First Few Weeks in Philly

I am going to start this entry off by doing something I’ve been taught not to do: listing disclaimers before presenting my opinions. I have never created or contributed to a blog but I have been an avid keeper of journals since I was a kid, so my blogs will have an informal but informative character. Also, I think/hope this will be the longest blog since it is a backlog of the past four weeks that I expect will be the most action-packed of the entire semester, so please excuse the length.

Coming to Philly

For those of you new to The Philadelphia Center (TPC) it has, since 1967, “offered college students a semester of experiential education; a unique hands-on program geared toward professional, academic, and personal growth in an active urban environment” (TPC website). As a TPC intern, we are expected to complete 32 hours per week in a field of our choice, embrace the city as our “personal growth” classroom, and critically engage with peers and faculty in two challenging courses taught by full time TPC faculty. Here is a link to TPC’s new Research Fellowships in the Liberal Arts program: http://www.tpc.edu/news/view/research_fellowships_in_the_liberal_arts

The academic credits that TPC grants us translate to over 3 units of Kalamazoo College credits, so I had the option of not taking an elective. I’m currently enrolled in Dr. Diana Water’s class “Education and Difference at Work.” First off, she’s super cool and one of those rare individuals I can envision myself emulating in 10-15 years. Secondly, this class takes the critical theories and texts that I have studied at Kalamazoo [critical race theory; race and racism in politics; narratology] and applies it to the field of education, which I know next to nothing about. Since I hope to become a college professor I thought it’d be beneficial to learn something about education.

The first two weeks were intense but fun. We were thrown into an unfamiliar context with 5 days to adjust to our surroundings—like a cluster of freshmen, we clung to each other with transparent anxiety and honesty. Here’s a breakdown of what we did that week, in the following order: find the hotel, find TPC, find friends, find the city streets, find housing, find roommates, find new housing, find new friends and new roommates, find furniture and utilities, find money to pay for all this stuff, find a job, and find some down time. You may notice that we did a lot of “finding,” and that’s the point of TPC, it’s the experiential learning that makes this gig work.

So what did I find? The three best people and friends I could’ve been lucky enough to have in Philly.

Meesha Nolen is my roommate: she’s pre-placed at the news station NBC 10 as a sports analyst; she’s introduced me to the fun side of city life, brought out the social side of my personality, and has supported me like a sister and close friend even after only four days of knowing each other. Next is Justin Baker: he is a senior at Hope College (Meesha is a junior at Hope); as a Psychology and Social Work major, he already has tons of work on his agenda (including a Senior Seminar) but he’s always easy-going and fun to hang out with. From our interactions I know that Justin will be an incredible social worker since, as he always says, he “was born just wanting to help people.” Last but not least is Robert Crenshaw: a senior at Whitman, he shares my interest/obsession with race, ethnic, and poetic theories and expressions, and he has as loud and proud a personality as I do. Our apartment is the largest I’ve seen in the city so far and has central heating/air with great water pressure in the showers, so we’re very very content.

I now pronounce you Natasha and Museum

The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an elite group of the foremost scholars and practitioners in international intellectual circles that, as America’s first learned society, has become an “eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, [that] promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community outreach” (From APS website, see below). The APS was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin and company [More info here: http://www.amphilsoc.org

Over the years the APS has gathered and preserved a rich collection that includes “scientific specimens and instruments, patent models, portraits, maps, art works, rare books, and more than ten million manuscripts” (APS Museum website). Unfortunately, these signature artifacts of American history were stored away in dusty rooms of the APS until a distinguished figure in the international world of museums, art, and culture, Dr. Sue Ann Prince, came to Philadelphia with a vibrant vision to open the APS’s collection to what I think is its most important members: the Philadelphia public. Dr. Prince founded the Museum in 2000 and celebrated its first exhibition, “From the Laboratory to the Parlor: Scientific Instruments in Philadelphia, 1750-1875," in 2001.

The Front of the APS Museum Administrative Offices

One of the most compelling aspects of the Museum is its dedication to local Philly artists, musicians, and actors since every exhibition includes multiple performances and installations by provocative contemporary artists. [More about the APS Museum at this webpage: http://www.apsmuseum.org/] From what I’ve seen so far, I think the APS Museum’s mission is to promote creative learning in an educational setting that introduces a new, two-way relationship between the APS’s material collection and the imagination of Philly’s citizens.

This is a clip from the performance “Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man” that debuted as part of the 2009 Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe, starring Bretty Keyser. Keyser acts as the bastard great grandson of Charles Darwin and explains/explores common misconceptions of Darwin’s theory of evolution. Full information is on the APS museum’s website, provided above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTovMGwXQw

The current exhibition, Dialogues with Darwin, uses the largest Darwin collection outside of Cambridge, England to trace the notion of dialogue in the field of science as it “evolved” from before The Origin of Species was published up to our contemporary times.

Pictures of Darwin Exhibition

In conjunction with the exhibition, we recently hosted a performance and installation by Beauvais Lyons, Professor in the School of Arts at University of Tennessee, whose Association for Creative Zoology parodies and complicates the ongoing debate between creationists and evolutionists. As he explains on his blog, http://web.utk.edu/~blyons/

“The Association for Creative Zoology posits that species variation has resulted from the direct hand of our God, who not only creates flora and fauna whole-cloth, but uses previously existing creative works as the building blocks for creating new species. This explains the common attributes of many plants and animals and is reflected in the principle of zoomorphic juncture.”

I was most impressed that he designed all of the articles in his/the Hokes collection, which shows how versatile of an artist he is in order to be able to create color prints, lithographs, sculptures, porcelain plates and perform taxidermy, acting, and tract writing. Following are some pictures I took of his exhibition…

Kiosks in the Jefferson Gardens

Creationist Propagandist Beauvais Lyons

Taxidermy of the Pekingese Duck

Taxidermy of the Squirrel Bird

Taxidermy of the Gorilla Hen

Taxidermy Collections

Blue and White Ming Porcelain [My favorite piece]

The Association for Creative Zoology

Also, I helped set up and monitor the installation and prepare for his presentation at the National Mechanics Bar that hosts a monthly event called Science on Tap which brings in speakers supported by the APS Museum, the Chemical Heritage Foundation, the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the Wagner Free Institute of Science.

While Sue Ann is the founding force of the Museum, the reputation for success that the Museum is acquiring would not have happened without the tireless dedication of its staff. I am always impressed by their diverse skills and knowledge: producing acclaimed scholarly articles/books; constructing wooden kiosks; tracking down impossibly obscure information about APS’s collection; whipping their website into an aesthetic success; creating a range of educational materials for Philly teachers; and navigating the capricious personalities of Phillies’ finest museums and scholars. And the winners are:

Dr. Sue Ann Prince, Director and Curator
Ms. Merrill Mason, Associate Director
Dr. Jenni Drozdek, Assistant Curator of Museum Education
Dr. Jane E. Boyd, Research Curator
Dr. Sylwester Ratowt, Research Associate
Ms. Julianna Struck, Curatorial Associate
Ms. Mary Grace Wahl, Project Director, Collections Care and Management

Lyndsey Rago Claro, Collections Researcher

As a student-intern, my responsibilities have been constructed with an eye towards my own interests as well as the museum’s needs.

Brief list of my basic projects: research multiple (freaking sweet) artifacts for which the Museum has little to no information; gather potential label information for the “Everything Giraffe” section of the upcoming French Natural History exhibition; help set up and monitor the performance/installation of the “Association for Creative Zoology” and a corresponding ‘Parody Panel’; finally, writing the first drafts of my SIP.

An Example of the Waley Earthenware Giraffe Plates that were popular after the arrival of ‘Zarafa’ from Egypt in 1826.

I think my SIP and research project will start out with a descriptive history of Museology and the contemporary theories of art/science museums before moving into an exploration of how APS Museum’s exhibitions and programming are examples of these theories. Finally, and most importantly, I want to focus most of my paper on how to apply this research to the practical challenges/reality of public education and innovative exhibitions. My objective is to put the theories I’ve read so many times to work—as my professor Dr. Diana Waters would say, make it walk the talk.

For example, I realized the complications of graphic design, exhibition space, and presentation that the APS curators have had to work with in order to put together a successful exhibition in such a small space. The following are pictures of some of the “trade secrets” that I learned:

Using fabric partitions to divide up a large drafty room

Covering up the room’s huge windows with shades that mimic the surrounding walls

Designing Information and Images that will fit with the overall layout of the exhibition

Placing artifacts in visually pleasing yet easy to understand positions

Juxtaposing the excessive collection of The Origin of Species books in an artistic demonstration of the universal dialogue and communication of science

Using Post-it Notes to allow visitors to engage with and contribute to the dialogues with Darwin

Learning “Work”

My first two weeks at the APS Museum were a little frustrating because I've been a student for 14 years now and this is my first complete transition to a work environment outside of the classroom. Even while I was in Chicago and worked in their Special Collections and Rare Manuscripts Library, I was still a research fellow, student, and part-time employee. Now I work 9-5 for 4 days a week plus the occasional afternoon event on the weekends. I think this list will be the most efficient and accurate way to explain this transition:

-Realize that I do not have a professional work wardrobe....realize that after buying a bunch of work clothes that my workplace is more casual that I thought...buy more clothes

-Realize that a teacher will not come over every hour to check on my progress; also realize that my work isn't due the next day, the next week, not even at the end of the month during exams but three months from now

-figure out how to ration work for such a long deadline and engage in brute-force googling in lieu of reading French 19^th century documents for mentions of giraffes.

-Aha moment!!! Work is actually challenging and thought-provoking if I rise to the occasion and have the initiative to develop projects, create work for myself, and step out of my corner office. I’m also excited to learn how to accept the web-like deadlines of a work environment that is in opposition to the achievement structured hierarchy of class work that I am used to.

My Workspace: I have the largest and best window office in the entire building

Coming Home

Finally (thanks for sticking this long blog with me, promise it’ll never be this long again!!) I come home after work to my Philly family. I can’t speak enough about the roomie love and friendship that I depend on to keep me going through the week. Meesha, Justin, and Robert are the best part of my Philadelphia experience. In terms of recreation, I've found a store across the way that rents tennis rackets for $5 for two days :) and a beautiful park with plenty of sitting and grassy space for studying/sleeping in the sun.

Old City Coffee Shop with Yerba Matte!!

My chair for people-watching

My Lunch Cart

My Sitting Area Around Washington Park

After work, I notice my world and its surroundings in a new way. I see a store and think about its presentation, contents, sales, financial business, etc and can imagine myself placed in that active communal role and being successful at creating. Buildings, programs, and things that previously just “were” or just “existed” for my consumption are now creations by groups of people like me. With a group, I can do anything—a little Kalamazoo student, with a group and the appropriate resources, can put on a national event and stamp permanent changes on our cities. I think it’s appropriate to end this blog by saying that having experienced teamwork, resourcefulness, innovation, and inspiration I know I see all things in the world as do-able.