Texas trails

My current assignment for the Mid America Arts Alliance is to visit 20 museums in Texas' small towns to help their boards of directors grow from good to great. This means getting my zippy red Honda on the ranch roads and farm roads (still posting 60-70 miles and hour), plugging in my IPOD to listen to Texas music (KGSR is just the right mood music), and visiting the most diverse set of museums imaginable.

I've been learning about....
...the youngest governor in Texas
...the history of the WASPS - one thousand talented women test pilots in Sweetwater 1942-44
...white lightning production in Fairfield County during Prohibition
...the determination of one strong woman in Waco
...the Wendish recipe for noodles
...jails and their architectural quirks
...stories of collectors (for instance the Birsong Circus miniature collection featured on this blog - flip a switch and the lights come on, the music starts and the acrobats swing with glee -- showcased in the back room of a Brownwood, Texas jail, built like a castle fortress a while back)
...stories of ranchers, politicians, firearms, travels, war heroes, artists, families, settlers, founders, inventors, writers, and characters.

Each museum has shown its own special pride in its collection and its stories, as well as its own fierce protectiveness of its mission and its values.

First foray photos will be on Flickr..soon.

Russia and our US elections -- Slightly late

The US election has come and gone and a new era has begun. Many Texans have restarted the clock for the 21st century, beginning with Barak Obama's win.

My conviction that Obama would win happened in a hotel room at 5 am in Moscow - watching the Palin-Biden debate live on CNN television in my pajamas. My colleague Sally and I had just spent a week in Kostroma, Russia - working with a group of 35 museum professionals on building capacity for marketing and visibility in a range of small museums in the region. We had decided to stay an extra day in Russia after the seminar ended - to see somne contemporary art, visit the new galleries in Moscow, and experience some big city life.

I had purchased a pink notepad in a paper store in Kostroma - a notepad distinctive because it had what looked like Sarah Palin on the cover - in actuality the photo was of a 50's housewife with a poodle skirt. But the hairdo and the attitude were reminiscent.

I had pen and notepad in hand to record the debates - and quickly filled up my paper with those now-infamous remarks and gestures that mean our Alaska governor and her winsome ways have gone from cute to cutesie.

On returning to Austin - the energy was palpable. Friends and family took on volunteer roles in the last days of the Obama campaign - traveling to New Mexico to knowck on doors, staffing the phones to get out the vote.

I ultimately celebrated the election night in Dallas, Texas - on route to a few small museums in Central Texas where I am currently consulting on board issues.

But we're still celebrating!