Remember reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and then every time you went in a museum or gallery afterward, you thought of what it would be like to live there? Well, now you can. Not the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but a pretty fascinating alternative. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (unless, of course, they offer it again next year) to live in the museum for one month. You get paid for it too. $10,000. (Of course, this should clue you into the small detail that this is more of a job than an rebellious adventure, but still....) Check out the link here. There are some submissions requirements, of course, and the more this is blogged about, the harder the competition will be. I can think of about five people I know off-hand who would be fabulous at this.
because you were all wondering what I'm writing my dissertation on, here's a brief synopsis of my 'research context': When James Macpherson published his Fragments of Ancient Poetry in 1760, he went to great lengths to make the Fragments appear to be authentic remains of an ancient, heroic oral tradition. His reasons for this were largely political, and as such, influenced the content of the epics themselves. As an attempt to establish a particularly Scottish identity, the poems were quite effective. However, to do so required both a simplification and a manipulation of traditional mythology. Stripped of anagogical significance, the Ossian epics more or less represented an Enlightenment version of history, tradition, and mythic heritage. The stories themselves were changed by their very purpose and in turn changed the manner of representing myth in future narratives. Moreover, the emphasis on the Ossian epics as authentic tales from the past, as ‘fragments,’ served...
This is rather bizarre. And there are quite a few requirements! You must be able to speak English AND have perfect mental health. And be a good blogger! You should do it :)
ReplyDeleteMrs Frankenweiner!!!
ReplyDeleteBoth of you should do it. Everyone should do it! The only people who shouldn't get this opportunity are people who would graffiti the exhibits. Everyone else in the world should have the opportunity to live in a museum. End of story.
ReplyDeleteAm I one of the five? Jk. I would do it, but only if spencer came with me, and since he is rather particular about his living conditions, I doubt that's going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI think I would need a friend to go with me because the museum might be kind of scary at night. I'm a wee bit scared of the dark. Especially around exhibits of dead things.
ReplyDelete