What I work with

I am really enjoying my new job. It does strike me though, how odd some of the things are that I work with. In grad school we learned about the best of the best—so one might imagine that getting a real job would mean being buried in Chanel and 16^th century embroidery. But working in a regional history museum the story is a little different. For someone who doesn’t care about the history of Seattle, a lot of the stuff we have is just weird old junk—not monetarily valuable in the way an art museum’s collection usually is. Here are some of the Seattle treasures I’ve been working with recently.

-Socks made out of burlap

-Puppets from a local children’s TV show

-Giant shoes used by someone in from the Seattle Sonics

-A 1991 CD single of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

-The first down jacket made by Eddie Bauer

-Cardboard signs from the 1999 WTO protest

-A pair of 1890s button boots made by Nordstrom

-Hiking pants from REI

-A plaid Eddie Bauer shirt with sleeves cut off, worn by a gay activist in the 1970s

-A turquoise sequin gown (with matching sequin shoes) worn by Miss Seafair 1997

-A briefcase phone from the 1980s (which weighs about 25 pounds)

-And my favorite “only in Seattle” artifact: A toy hydroplane decorated with Mariner Ichiro Suzuki’s number and name, as well as a logo for sponsor Oh Boy! Oberto, local makers of beef jerky. Where else in this country would those things together even begin to make sense?

Oh wait, I found an ad for it:

Keep it weird Seattle. Keep it weird.

What do you know about Febreze?

My boss occasionally comments that working at MOHAI is like "stepping back in time." This is not a nasty comment about the organization being backwards or even a cheesy statement about how magical museums can be--it is about the people we deal with. Both she and I get contacted by the public with questions and donation offers. The people we talk to are usually old, and when asking them to send you relevant information you have to ask questions like, "do you have access to the internet?" and "do you know anyone who has ever used a scanner?"

The other day I received a letter that completely boggled my 27-year old brain. It was addressed to my predecessor, but it fell to me to answer it. It was from a woman who had written previously about a mold problem that had appeared on some vintage garments. While treating the dresses according to my predecessor's advice, a friend of hers had added her own twist: after treating the garments she was spraying them with Febreze. Now if you are a conservator you are recoiling in horror, but to those of you without that background, just know that generally it is never a good idea to just spray random chemicals in the direction of historic fabric. Plus, a simple read of the label proves that Febreze makes no claims about killing mold or treating mildew- all it is is a "fabric refresher."

But her unwise conservation decisions were not what surprised me. I went to grad school to learn things the average person doesn't know, so I shouldn't be shocked that the general public isn't as up on clothing care as I am. The surprise was that she had never heard of Febreze. The letter explained that her friend had discovered this fascinating product called Febreze and she was writing to ask if I had any knowledge of, or experience with this mysterious new invention.

But the even more astonishing thing was this: the communication was sent in the form of a hand written letter, and the writer enclosed a self-addressed envelope for me to send my reply. A self-addressed envelope in which to send my reply. In other words, for this woman, there was no way for her to get information about Febreze other than by picking up a pen, writing a letter to her local history museum, and waiting for her letter carrier to bring the reply several days letter.

I was so charmed that I dropped everything and responded right away (although my letter was typed and printed out). I tried to be as diplomatic, non-condescending, and helpful as I could. I feel a little bad for making fun of her on this blog, but I think this is a case where the internet is a pretty safe forum.

The greatest artifact

There are some parts of my new job that I don't love, but overall I'm having a great time. The core awesomeness has to do with the fact that I am helping out with the exhibits at the new museum--meaning that I get to see and handle all of MOHAI's top stuff. When people apply to volunteer or work at a museum, this is the kind of work they imagine doing. I am basically living the museum dream.

On wednesdays I go to these long "staging" meeting where we get out all the artifacts that have been pulled for a specific case, and a team of designers and historians debate about what will fit, look good, and best tell the story. This week, we looked at the original Starbucks sign that the museum owns (from pre-logo days!). It was a sandwich board sign that stood outside the original store, and reads "Starbucks is OPEN / coffee tea spices." When we opened it up one of the designers got really excited, declaring it the coolest thing he saw that day. What he said next was definitely the funniest thing I heard all day, and pretty accurately sums up the rise of the coffee giant. He was talking about the perfect simplicity of the fact it said "Starbucks is Open" --a line that might as well be their mission statement.

"I mean," he said, "It is like 'STARBUCKS IS OPEN...get ready motherfuckers.'"

Things that have happened to me

So I guess I'm still blogging. Now that I'm back from New York I suppose I could stop, but now it is habit and I have this idea that people need to know what is going on with me. Ah, the vanity of the internet.

I've thought about starting a twitter account. If I had, these are some things I probably would have tweeted about this week.

Oct 1:

In Eastern Washington for Mennonite Country Auction. After eating at every food booth I suddenly became aware of all the obese people around me eating the same things.

Oct 2:

Went for a run.

Oct 3:

First day of work! About 50% orientation and 50% "So um...just go to your office and manage the textiles"

Oct 4:

Managed some textiles.

Oct 5:

Went to a planning meeting for exhibits at the new museum. Got to provide professional advice about a sleeveless lumberjack shirt for the GLBT rights case.

Oct 6:

Visited offsite costume storage and tried to stay calm in awesome presence of collection I am now in charge of.

Oct 7:

Moved a lot of artifacts from one place to another. Sewed a label into a gown worn by a local Congresswoman.

Oct 8:

Nearly had a meltdown in cereal aisle of Fred Meyer when I saw so many delicious things for cheap. One thing New York sucked at was cereal sales.

Oct 9:

Had "Aw Seattle!" moment when local farmer's market came complete with aging hippie couple performing euphoric banjo and clogging act to the delight of other hippies.

Oct 10:

Put tiny artifact numbers on a collection of medical supplies from local Biotechnology company. Found it strangely satisfying rather than tedious. Must be in the right profession.

Oct 11:

Brought suit with weird stains home to wash. Didn't realize how giant it was until I laid it flat to dry. Stains are gone but how am I going to dress it on our tiny mannequins?

Seriously.

Return Trip

My last few hours in New York were spent stressing out and sweating. It was massively humid and I was struggling to get everything either packed or packaged up in a box (I made a trip to the post office with six boxes that day). When the hour came, I had a friend from FIT help me schlep my three suitcases and three carry-on bags from the taxi to Penn Station.

One of the best things about the decision to take the train was the fact that once I boarded I could totally relax. Packing was stressful and I was emotionally fragile from saying so many goodbyes. But getting on the train was a wonderful relief. My first order of business was to take a shower, because the humidity had left me feeling pretty disgusting. I had forgotten what a harrowing experience it is to shower on the train. The Lakeshore Limited really pitches and rocks, which is particularly disconcerting when you are naked and soapy. I got through it though and felt much better.

The first leg of the journey was fine, but I was really excited about transferring in Chicago to the Empire Builder. When they told us to board I was practically skipping down the platform. Once we were moving and the attendant came with chilled Champagne I practically squealed with delight. I feel like I should have stories to tell from the trip but it wasn’t very eventful. It was just four days of relaxation, over-eating, and beautiful views of the changing landscape.

In my last few weeks in New York, a part of me wondered if I had over-romanticized Seattle and if I would regret leaving the opportunities and friends I had in New York. I think in the coming months I will miss a lot about New York, but it was comforting to enter Washington State and really feel like I was home. The sun came up as we were going through the Cascades, and there were patches of mist hanging in the air as we approached Seattle. The final stretch took us right along Puget Sound, and it was a thrill to see King Street Station in the distance (which, by the way, has 200% more old-timey charm than Penn Station).

The Pacific Northwest is just so beautiful. Unfortunately, this is the current view I have from my bed in my parent’s house:

This Week By the Numbers

Last Friday I had a remarkable revelation. Between that evening and the following Friday I was going to sleep in six different beds.

I spent my last East Coast weekend traveling to Virginia for a wedding. The couple is closely connected to Menno House and a whole group of assorted New York Mennonites were making the trip. Friday night I took a bus to Philadelphia with my friends Lindsay and Ben and we stayed the night at Lindsay's parent's house. On Saturday we drove down to Harrisonburg, Virginia and spent the night with seven other people in a hilariously rustic cabin. On Sunday it was back to New York. I'm leaving tomorrow and will take two different trains during my journey. On Friday, I will sleep in my bed at my parent's house.

This also means that between last Friday and this Friday I will have been in 15 different states. The wedding trip took us through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. The train will take me through New York and Pennsylvania again, and then on through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington.

*About the picture: before the wedding reception someone decided that it was terribly necessary to spell out "Menno" with our bodies. No alcohol had yet been consumed at this point.

Thesis Approved!

Remember when I said I wasn't sure that all my thesis stuff would get done before I left? Well, soon after that post I heard back from my advisor, we met, I made some revisions, and on Monday my final draft went before the committee and was approved! It all happened so fast!

It still doesn't mean I'm 100% done though. My advisor has to look over the final draft in order to catch any lingering errors, then I have to print it out in triplicate on fancy paper, and then turn it in to an office at FIT for binding. The big question now is whether or not my advisor will get it back to me in time to make the copies before I leave, or if I will be shipping them from Seattle. Once the copies are turned in (and the binding fee paid), the slow FIT gears will start turning in the direction of printing and mailing my diploma.

But I think I can consider myself a Master of Arts now. On monday night I wore my Master's hood to house dinner.

But I can't stop long to chat....I am leaving NY in less that a week! Too much stuff to do!