Fall \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Harvest Moon<\/p>\n
Another brilliant blue day, with slashes of orange and red, sky filled with high white clouds. These northern fall days expand the mind, let it reach out beyond the horizon, taking the breadth and height of it all into the soul, the inner life growing proportionally. \u00a0No problem with this season growing longer.<\/p>\n
Lights out at the MIA this morning. \u00a0 I wasn’t there, but apparently security gates came wheeling down in the galleries and the place went dark for an hour or two. \u00a0Very dark in certain areas. \u00a0I imagine the Japanese galleries and the Pacific Islands and the Islamic and maybe Southeast Asia would pitch black. \u00a0They have no window light. \u00a0None. \u00a0Wonder which images came to life?<\/p>\n
Our afternoon tour got delayed because the kids were at the Children’s Theatre, attached physically to the museum, and it went dark, too, delaying their show. \u00a0This was a big group, 153 kids altogether.<\/p>\n
Since I’m taking a class on mythology, it’s worth recounting here a frequent occurrence at one of my favorite objects: \u00a0the Transformation Mask by Kwakwaka’wakw\u00a0sculptor Richard Hunt. (both pictures from the MIA website) \u00a0I tell a story about Raven, who had white feathers, then met Gray Eagle’s daughter, fell in love and visited her father’s dwelling. \u00a0Raven finds the sun, the moon, the stars, water and fire inside Gray Eagle’s lodge, steals all of these things and gives them to the people who have been living in darkness. \u00a0In spreading fire he carries a brand in his beak and his feathers are burnt. \u00a0That’s how Raven became black.<\/p>\n
I tell this story as it is and leave it. \u00a0Most of the time, some kid asked, “Is it real?” \u00a0In return I ask, “What do you think?” \u00a0Usually kids accept the story as “real.” \u00a0I don’t press this interpretation, but I happen to agree with them. \u00a0It’s true because it explains the birth of the Raven clan and its totemic animal. \u00a0In this sense, too, it is real. \u00a0As real it gets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fall \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Harvest Moon Another brilliant blue day, with slashes of orange and red, sky filled with high white clouds. These northern fall days expand the … Continue reading How Raven Became Black<\/span>