Between last Friday and today, Monday, I went to three different types of events, all with their own brand of ceremony and customs: a memorial service, a museum gala, and a piano recital.
The memorial was for a prominent and popular University professor, Jim Baughman. He taught for us at the library school a few times, and was on the Board of the Center for the History of Print & Digital Culture. And a life long Cleveland Indians fan, although he was from Warren OH, and could just as easily have rooted for the Pittsburgh Pirates, a much more sensible choice, IMHO. In the early aughts for three years running, the library school had a program for US embassy librarians. These were people who were usually nationals of the countries where the embassies were located, but their job was to provide information about the United States, so the State Department brought them in for a couple of weeks of training on US politics and government and library resources, and we got Jim do do a talk on American media for them, every time they came.
It was at Christ Presbyterian Church, right across the street from the house we lived in when I first moved in with my old boyfriend Steve – the one that got away, or I drove him away more like. But I didn’t get too caught up in that recollection, because the church was surprisingly nice inside, and the service was interesting.
main stairs where we came in
I was sitting in the back corner where I could see the light coming in through those windows
We sang How great thou art and the walking out music was Alison Krause. It was a nice sunny day, but the wind was brutal walking over so I was really glad Anna was willing to drive me back to work. I got a few things done, then came home, still in the wind, and took the bus back downtown for the museum gala.
I was at the admissions desk, and there were really too many of us. It was a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art‘s “new” building, and the main event was a talk by the architect, Cesar Pelli, which by all accounts, was very good. I didn’t get to see any of Pelli, but it was interesting to be there in the lobby, observing the arty set in Madison, and everyone dressed in some interpretation of their best. With, as I realized looking at myself in the mirror on Tuesday morning wearing a lower cut dress then usual, a lot of cleavage on display, much of it middle-aged. When I signed up, it said my shift went to 8:45 but around 8:30 the volunteer coordinator said we could go, so I got a glass of wine. Mark came to get me, and after a longish chat with the bartender about exchange students, both being one and hosting, we went upstairs to see the Frank Stella show. I still like the protractors the best. You get lots if you google Frank Stella protractors, but I’m not finding the exact one that was one in the show. The colors & shapes were like this, but I guess it’s a painting at Sea-Tac airport, and the one I looked at was a screen print. I’ll have to go back and get the title.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA) kind of an extreme view – the Orpheum sign behind it has been taken down – follow the link for more views from Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
Then, last but not least, on Sunday we went to a solo piano recital. One of my Chicago friends, who’s an archivist at the Newberry Library, and a musician, performed at Pianoforte, a space right across the street from our apartment.
Somehow I’m surprised that I knew how to behave at everything – but either I’ve learned how, or everyone else was too polite to tell me.