Occult: A History”, a book I’ve had on my shelf for almost 30 years. I was bewildered by it, in terms of Wilson’s antiquated style, the subject matter (ghosts! ESP! aliens! magic! divination!), and how remarkably boring I found the overall thing.
I also finished reading Christian Wiman’s edited volume “Joy: 100 Poems”. I picked a few poems that I liked and wrote some brief notes.
Good Things:
Like a lot of people, I listened to the last episode of WTF with Marc Maron. I’ve been listening actively since 2011 (pretty sure that John Hamm was the first episode I heard?), and Maron’s voice, curiousity, anxiety, and humor have been a constant in my life for the last 15 years. I wish I could say I liked this episode, or that it felt like a fitting way to end his legacy, but Obama’s contradictions were on full display here; soaring rhetoric about democracy and American values and the role of activists in furthering those values with simultaneous scolding of the young, American left for being too judgemental, in their insistence that America live up to those ideals globally. Maron, for his part, has always straddled the line between curiousity and anxious worry, and his great ability was to turn that inward scrutiny on others, whether they were comedians, authors, musicians, actors, or presidents, even though Obama’s first appearance rocketed him to a higher level of notoriety. Having Obama on again seemed less a celebration of those worthy skills, hard-earned in Maron’s life and career, than a tawdry and petty re-vamping of a fickle moment of fame.
I listened to D’Angelo’s “Voodoo”, and especially the ethereal masterpiece “One Mo Gin” a lot this week, upon hearing that he died. What a strange, quiet, sexy, magical album. Rest in Power.
It was Hartwick College’s Fall break, so it was pretty quiet in the Museum.
I did some work securing some of our exhibit cases to protect the objects and set up our humidifiers to run over the winter.
I worked on some NAGPRA and repatriation compliance.
I attended a town of Oneonta meeting about a proposed Data Center, which I oppose and which, it’s clear from the packed room, so did most of the audience.
I did some work planning our upcoming Hartwick Spring break kids camp.
In MUST205, we talked about label design, and making labels that are engaging without being overwhelming.
I finished reading “Deep Past” by Eugene Linden. It’s a science thriller in the Crichton tradition, about a paleontological dig that both uncovers evidence of ancient non-human consciosuness, and also sets off a geopolitical firestorm. I found the prose kind of clunky and plot uneven, and the scientists in it are all universally terrible at what they do. There’s also some rather lascivious language about a young female grad student that rubbed me the wrong way. Kind of an interesting concept, exploring how consciousness (and culture) may have developed outside of hominins, but overall, meh.
I did some more work on the Museum’s NAGPRA obligations.
I worked on our upcoming co-campus Indigenous social dance.
We had our opening reception for “Memorializing the Underground Railroad” and “The Study of One Thing”. Perhaps because it was Hartwick College’s “True Blue Weekend”, we had an astonishing turn-out; over 400 people over the course of the day. I’m really proud of the work we did and humbled that we can present both fascinating and important exhibits.
I did some important work furthering my institution’s NAGPRA responsiblities.
In MUST205, we talked about label writing, and I tried to impress upon my students the importance of short, emphatic museum labels!
I did some planning work for this year’s “The Horror in the Museum”
This weekend, I showed my kids “the Wizard of Oz”. It’s such an iconic and ubiquitous movie that I forgot how strange, surreal, and creepy it is.
With the rain and the leaves changing, I’ve been getting comfortable with the arrival of the Fall. As part of that, I made a playlist called “Fall Colors” to accompany me while I work. I don’t use spotify, because it’s an evil company; this is just stuff in my collection, with some kind of tone or concept that suggested the Fall. Without further ado:
Mansion on the Hill - Hank Williams
All the world is Green - Tom Waits
Belarus - Low
Black Water - Timber Timbre
By the Mark - Gillian Welch
Corpus Christi Carol - Jeff Buckley
Cross Bones Style - Cat Power
Delia’s Gone - Johnny Cash
Devil got my Woman - Skip James
Fleurette Africaine - Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach
Graveyard Blues - Roscoe Holcomb
Guess I’m Doing Fine - Beck
He Doesn’t Know Why - Fleet Foxes
I can’t Hardly Stand it - The Cramps
I’ll Be Rested (When the Roll is Called) - Blind Roosevelt Graves
It Serves you Right to Suffer - John Lee Hooker
Kerosene Hat - Cracker
Louis Collins - Mississippi John Hurt
Maggie’s Farm - David Grisman, John Hartford, and Mike Seeger
I spent most of the week putting the finishing touches on “Mememorializing the Underground Railroad: The Harry Bradshaw Matthews Collection”. The exhibit looks great, and is a testament to Harry’s decades long enthusiasm for and interest in this important period in American history. We’ll be having the opening reception on Saturday, opening it along with “The Study of One Thing: The Zen arts of Sensei Jody Hojin Kimmel”.
In MUST205, we talked about how to hang 2d works on walls, and I taught my students the math equations I use to make them look great!
In my endless quest to move away from Amazon, I spent some time migrating my books wishlist to a static page on here.
Good things–Inspired by Dan Sinker, I’m going to occasionally post some good things I experienced this week; music, movies, books, fun places all apply.
I’ve found myself listening to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' album Ghosteen. Although the album is bathed in sorrow, Cave manages to fill these soft, sad songs with hope and bright light in the darkness. “Sun Forest” performs this careful alchemy, combining apocalyptic imagery of wildfires and dying animals with children floating toward the sun, and unnamed love with green eyes, waiting at the end.
Thursday was Alanna’s birthday. I’m lucky she’s in my life and delighted every chance I get to celebrate her!
