Thursday, March 22, 2007

San Francisco Heroines

Via Feministing, this incredible story of a waitress and a bartender in a Noe Valley bar who busted a guy who slipped a mickey in his date's drink. The two women quickly found a way to remove the drink from the table (and save it as evidence) and also notify the woman about what was happening. Outrageously, while one of the women was telling the victim what had happened, he tried to do it again! When they confronted him, he tried to blow the whole thing over by offering to buy them all a drink (uh, HELLO?) and then get his date to leave. The bartender said (this is so awesome), "Your date's over, mister. She's staying with us." YEA! Reading that story was a great way to start my day.

In other news (not so inspiring), a report on the Smithsonian museums reveals that the institution is failing in many ways. The committee (comprised of directors from major museums around the country, including my own alma matar) stated that the Smithsonian “ought to comprise the most stimulating place in the country to explore the fascinating and complex issues of national history and national identity as manifested by the American visual imagination.” This report seems to indicate that direction might be taken to turn the Smithsonians into just such an organization, which would be really amazing. I love visiting DC and walking along the mall, going in and out of all the buildings, but, with a few exceptions (like the Peacock Room in the Freer) the collections are not the most inspiring in the country. Most disturbing about this report is that the Freer is suffering from some physical problems and there are leaks in the basement. I can't understand how that has been allowed to continue. For the most part, the problems at the Smithsonian seem related to funding, which is no surprise - our government just doesn't support the Arts.

Engagement with art – with the product of someone else's imagination – can change your life, often for the better, and sometimes profoundly. -Max Wyman

5 comments:

kbmulder said...

Amen to that.

"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities we, too, will be remembered not for our victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."
-John F. Kennedy

This is my favorite quote about the arts, etched on the marble facade of the Kennedy Center, facing the Potomac River.

Special K said...

That's a beautiful quote, thanks, K.

Mechanicalme said...

So, I can't find a way to say, "HI" by email, so I'll just say, "HI!" by Blog Post.

I'm having a 'blasts from the past' week here. I've had random calls and email from so many Martinsville people this week, it's been insane!

It looks like life has treated you well. Hopefully your family is doing just as well.

It took me 10 minutes to confirm that this was who I thought it was as I had to finally go to this blog to finally find a picture that, when I hovered the mouse pointer over it, your name finally popped up. My second confirmation was your trail of moves that you listed, first stop of course being Bangladesh (Where's spell checker when I need it...).

I'll just sign off and let you figure out who this was :) Hopefully you'll figure it out :)

Special K said...

Is that you, Jeremy M? Hey! How are ya? How did you happen across my blog? What are you up to these days????

Mechanicalme said...

Well, as I stated before I'm having a week where I've talked to 5-6 people so far from the old hometown. I'm actually trying to find info on Dustin Smith (He was a year behind us). He's not on Classmates so I was checking the popular blog areas. I didn't see him there either. What I have found out is that 1) I find classmates.com absolutely frustrating. 2) Myspace accounts have an inbox. 3) Apparently one of our graduating class is a professional wrestler.

After a search of the graduation class of 93, I checked out 92 and found you.

Reader's Digest Version on me?

Graduated in 99 from Ball State.
Married my beautiful wife Angela the following year.
I've been working at Best Buy as a manager or supervisor for the last 9 years. I'm pretty much like an alcoholic working in a liqour store.
We currently live in a really old house in Muncie, In (it's 109 years old). I've been working on one room at a time in my spare time. I recently got my first room done. I kind of had to since *tada* we are expecting our first child in a matter of 3 weeks (We hope it will be sooner than later). As long as the ultrasound tech was correct and the kid was not being shy, Eleanor Danielle will be joining us for many 2 am diaper changes and feedings and general joy spreading throughout our lives.

My dad lives in Georgia with his wife. Mom is in Greenwood. Jason lives in Detroit and is actually getting married this summer!

So, where are you at? What are you up to? How's your Family?

Since I just found out that there's an inbox on Myspace, you can shoot me a note there.

http://www.myspace.com/mechanicalme