I didn't update Sunday, although I went somewhere really GREAT, although I don't think I can do it justice in words and I took no pictures, but here goes.
The Smithsonian's Indian Museum is really great. Might be a bit misnamed in the "American Indian" title, unless you include THE AMERICAS, from Alaska to Antartica, and Pacific/ Caribbean islands nearby. At first, I thought the place was a huge ripoff because on the first two floors there is little more than a couple canoes, pots and carvings; that space is mostly the cafeteria, museum shops, offices, and theaters.
However, there is enough stuff packed in the 3rd and 4th floors for you to completely be overwhelmed by info and artwork. This is where a camera would've been nice, but I would've had to have taken hundreds of pictures, not 25, to even get into the range of dolls, fetishes, statues, boats, tools, gaming pieces, kitchenwares... the really great thing about the museum is it shows info, pics, and video of native people living NOW. It's very much about the present and future, not a dusty idea of faded old things trundled together.
Besides a camera, I wish I'd just had some paper to copy down some of the words and symbolism... like the four directions/ winds are symbolized in the four corns: red/South, blue/North, white/East, yellow/West. There's so much there, I have to say it's among the best places to go in DC. My only misgiving is, in the inevitable talk about war/ violence/ oppression, there's a GREAT deal of space taken on the 4th floor to show weapons. Historic weapons, fine, but there's a whole bunch of semi-auto and machine guns in there too. Like maybe a few dozen too many modern weapons. I just think it's... a bit outside of what the museum should be about. I mean, you can discuss things like logger barons in South America or the Peltier case without stocking the museum full of Uzis... perhaps a video screen film, like everywhere else in the place, coulda covered the Guns & Ammo part of the deal.
I was just looking at the website I link to above; it really doesn't have jackshit on it, so all I can say is GO there yourselves. It's a beautiful building, and the heavy amount of exhibit info and arts/crafts on floors 3 and 4 is not gonna be summed up on a web page, or even the semi-decent books on the museum (which I saw in the gift shop, and are booty-wack-trifling next to the real things, and size of the collection which isn't in those books).
Really- some of the dolls and carvings equal the neighboring National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum, and quite friggin often better them.
Also, what silvereve said was true. We bowled Saturday. The relevantswitch was there. His mouth hurt, but we got bakery items later. A nice cold beer helps inactive-lazy-bastard-shoulder-pain go away. If I don't find much more to add about it, it's not because se & rs aren't among the best folks in northern VA. I might just be covering up secret fart information. It's classified!
I also saw ex-SGer KaraLynn on St Pat's at The Grog and Tankard benefit for DC Rollergirls. Someday I will have my scanner hooked up again and you can see my Polaroid of spanking given by the Fenchurch-like young lass, Inaugural Brawl... 'til then, you can look up DCRollergirls on MySpace and get out there and support the local rollllllers.
The Smithsonian's Indian Museum is really great. Might be a bit misnamed in the "American Indian" title, unless you include THE AMERICAS, from Alaska to Antartica, and Pacific/ Caribbean islands nearby. At first, I thought the place was a huge ripoff because on the first two floors there is little more than a couple canoes, pots and carvings; that space is mostly the cafeteria, museum shops, offices, and theaters.
However, there is enough stuff packed in the 3rd and 4th floors for you to completely be overwhelmed by info and artwork. This is where a camera would've been nice, but I would've had to have taken hundreds of pictures, not 25, to even get into the range of dolls, fetishes, statues, boats, tools, gaming pieces, kitchenwares... the really great thing about the museum is it shows info, pics, and video of native people living NOW. It's very much about the present and future, not a dusty idea of faded old things trundled together.
Besides a camera, I wish I'd just had some paper to copy down some of the words and symbolism... like the four directions/ winds are symbolized in the four corns: red/South, blue/North, white/East, yellow/West. There's so much there, I have to say it's among the best places to go in DC. My only misgiving is, in the inevitable talk about war/ violence/ oppression, there's a GREAT deal of space taken on the 4th floor to show weapons. Historic weapons, fine, but there's a whole bunch of semi-auto and machine guns in there too. Like maybe a few dozen too many modern weapons. I just think it's... a bit outside of what the museum should be about. I mean, you can discuss things like logger barons in South America or the Peltier case without stocking the museum full of Uzis... perhaps a video screen film, like everywhere else in the place, coulda covered the Guns & Ammo part of the deal.
I was just looking at the website I link to above; it really doesn't have jackshit on it, so all I can say is GO there yourselves. It's a beautiful building, and the heavy amount of exhibit info and arts/crafts on floors 3 and 4 is not gonna be summed up on a web page, or even the semi-decent books on the museum (which I saw in the gift shop, and are booty-wack-trifling next to the real things, and size of the collection which isn't in those books).
Really- some of the dolls and carvings equal the neighboring National Gallery of Art and Hirshhorn Museum, and quite friggin often better them.
Also, what silvereve said was true. We bowled Saturday. The relevantswitch was there. His mouth hurt, but we got bakery items later. A nice cold beer helps inactive-lazy-bastard-shoulder-pain go away. If I don't find much more to add about it, it's not because se & rs aren't among the best folks in northern VA. I might just be covering up secret fart information. It's classified!
I also saw ex-SGer KaraLynn on St Pat's at The Grog and Tankard benefit for DC Rollergirls. Someday I will have my scanner hooked up again and you can see my Polaroid of spanking given by the Fenchurch-like young lass, Inaugural Brawl... 'til then, you can look up DCRollergirls on MySpace and get out there and support the local rollllllers.
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
linkismyhero:
I ended up turning down the job, and am probably not working any time soon, so I'm free as a bird. Lemme know if you will have a chance to meet up or something. I've managed to get myself out of the house the past couple of days, so maybe we can meet up somewhere. Maybe I'll see you soon. 
illstabyou:
Thanks for reminding me of that burger and onion smell of White Castle. I'm going to have that smell stuck in my head all day now. Ick!