A LITTLE MARCH MADNESS

I just ordered Robin Wall Kimmerer’s newest book “Braiding Sweetgrass.”  She writes about nature, about our relationship to plants and how this symbiosis adds up to the human experience. She writes: “Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them. An integral part of a human’s education is to know those duties and how to perform them.”  

This connectedness…I’ve  been reading about it all my adult life. It’s the very core of what I might call my “religion.” 

Kimmerer in another passage writes: “To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.  Each person - human or no - is bound to every other in a reciprocal relationship.”  

That about covers it.  As a guide to live by and adhere to, can you find better? 

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Body language: non-verbal communication. Has everybody listened to Amy Cuddy’s TED TALK? PLEASE ….do! The 20 minute talk might change your life ( that does happen you know!).  Practise the Superwoman stance….2 minutes…Our bodies can change our minds. Tiny tweeks can bring about big change.

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Chip and I went to Memorial Art Gallery to see the current exhibition “50 Years of Ebony Fashion.”  Boy, do I ever have mixed feelings about this! First, I feel manipulated. And if I was a minority woman, I’d be REALLY ticked off! In “Black History Month” no less!

How lazy!  If you ARE going to bring in a traveling show like this one, at least link it to regional history.  For instance, we here in Rochester have a long-standing history in the garment industry. What is that history? Who? How did it grow here? What’s being done to enhance and grow the industry now? Minorities are integrated uniquely in Rochester’s style story.  A Rochester black woman started the first francise hair salon. Where is she in the conversation? In fact, what about black hair styles? 

Here I go again! I come down hard on MAG consistently only because I want it to be better! We have what it takes to achieve greatness. Why do we settle for merely o.k.?

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(P.S. My friend tells me that all my criticism about this traveling show is mis-applied...that the show is strictly pointed to specifics that do not include regional history. I suppose she's right. But museum insiders keep wondering why there is diminished attendance and financial support for local museums and I contend the reason is simple: we want to know how we "fit" into these  discussions. When exhibitions becomes too isoteric, are we only talking to the tiny group of insiders who understand the language?)
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Folk art is often unrefined expression. Does this sign fit that definition? I leave it to you to write the script.