Deadly Medicine

I have talked about going to the Texas Tech Museum to see the traveling exhibit "Deadly Medicine" http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/traveling/details/index.php?content=deadly_medicine&type=current from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  I went today to hear a guided tour.  The tour was okay, and then I went through part of the exhibit. I did not complete it due to time constraints, and am hoping to return, maybe even tomorrow, to complete it. There is a LOT of information in this fairly small exhibit. It is in Lubbock until August 7, 2011, so there is time. And, it travels elsewhere around the country, including Boston.

The sadness of this exhibit is that we do not learn:  since World War II, there have been so many incidents of genocide in Europe, Asia and Africa.  The United States was slow to desegregate the Afro-Americans, and even slower to elevate the Native Americans to a respected group.  We still have racism, and we still have prejudice, lessons we have not learned from our own history and the history of the world.  We are trying. I can not say how much better we are doing. Many of the women in one of my book discussion clubs thinks we are treating Muslims much the same.  In many ways, I agree. 

I think we have some personal and political hysteria that every Muslim is bad, and we are vulnerable to attack from them.  Lubbock has a mosque, and on multiple occasions, it has been vandalized. http://lubbockonline.com/stories/102606/loc_102606030.shtml The community as a whole despairs at these attacks, but obviously, they have happened.  Many of the larger Christian churches in the community, after 9-11-2001, spent Sunday School time studying Islam.  That is such an enlightened response to that attack, it made me proud. 

I have learned some about Islam as many prisoners are Islamic. And, I am just interested in being more aware and open minded, if I can be, and education helps.

So, I am grateful to be able to view the "Deadly Medicine" display. I am grateful to learn about more about the horrors I of which I already knew, so maybe I can be more mindful if dignity, respect, civil and human rights as I deal with disenfranchised people in the course of my life.  I am grateful to keep alive the message we must work to stop people from going there again. 

Changing Plans

I had an plan to attend a mystery reading book last night.  I even read the book.  But I also had the opportunity to attend a lecture about the Roma,  "The Genocide of the Roma in the Holocaust," lecture by Ian Hancock, at the Museum of Texas Tech University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people.   Do you know who the Roma are?  I have heard about gypsies before, and occasionally in writings, I have heard characters described as of Romany decent. But I never really understood what that was referring to.  I knew they were dark, and often described as swarthy.  But beyond that, I did not understand.  I also knew that Hitler and the Nazi regime wanted to eliminate them along with the Jews.  I had no idea how widespread they were. I went to the lecture. It opened a new part of the world to me, something I had little, peripheral information about.  Wow!  That was really exciting.

The lecturer last night explained how the people were from the Indian subcontinent, and how they eventually settled in Europe.  He talked about how they are very clannish, and do not encourage education. He also talked about how they do not usually identify themselves in public. He made a distinction between the Roma, and the Irish gypsies who are Irish and travel in wagons, hence the name gypsy.  He said the Roma were called Gypsies, because people thought they originally came from Egypt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roma_people;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people. These articles explain about the Roma. They are consistent with what the speaker said last night. He is a college professor, and he is a Roma.

Deadly Medicine and Corollary Activity

The Texas Tech University Museum has a presentation on the medical procedures of the German Third Reich, aptly named   Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, in the Diamond M Gallery  http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/exhsch11.html.  I have not seen the exhibit yet, but plan to do so, soon.

Tonight, some friends joined me at a panel presentation about the Holocaust: 

Panel Presentation by Speakers from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, .



Marc Masurovsky - “Landscapes of Experience: The January 1945 Evacuations of the Auschwitz Camp Complex”


Martin Dean - “Spearate Jewish Residential Districts - Documenting the Universe of Nazi Ghettos”

Fabulous! Very interesting, and very sad, about the atrocities during World War II, and the perpetrators, survivors, victims, and witnesses.  Hmmm.

And, another learning piece from history, but have we learned?

One of the speakers talked about how the survivors said the slightest, smallest act of help provided hope. 

I see this sometimes at the prison.  Just paying attention to someone gives them hope.  Especially the patients with life sentences, or with no family contact.

Emily Dickinson said it so well:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

The Museum

I remember when I first moved to Lubbock, one of the first things I did was go to the Museum of Texas Tech http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/. It had a powerful display of the destruction that occurred during the May 11, 1970 tornado that was very destructive and killed many people. (I moved to Lubbock in 1977, and people talked about the tornado as if it had happened last week or last month.)  It also had a wonderful display of the "Llano Estacado" and the early explorations by Coronado.

Over the years, I have spent less time than I should have at the Museum...They have permanent and traveling displays.  About a year and a half ago, a colleague of mine mentioned that he had been to an exhibit at the Museum... Hmmm. I went, it was good.  About the same time, I saw an advertisement about a series of nature films, promoting the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative http://www.y2y.net/.  The premise is that establishing a wildlife corridor between the Yellowstone and the Yukon will allow species to travel safely between the two territories in response to changes in climate, food supply, and other factors.  The corrider would allow the creatures to naturally adapt to changes in circumstances by moving between the two areas, and foster better maintenance of species.  

I have been back to the museum several times since then, when I hear about an exhibit. Or, today, because it sounded like a good thing to do.  I checked the website, and was interested in the patent model exhibit. I had previously seen the photograph of dogs exhibit. The playtime memories exhibit also sounded interesting.  When I got to the museum, the docent also mentioned an exhibit on trains.  I really enjoyed that...It included a PBS show, probably filmed in 2001, that presented information about railroad stations in Pennsylvania, that have been salvaged and revitalized.  It was very good.

Another museum of Texas Tech is the National Ranching Heritage Center http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ranchhc/.  I really enjoy that museum, and go about once a year or at least every other year.   They have days when they have re-enactors who share information about the museum exhibits.  They have Candlelight at the Ranch, in December.  They line the paths with luminarias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminaria and have re-enactors at the various buildings.

Perhaps my most favored Texas Tech Museum is the Lubbock Lakesite Landmark
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/lll/index.html.  This museum is established at the site of an archeological dig.  I think I like this museum the best because in addition to the interpretive center, there are hiking trails.  And they have some special days when they have demonstrations and exhibits. 

Lubbock has other museums, not associated with the Texas Tech Museum. The most notable in my mind is the Silent Wings Museum http://www.silentwingsmuseum.com/info.htm.  This museum commemorates the glider pilots who served in World War II.

And, there is the Buddy Holly Center http://www.buddyhollycenter.org/. Shamefully, the City of Lubbock backed this project, which involved ruining the Lubbock Railroad Depot (which is the shameful part, and which was a restaurant that really exhibited the character of a railroad station, and changed it into a tasteless building. The Buddy Holly Museum is fine, but there is no evidence of the beautiful railroad station.)

Additionally, there is the Science Spectrum http://www.sciencespectrum.org/new/home.shtml.  This was started with an infusion of city money, as was the Buddy Holly Center, due to the influence of politics in the city. But it is really a neat museum, with a permanent exhibit of the Brazos River, and some wonderful "perpetual motion machines."   Additionally, it has an Omnimax Theater.  And, the National Weather Service in Lubbock has its offices in the same building. 

So, in the course of your life, do not forget the museum.  Museums help us to remember what is important.  They help us to learn from the present and the past.  Museums cover many subjects: history, art, science, the military, wildlife, natural history, animals to name a few.  They have more information than we can absorb, and they often change and grow.  This is good.  We learn from the past, and the more museums can help us, the more we can learn about ourselves and others.

Gozaic

I was watching PBS tonight, and they talked about the website Gozaic http://gozaic.com/Connect/.  It is supposed to be a website that can connect you with information about various cultural and historic events.  I have spent a few minutes on the site... It seems a little busy, and too overloaded to be much help, but maybe I will get better at refining my searches.

Taking Advantage

Tonight I went to the Westwinds Brass Band http://westwindsbrassband.org/  Sunday concert, the last in this summer's series..  Unfortunately, I missed several, due to weather or conflicts of schedule, but I fully enjoyed those I attended.

Last night, I went to a night hike at the Lubbock Lake Landmark http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museum/lll/.  It was poorly organized, the leader walked too fast, did not speak so all could hear, did not talk about obvious features, and was not very knowledgeable about plants, animals, or birds.  And, at the end of the walk, when she asked me how it was, I told her... I hate to be critical, but it was not just an educational issue, it was a safety issue: there were young children on the trail, and she did not even look out for them.  The two other "leaders" did, at least.

I mentioned going on the hike to an acquaintance, tonight at the concert.  She commented about how good I was to take advantage of these activities, while people from Lubbock do not...(Which is not true, there were many born Lubbockites at the hike.)  Of course, that is typical: most people do not appreciate what they have in their own back yard, and have to go elsewhere to see/do things...

I think my childhood was an exception:  My father loved to take us to see things and do things. Our favorites were repeated, but we went to museums, geologic sites, historic sites, sports venues... We had fun, I had fun learning and seeing knew things. And I still do.

When I moved to Lubbock, I continued the same, and when I was married to Lisenby, he, too, enjoyed these activities. 

For a time, I fell out of the practice of such activity, and still have not been entirely through the American Wind Power Center and Museum http://www.windmill.com/ or the American Museum of Agriculture http://www.agriculturehistory.org. But they are on my list for this year...  I have made it to the Silent Wings Museum  www.silentwingsmuseum.com/ multiple times since my first visit.

Tonight, after the concert, my acquaintance and I were talking, and I mentioned the Carillion concerts at Texas Tech http://today.ttu.edu/2010/05/2010-judson-maynard-summer-carillon-series/, that are scheduled for the same time as the Westwinds Brass Band Concert, but continue further into the summer.  She commented that she had never heard of these concerts before, and I told her that the first summer I was in Lubbock (1977) I went to one.  Of course, I did not mention I was invited to the concert by Tom and Helen Musiak, who I knew as Tom is my second cousin, and his sisters told him I was going to be in Lubbock... It was a fun concert...And they are very nice people.

My acquaintance and I bemoaned the fact that the scheduling was uncoordinated, and did not allow folks to attend both.  But there will be a couple of carillon concerts left to hear....

I missed the Moonlight Musicals production of "Hello Dolly"  http://www.lubbockmoonlight.org/Lubbock_Moonlight_Musicals/Home.html mostly due to inertia on my part.  I am hoping to get to "The Buddy Holly Story" and "Willy Wonka" although I did not care for the Willy Wonka movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067992/

I had planned to see "The Buddy Holly Story" Saturday, July 17, 2010 specifically because the Westwinds Brass Band was playing before the play... But I wanted to do the night hike...