Never Again

Tags

1961, Berlin, Berlin wall, cold war, Germany, never again, poem

Never Again

Never; will life as we know it change,

East and the west may be divided,

But freely are we able to move between.

The conflict lies amongst the governments, 

Again we tell ourselves that,

It will never concern us or our families.

Whispers of change are getting louder,

Another neighbor has left yet again,

We sit here,

uncertain.

The day begins as usual,

We get ready to cross to the other side,

There is a crowd where the divide is,

Guards are posted by barbed wire,

What are they protecting?

There is a silent divide between guard and civilian,

Suddenly someone runs towards them,

We hear a shot, again and again,

The cold reality hits us,

Never did we ever believe,

this day would come.

With that barbed wire,

Never will we cross freely again,

Never will we live in peace,

Never will we forget missed opportunities,

Never will we be complacent,

Never will we keep quiet again,

Never will we doubt again,

Never Again

Was looking through some postcards i got from my recent trip to Germany and the ones that hit me the most were the ones picturing the Berlin wall in the 1960s. I’ve not read enough to make comments about it, but, just looking at how people looked over the wall or found ways to made me wonder how it felt like to be trapped in there against your own will. Granted, not everyone in East Berlin wanted to go over to the West, but from the many escape attempts we’ve learned about we know that there were definitely those who weren’t in the East on their own will. Why build a wall if there’s nothing to keep in right?

Barbed-wire barricades/Berlin Wall/1961 The Berlin Wall. (Building began on 13 August 1961). – Barbed-wire barricades are erected near the Brandenburg Gate, 14-15 August 1961. – Photo (Gert Schuetz).

As such, i’ve made an attempt at poetry writing based on this image that I had. This was the ‘Berlin Wall’ at the very beginning. It was only barbed wire as they could not build a wall overnight, but in terms of restriction, it mirrored those of a wall. I remember the guide telling us stories of people just staring at the barbed wire and people who attempted to cross were shot dead on the spot. Those stories were the basis of this character who believes that what the government is doing has nothing to do with them/him, they keep quiet, ignoring the signs around them until one day they wake up and it’s too late. Even then it takes a rude awakening for them to realize that life will never be the same again. I think that’s how i feel with all the politics, local and international happening around me. It’s easy to just live your life and pretend it won’t affect you, but truth it, it will, eventually. I’m not saying i’ll become a political activist, i wouldn’t know where to start honestly. I think we need to be aware of the issues that arise, start conversations about it, and when it comes the time to act, act wisely.

p.s.Had to use italics to separate the stanza’s as wordpress automatically adjusted it to space everything out evenly.

Carpets and rugs in a Museum

Tags

Beaumont, Carpets, cleaning, conservation, discoloring, Elvis Presley, england, Graceland, historic royal palaces, McFaddin-Ward House, Memphis, museum, preservation, Rugs, tapestry, Texas

I recently came back from a road trip to Texas and on the way i visited a couple of museums, two in particular that i’m thinking of in terms of the topic of carpets is Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley and the McFaddin-Ward House. Both places claim to have the original carpet or rugs that were present when the owners were alive. Personally I have a hard time believing them at Graceland because millions of people have walked in and out of that house, including the time when Elvis was alive and to say that the carpet is the original one that he had, even if they changed it a couple of days before he died is still hard to believe. I walked on that carpet and i could just imagine people with mud and wet shoes walking all over it. How they’re going to keep the original as it is with the current situation? I don’t know, even if they were to put a glass walkway over it, you’ll still have to think about discoloration and off gassing. Again, i’m having a hard time believing that it’s the original so i don’t have much to say about it.

At the McFaddin-Ward house they have all the furnishings in place as it was when the family lived there. And I do believe that the carpets and rugs are the original ones unless they specifically stated that it was changed when the house underwent renovations to become a museum. When it came to the carpet, the museum decided to keep the original carpet where it was placed, but to preserve it, they decided to put another carpet on top of the original for visitors to step on. I think this works to a certain extent because there is still contact with the carpet and that will cause wear and tear or even stretching because the carpet, which i will refer to as the walking carpet, was placed on one end. The strain will be focused on that end unless they switch the ends from time to time. Also, i think putting this walking carpet on top of the original puts it in danger of uneven discoloring because sunlight will discolor the carpet, but if the carpet is just left there the whole time, the spot under the walking carpet will not discolor as much as the rest of the surface area. So here we have two problems, stretching and uneven discoloring. I think that if the museum switches the carpet around so that different ends are exposed to the walking carpet that would reduce the stretching and strain on just one end, and if the walking carpet was removed from the original at the end of each day, this should help reduce the obvious discoloring that will eventually happen. According to the docent, the carpet is really fragile, and the items are over a 100 years old, so i think if they’re really wanting to keep the originals in good shape, i hope they have some sort of long term plan for it. I’m not sure about this, but perhaps put a backing to support the rug if it became too fragile.

So this is just my personal thoughts on original carpets and rugs in museums such as these, the floor is an artifact you can’t help but let people “touch” it because they need to walk on the ground, if it’s a rug, you could always place it away from the walkway, but a carpet, that’s a little more difficult. On this topic though, I love this video from Historic Royal Palaces England where they’re cleaning a tapestry, it’s not a carpet, but the idea is almost the same as a rug. Here’s the video for your viewing pleasure. As a museum nerd I’ve watched this a couple of time in awe of the dedication and care they put into preserving their artifacts.

 

A New Category to the Chateau

Tags

life, new category

It’s been a couple of years since i’ve added a new category to this blog of mine and i think it’s important as it reflects how i’m acknowledging how history and museums have become such an important part of who i am, i now work at a museum as an intern and i’m looking at the next step whether that be another internship or grad school. Despite what the result will be, this is definitely something that i want to identify as an important aspect of my life. All the other categories are snippets of things i’m interested in and regrettably i’ve been busy with life to write about it. But hey, this blog has evolved as i have evolved over these past few years and it’s an exciting and interesting aspect to me. So stay tuned and i’ll try to put all sorts of things that interest me or pop up as i write and share it with you.

An Invaluable Asset to Society

Tags

free, libraries, museums, opinion, public, public service announcement

This comic explains it all, libraries and may i add museums (especially the ones that offer free admission) are a valuable asset to society especially the ones who do not have the resources to buy books or travel. I have been to the Smithsonian museums, the Museums in London, they are all free and have an extensive collection that spans the many centuries of human history. They hold the knowledge that human civilization has gathered and discovered over time in a single place and it is fascinating. My favorite experiences have been in museums where I learn by experiencing and looking at artifacts from the times or being at the place where history was made. You learn all sorts of things, how the human experience was in a certain time period and how it compares to today, and there is that connection that you make with the past. I believe that governments providing free access to libraries and museums is a public service that is worth the tax money you pay. An educated public is an asset to society.