The close of one year and the opening of another is often bittersweet, but now that we're almost one full month into 2015, these emotions have mostly passed.
Do You Want to be a Korean?
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| The customary Childers' kid pose. Though usually Joel doesn't look high. |
In a conversation about my degree, I once had someone ask if I was planning to be a Korean. After some initial confusion on my part, I realized what they were asking. "Oh, a curator?" I responded, barely holding back my snickers. "I actually want to work in collections." Confusion regarding my career path is not uncommon. People usually don't know much about what museum staff do, though they often know the term 'curator.' Either that or they say, "Oh, like Night at the Museum." Well, no, not really. As of yet nothing has come to life in my museums.
But there's a first time for everything.
Thankfully, my career working with old stuff seems to be off to a great start. I spent 2014 working with a variety of collections - from Mark Twain letters and women red cross uniforms to Torah scrolls and beaded deer skulls.
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| My cohort at Baylor and one of our professors. Love these ladies. |
Horse Capital of the World
In 2014 I took a trip to Kentucky, the horse capital of the world. Everyone knows my passion for horses, and all things horse-related. Mom and I spent almost a week in Kentucky, touring horse farms, horse museums, horse parks and horse racetracks. We threw in a bourbon distillery along the way (because Kentucky is famous for bourbon and horses), a tour of the Mary Todd Lincoln house and a visit to Cane Ridge. Other than that we kept to horses and we saw more horses than most people probably care to see in a lifetime.Not me of course. I'm still nowhere near to getting my fill of horses, but Kentucky certainly made this girl happy.
I watched the top female jockey in the world win a race under the iconic twin spires at Churchill Downs. I ate a hot brown in Louisville, where the tasty dish was created. I met the jockey who rode Seattle Slew to the Triple Crown. I stood at Secretariat's grave after petting a horse that won the Kentucky Derby and one who is insured for over 55 million dollars. Horse lovers heaven, ya'll.
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| War Front - the leading sire in North America. Stands for $150,000! |
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| Jean Cruguet, Seattle Slew's jockey. I'm taller than him! |
In 2014 I spent several months interning at the Museum of the Bible in Oklahoma City. I am still a bit in awe that I worked at a museum that has fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Seriously, how cool is that? I sat in on planning meetings for the large museum that will open in DC in 2017. I met some wonderful people while in Oklahoma, and was blessed with two wonderful places to live for the summer.
City of Seven Wonders
In 2014 I began my first "real" job in a museum. I began a new adventure and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona for a year. I'll be here in Flag until September, at which point I will likely find a new adventure. Flagstaff is a fascinating city. It's small, but due to its arrangement on a mountainside and along the railroad it is fairly spread out.
Flagstaff is beautiful. It sits in the middle of a large pine forest and at the foot of the San Francisco Peaks. The Grand Canyon is 70 miles away and the red rocks of Sedona are just over 30 miles away. I see deer a few times every week, though I have yet to see any elk or bald eagles.
I work with archaeology objects, which I think is pretty neat. Because the Museum of Northern Arizona interprets the history of the Colorado Plateau, much of the collections are Native American. I am loving this opportunity to explore an era of history that I find fascinating and and to experience the natural wonders of the Colorado Plateau.
And that's what I did in 2014. Not a bad year, I must say. What's in store for me in 2015? I can't wait to find out!
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