I want to “be a part of place that doesn’t just spread knowledge but pulls the string of science cord in everyone.” Itisha Once again my colleague Karen Lee of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and I are teaching in the MT in Science Communication program for the National Council of Science…
The coverage of the Charleston Massacre, in which nine African American parishioners were gunned down during Bible study by a white man on June 17,2015, has been notable for its references to the cultural landscape of the killings. Here a variety of reporters for the Washington Post and the New York Times describe Charleston in…
Remain true to yourself, but move ever upward toward greater consciousness and greater love! At the summit you will find yourselves united with all those who, from every direction, have made the same ascent. For everything that rises must converge.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. 1942. I’m not sure why this phrase “Everything that rises…
The annual meeting of the American Alliance of Museums will convene this weekend through Wednesday, April 29, 2015, in Atlanta, GA. For those of you following this blog, there will be a number of sessions related to a couple of persistent topics: The Empathetic Museum and #museumsrespondtoFerguson. If you will be in Atlanta, I hope…
In December 2014, in the midst of demonstrations and widespread discussion about race and racism in the aftermath of a grand jury’s decision against indicting a white police officer for shooting an unarmed black teen, a group of bloggers (including this one) and colleagues posted their Joint Statement urging museums to become involved and…
How do you get started writing professionally? How do you know what to write about? These were among the questions that Will Crow, writer/museum educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and I discussed recently at a program on writing as part of professional work. During the evening, sponsored by the New York City…
Guest Post by Sarah Pharon, Senior Director, Methodology and Practice, International Coalition of Sites of Conscience I travel frequently for my work. I spend more time than I would like at airports eating an embarrassing amount of “bad food” from food courts. While waiting for my order from one of the airport fast food chains…
Museum Questions Blogger Rebecca Herz and I agreed awhile back to have an open and continuing blog conversation about education and learning in museums. Rebecca has upheld her end of the agreement much better than I. Over the past several months she has posted an interesting question almost every week–on the value of field trips, the…
Carol Bossert’s weekly Museum Life program on VoiceAmerica satellite radio brings all kinds of current museum issues to the fore. I was happy to be part of a discussion she hosted on Friday, January 23, 2015 called “Following up on Ferguson.” I joined Melanie Adams, the Managing Director for Community Education and Events for the…
I’m pleased to begin the New Year with a guest post from Deborah Schwartz, President of the Brooklyn Historical Society. As many readers know, a number off other bloggers and I have been posting about the role of museums in responding to Ferguson (using that one word to stand for the series of events that has…