Hello All! Welcome back to a rousing session of random! Today we will be discussing the benefits of interstate travel! Excited yet? I should hope so! I know this seemingly boring subject sounds like a potential snooze fest but in reality it is about as exciting as my week has been and my weekend promises to be!
It was an exciting week at the Mount Vernon Hotel as we prepared for our first session of history camp next week. When deciding to apply for this internship one of the main draws for me was this history camp. I absolutely adore children and doing crafts with them. The chance to impart my love of history on them was just a plus. Needless to say, I tend to forget how much preparation goes into kid camps AND educational crafts. The undertaking has not been of gargantuan proportions but it has taken many hours filled with tedious activities. For example, Ruthie (the other intern) and myself were appointed the task of coming up with a new board game for each child to make centered around the Museum and what they learn about it during their tours and explorations of it. Ever being the game board addict and forced familial participant in family game night, I suggested a variant on one of my favorite games. "Mystery at Mount Vernon" has the same basic rules as regular Clue. All names, locations, and weapons have been changed in order to protect those involved. As Ruthie drew up the character list, I created a basic grid layout for the game board and then began the arduous task of replicating this grid on 21 slightly larger, blank canvas boards. 21. At this moment I have around 8 left to layout and have spent roughly 13-15 hours on the completed ones. I got through the 8 part mini-series, The Kennedy's, 3 episodes of Bones, and a documentary on the effects of race music and the Civil Rights movement. My brain have sufficiently depleted that I may state that I have, in fact, watched an adequate amount of television.
Besides our lovely game boards, Ruthie and I had to practice making Taffy before we attempted to do it with the children. This little project was, sadly, not as successful. Yes, we combined all the necessary ingredients and heated the sugary substance to the requisite temperature. Unfortunately, we left it on the burner a shade longer than was Kosher. Instead of the pliabley yummy taffy that could be pulled and molded, we created a sticky, crystallized, Jolly Rancher substance that, though delicious, was slightly burnt and almost broke our teeth. Taffy as a project? Nixed. Instead we have decided to replace it with Rock Candy making. Personally, I think the kids have traded up.
We worked on other lesser activities that I promise I will come back and edit in but at this very moment my head is starting to ache a smidgin and I think we are almost to Providence. Did I mention that I am currently sitting on Megabus headed to Providence, RI where I will meet up with my roommate for a exciting and relaxing weekend in Cape Cod. To the rest of you, keep reading and have a wonderful weekend.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
The Way It Goes
Hello all! First off, I would like to formally apologize for my significant lack of blogging. I have come to the realization that yes, I fail at updating this blog on a regular basis. Just to speed things up I am going to give you one long post so if you would please bear with me and plow through till the end. If you must in fact leave your computer for any reason or seem to find yourself falling asleep at any point whilst reading this, I do not begrudge your departure.
For the past two weeks I have been steadily researching at the New York Public Library a couple days a week. The NYPL, as I found out, has several different wings with a variety of different rules and regulations. For instance, my first day there, I went into the wrong wing of the reading rooms and tried to use my laptop...got in trouble. I hadn't realized that it was prohibited to use electronic devices in that area. As a result, I had to pack EVERYTHING up and move to the South wing. My attempt to get internet research done was a failure. If any of you have experienced the unfortunate plague of changing locations the moment you have motivation to start something, you will understand what it's like to have to move and subsequently loose ALL motivation. So after a nice lunch/coffee break in Bryant Park, I moved my entire operation to the first floor micro-forms rooms to perform the arduous task of sifting through roll after roll of early 1800s newspapers. I promise you that this mind numbing task is not as easy as it sounds. If you have never dealt with micro-form before, especially newspapers published prior to 1900, let me explain that the scans are, at times, shotty at best. As a result it takes much longer to scan for a few specific advertisements than it normally would.
Instead of spending the majority of my days at the NYPL this past week, I had to go into the museum everyday this past week. A staff meeting on Monday, docent work on Tuesday, shopping for camp on Wednesday, and group tours on Thursday. A lazy week you say? Oh no my friend, not even close. I got little to no research done in favor of getting camp stuff prepped. My other fellow, Ruthie, and I had taken inventory earlier in the summer and were now having to traps about the city finding/purchasing the remaining materials. Our final shopping stop on Wednesday was Blick. If you are an artist and order any supplies from the website, the store is just even cooler. I would have spent the entire day there if we hadn't had to get back to the East side for another meeting. :( Anyway, after our shopping extravaganza, upon our arrival back to the museum we decided to start making prototypes for each craft (easier said than done), and prepare the materials for the "Mystery at Mount Vernon" game the kids would be creating. "Mystery at Mount Vernon" is our variation on Clue. The kids get to decorate their own game boards, character cards, and game pieces based on what they learned in their tours of the museum. It would be extremely fun, but now I am rethinking the "fun factor." (I am the one who has to layout, measure off, and draw out 21 game boards. Tedious. Not fun.)
Also, I would just like to finish this post by saying that yesterday I went to the Harry Potter Exhibition AND to see Wicked. It was a phenomenal day and an amazing first experience of Broadway. Wicked was literally fantastic! We had great seats (they had better have been for the price I paid) and the cast had amazing projection. Literally one of my best experiences to date.
For the past two weeks I have been steadily researching at the New York Public Library a couple days a week. The NYPL, as I found out, has several different wings with a variety of different rules and regulations. For instance, my first day there, I went into the wrong wing of the reading rooms and tried to use my laptop...got in trouble. I hadn't realized that it was prohibited to use electronic devices in that area. As a result, I had to pack EVERYTHING up and move to the South wing. My attempt to get internet research done was a failure. If any of you have experienced the unfortunate plague of changing locations the moment you have motivation to start something, you will understand what it's like to have to move and subsequently loose ALL motivation. So after a nice lunch/coffee break in Bryant Park, I moved my entire operation to the first floor micro-forms rooms to perform the arduous task of sifting through roll after roll of early 1800s newspapers. I promise you that this mind numbing task is not as easy as it sounds. If you have never dealt with micro-form before, especially newspapers published prior to 1900, let me explain that the scans are, at times, shotty at best. As a result it takes much longer to scan for a few specific advertisements than it normally would.
Instead of spending the majority of my days at the NYPL this past week, I had to go into the museum everyday this past week. A staff meeting on Monday, docent work on Tuesday, shopping for camp on Wednesday, and group tours on Thursday. A lazy week you say? Oh no my friend, not even close. I got little to no research done in favor of getting camp stuff prepped. My other fellow, Ruthie, and I had taken inventory earlier in the summer and were now having to traps about the city finding/purchasing the remaining materials. Our final shopping stop on Wednesday was Blick. If you are an artist and order any supplies from the website, the store is just even cooler. I would have spent the entire day there if we hadn't had to get back to the East side for another meeting. :( Anyway, after our shopping extravaganza, upon our arrival back to the museum we decided to start making prototypes for each craft (easier said than done), and prepare the materials for the "Mystery at Mount Vernon" game the kids would be creating. "Mystery at Mount Vernon" is our variation on Clue. The kids get to decorate their own game boards, character cards, and game pieces based on what they learned in their tours of the museum. It would be extremely fun, but now I am rethinking the "fun factor." (I am the one who has to layout, measure off, and draw out 21 game boards. Tedious. Not fun.)
Also, I would just like to finish this post by saying that yesterday I went to the Harry Potter Exhibition AND to see Wicked. It was a phenomenal day and an amazing first experience of Broadway. Wicked was literally fantastic! We had great seats (they had better have been for the price I paid) and the cast had amazing projection. Literally one of my best experiences to date.
Happy Daddy's Day!
Happy Fathers day to all the dads out there and a special shout out to me padre. This year's Fathers Day was a little different for me. Being in New York all summer has it upsides but it also has it's downsides like missing Fathers Day and my sisters birthday. Not getting to partake in the traditional Fathers Day meal at home was a bit sad but a part of life. So instead of giving my dad his gift in person I called him and gave him my best, listening to him rub in all the scrumptious Southern food that Mom had made. So instead of spending this happy day with my father, I spent it at a bar-b-q with Joe's family. It was an interesting change (at which I ate much to much.)
This week was, by far, more eventful than than the past few weeks have been. Monday is the one day each week that the museum is officially closed to the public. So instead of doing the usual Monday ritual of mind-numbing research (just kidding about the mind-numbing bit) my supervisor, my co-intern, and I decided to take a trip over to Roosevelt Island where we would be taking the History Day campers later this summer. To get to Roosevelt Island you have to walk three blocks up to the tram on 59th, take a 15 minute tram ride across the East River, and then vuala! Roosevelt Island. For those of you who have never ventured over to Roosevelt Island (I'm assuming most of you haven't) it's well worth the trip. No there aren't any nightclubs (that I know of) and I didn't see a multitude of eateries but the view of Manhattan is GORGEOUS. The entire island is a little over four miles in circumference, I should know I walked the entire thing. Sadly, the trip to Roosevelt Island couldn't last the entire day. Around 2:00 we made the trek back to the museum to finish out the day researching.
Tuesday, I gave 3 full tours of the museum...by myself!! (Trust me, it's more exciting than it sounds.) After the first tour, which lasted about 45 minutes, I felt comfortable enough to be able to cut the next two tours down to around 30 minutes and focused more on the history of the Hotel over the objects in each room (which is becoming more of the objective of the museum.)
This week was, by far, more eventful than than the past few weeks have been. Monday is the one day each week that the museum is officially closed to the public. So instead of doing the usual Monday ritual of mind-numbing research (just kidding about the mind-numbing bit) my supervisor, my co-intern, and I decided to take a trip over to Roosevelt Island where we would be taking the History Day campers later this summer. To get to Roosevelt Island you have to walk three blocks up to the tram on 59th, take a 15 minute tram ride across the East River, and then vuala! Roosevelt Island. For those of you who have never ventured over to Roosevelt Island (I'm assuming most of you haven't) it's well worth the trip. No there aren't any nightclubs (that I know of) and I didn't see a multitude of eateries but the view of Manhattan is GORGEOUS. The entire island is a little over four miles in circumference, I should know I walked the entire thing. Sadly, the trip to Roosevelt Island couldn't last the entire day. Around 2:00 we made the trek back to the museum to finish out the day researching.
Tuesday, I gave 3 full tours of the museum...by myself!! (Trust me, it's more exciting than it sounds.) After the first tour, which lasted about 45 minutes, I felt comfortable enough to be able to cut the next two tours down to around 30 minutes and focused more on the history of the Hotel over the objects in each room (which is becoming more of the objective of the museum.)
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