"how's your summer going?"

What people really want to know is: what are you doing with your life? So, here it is. I graduated from George Washington in Museum Studies in May (on the National Mall, no less!) and landed a sweet internship in Park City. And by sweet, I mean it pays enough for me to live. That's it. It gives me experience, a new museum outlook, and the chance to do lots of random stuff I haven't done before! It's what was there... so I went for it. I am at the Park City Museum. It has been a great experience and I will just continue to go with it.


Fellow interns at the museum!

Telling people you work at a museum always gets some good reactions. People are generally interested, but overall confused at what happens at museums. Thus, they either ask if you are the curator or a docent. Little do most people know there are a whole host of in between jobs! Like education, taking care of the museum collection (like objects and photos), exhibit development, development (as in fundraising kind of fun), or administration. I am hoping for some sort of education/exhibit combo full time, permanent job in the future. But, as for what I have been doing so far this summer...

• Research for potential brochure text about a temporary exhibit on music in Park City that the museum developed
• Tasks related to the Historic Home tour (such as making posters, helping with a silent auction, and putting up LOTS of purple, yellow, and gold ribbons on historic houses in Park City)
• Helping out with school tours! I gain an energy from people in general, and kids in particular.
• Giving the occasional (generally last minute because a volunteer didn't show up) walking tour of historic Main Street in Park City.
• Proofread exhibit text.
• Help install exhibit (and see duct tape put to use in the process of exhibit install...love it!)
• Put my emerging Photoshop skills to use by cleaning up building maps so people can actually read them and use them for something other than constructing a building.
• Play with the cutest Latino kids in outreach!
• Set insect traps throughout the museum.
• Man the front desk and welcome to the museum duties.
• Wrote a little column for a weekly thing the museum does in the local paper--"The Way We Were" which highlights some historic photograph and a writeup of what's going on, history, etc. I did mine on railroads. Ha... recycled a bit of info from my research paper from my American Photography class.
  
• And... going through, sorting, organizing, and filing lots and lots of dusty mining papers from the New Park Mining Company that were saved when Keetly Utah disappeared under the Jordanelle Reservoir. I am learning that archival organizing isn't the same as organizing at home. For instance, you aren't suppose to stuff as so much stuff into a folder that it begins to burst at the seams. Who knew? Not me...but I know now!
  
• Often, I wear flip flops, t-shirts, and jeans to work. Yep... I am not in DC any longer.

The museum recently opened after a long renovation process. It is new and nice, and I have to say, after observing so many people in DC (who are probably museumed out), it is interesting to see people actually reading labels and looking at objects. Kids too!! Wow... They really have done a great job at the museum.


This is the Territorial Jail. Supposedly 11 people died down there and I am seriously waiting to see a ghost. Can't wait for it to happen! (And the skier subway--trying to use mining tunnels to transport skiers. I can't imagine why this didn't catch on!)

All photos taken from Park City Museum's Facebook Page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Park-City-UT/Park-City-Museum/154665126321
I am not high tech enough on how to do this properly, maybe I will learn. Maybe this is the right way, I'm not sure.

Museum website: http://www.parkcityhistory.org/

[Note: There is a photo of me. I know... my last blog was void of pictures of me. I am going to try and be brave and put my face out there.]

new era, new blog

Let's be honest...time for a new blog. I thought about giving a face lift to the old standby, but I thought a new creation would do me some good. Don't get me started on the blog address. I chide my parents for spelling my name in such a "unique" way, pride myself on being able to find myself when I Google my name, yet everything seemed to not work for a blog address with my oh so unique name. Go figure. The address just is what it is.

And the name of my blog comes out of some things I have had on my mind as of late and a good conversation with a brilliant friend of mine. She seriously needs to write a book...or at least speak up above all the chatter that happens around us everyday.

Choice. We make them daily. Some aren't all that important. Hair straight or curly, jeans or skirt, blah, blah...no one ultimately cares about those things. But, then it comes down to the big things. School. Dating. Jobs. Spending time. Or money. My dad always says, "Just do the best you can with the information you have available." And so that's what we do. But sometimes we make awful decisions. We probably would do things differently in hindsight, but we did the best we could. And then the beating up of ourselves sets in. As I was making some decisions recently concerning my internship, my dad said, "You're a smart girl. You'll figure it out. You'll make the right decision." And all I could think was "NO. I could absolutely make the wrong decision." I have made wrong decisions in the past. The decision I make now could end up being a terrible one--time will tell. All we can do is keep deciding. It doesn't come down to making a right or wrong decision, really. It is just making a choice of any kind. Belief in right and wrong decisions can paralyze you. Which brings me to my next part of the blog's title.

Acceptance. I was chatting with my friend about her life and the place she is in. I recognized that the calm and serenity I sense from her comes from acceptance. Of things that are happening. Of mistakes. Of feelings, those both perceived as positive or negative. Acceptance of life. Acceptance of our own version of success. The periphery stuff melts away. Sadly we live in a society, culture, and religion dominated by competition, of milestones, or markers of success. I want to be in the place like my friend and refuse all that. It only makes us crazy. My grandma has always told me she started thinking for herself when she was 35. I always thought that was sad and in my know-it-allness of my 20s, I thought "Well, I have her beat. I already think for myself." And I did to some degree. But hopefully I can begin to accept life and recognize that I don't have to choose what everyone else is choosing. I am beginning to see what she really meant. And I hope I can have the courage to do so just like my dear grandma. Make a choice, be honest with how I feel, and accept whatever comes my way so I can make the best of it.

Here's hoping I don't forget I started a new blog!