Back in DC. Back to the bones, the squirrels and the schnapps.
After a chat the other day, with a as-native-as-they-come-DC’er (DConian? DCian?), I realize that the things I do not like about this city is not really the scale of buildings (though some of them seems grossly dimensioned), but the sheer marble-factor. Actually, it is not marble, but you get the idea: faux greek everything, with some baroque, roman, hellenistic, egyptian, summarian, assyrian, art nuveau, functionalism.. a soup, in short. It is the friezes and carvings that annoys me. I am not an architectural purist, and maybe I lack the language for pin-pointing what bothers me. Currently suspecting proportions and art/architect-history-soup.
I do have a fondness for the museum of natural history though. It is one of the lesser decorated buildings. Maybe it is just because I have worked there, and seen the ramshackle insides. Endearing, chaotic, confusing, frustrating.
(I said bones. I didn’t lie.)
The lists in the elevators are rarely right. they may be right in one wing, and wrong in the other. They may be wrong in one lift, and right in the one two meters away. The anthropology department is worthy of anthropology studies itself. It is a maze of crates, drawers, boxes and shelves. You could very easily get lost here, and I suspect there could be cases of people that got lost and haven’t left the building for 24 years. The notes in the elevators are wondrously obscure. There are regular talks on various subjects, and sometimes I cannot understand a single word, never mind having the faintest idea of what the talk is about. It means I can make it up in my head, and create pictures of mad scientists doing wild field work. It is all natural history though. I am sure about that.
Downstairs is a zoo. Downstairs is the exhibitions. I dislike it more and more, and avoid it if I can. Turns out, you can probably live and work in this building for decades, without actually mingling with the drooling public or go near the exhibits. Some of them are definitely worth seeing though, so early morning is the only real option.
A friend of mine here, R, was attempted robbed of her mobile phone in the metro, the interesting tin-foil-hat-reaction of said friend was to run like the wind and catch the culprit. Basically thinking “my data! my information! my life!” rather than “my phone!” (I love her for that reaction, though it may not be wise to hunt feral kids) The culprit was duly caught, arrested and all, a tiny girl of 16. Kids sometimes roams the city centre in feral packs.
I took the metro home this evening, and walked home through the little town outside DC where I currently live. I passed two parked cars with their windows open. The town has a intellectual-hippy-feel, community-minded, responsible, friendly and are delightfully slow-moving. This country has the best and the worst, and sometimes both on the same day.
Your description of the museum reminds me of some good libraries I have known – back in the day when there still were card catalogues, leather bindings, lots of dust and librarians who said, “Shhhhhhhh!” Oh – and you could sleep up there on the third floor, back of the antropological studies of snake handlers and such.
Public architecture in DC – well. We’re a young country, you know? Nouveau riche rather than art nouveau. Maybe the people who built all that wanted to impress Europe and didn’t know how to do it except by imitation. But I do like the Folger Shakespeare Library.
And of course I love your squirrels.
Hello, Linda – the museum is, I assure you, a mess of boxes, field stuff, intellectuals, nerds, papers and obscure unidentifiable bits and pieces. It is mainly functional, in a sort of medieval way. There are offices hiding behind and under crates. And if you dared to open something, a stuffed howler monkey might fall out :-)
I have, in all fairness, probably never viewed my own city in the same way, so I’ll give it a little time. There are some smashing architecture here, but my daily route varies little. Besides, views change from tourist to workaholic to inhabitant.
The squirrels, by some considered a pest and no better than rats are a great delight to me. I see four-five every day, and it cheers me up every time.
And make no mistake – I consider myself immensely privileged for this opportunity.
One of my favorite things to do in D.C. is to get lost in the obscure parts of some of the places. The last time I was there, I got lost in the dark/downstairs part of the National Archives. I am continually amazed that it is someone’s (probably thousands actually) job to catalogue every little thing that comes through the White House….hate mail, fan mail, wacko mail, kids’ letters, etc.
Hope you’re having a good time working!
- Danielle
Class! You can easily get lost in these places, and I loose my sense of direction behind the exhibitions on the ground floor of MNH.
That rotunda messes it all up :-D