I chaperoned a 2nd grade field trip to the Oklahoma Museum of Art yesterday. These were the best behaved bunch of kids I've ever seen...including mine. They were actually interested in what we were seeing, blown away by the history of the artifacts, knee deep in amazement at their tiny part in the universe, their speck in the cosmic dust.
OK, maybe that was my take, but the kids dug the stuff too.
"Temples and Tombs" Treasures of Egyptian Artifacts from the British Museum, are on loan here through November. Although Mer-boy was somewhat disappointed there were no mummies, he was still enthralled by the "Vibrating stuff" mom. Huh? My kid feels things vibrate, yes, he's one of those.
Unfortunately no cameras were allowed in the exhibit, and even though I could have shot a few at slow speed...I chose to honor the big black dude following us around...the one without a wedding ring whose name tag said Issac. Sup I.?
So anyway, we had a grand time at the museum. We also toured again, the Chihuly exhibit, which unbeknownst to me, The O.M.A. has now purchased for like 15 Mill. (I don't know how many zeros that would be) I'm sure it was a close race...Fix the roads in this fucking town, or buy a bunch of glass. Hmmm?
I love the glass, want to BE the glass, but come on, do we really need this exhibit, when we have amazing local artists capable of the same work? Sorry, I know I'm like the only one who feels this way in this religiously dysfunctional city, and the children need to be exposed to the arts, but we have the arts right here, right in our own backyard.
What could have been achieved had that 15 mill been poured into funding the local artists in this community, the children who, by demographics alone, will never have the opportunity to pick up a paint brush, the schools who's art programs have been all but cut?
I want Mer-boy, and his peers to be enriched through the visual and performing arts as much as the next parent does, but we need to pour our money into cultivating whats right here, into these young minds so full of creativity and vision for what can be. If we encourage them to 'draw outside the lines', keep them as far away from The Box as possible, for as long as possible...we can grow our future, change the misshapen geography of this state permanently, and obviously for the better.
Why is it, that the individuals in positions of power, are the least likely to use that power in a positive way? In a way that will truly impact and alter the lives of others for the better?
The exhibit is glorious, stunning, breathtaking. But so are our children. The Dosen took every opportunity to place a price tag on each piece she could, never failing to note each items "Worth" ...I listened to the 'Oooh's and 'Aaah's at every figure, curious as to the comparison one might make as a small child.
Here's an idea: On every major board, corporation, foundation, etc., install a former welfare recipient. Preferably a mother, educated, with children. A voice, that's all.
See, I can't even go to the museum easily.
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