ICYMI: Highlights from the week of Oct. 13 – Oct. 19, 2019
No one can keep up with everything, so let us do it for you. We’ll gather the top Smithsonian stories from across the country and around the world each week so you’ll never be at a loss for conversation around the water cooler.
For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘Bye bye, Bei Bei’. (With apologies to John Greenleaf Whittier)
Secretary Bunch
In New Memoir, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch III Finds Hope In History
WBEZ Chicago, October 15
Lonnie Bunch III, former president of the Chicago Historical Society and former Director of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, now secretary of the Smithsonian, a position overseeing 19 museums, 21 libraries, the National Zoo, numerous research centers and several education units and centers. (Photo by Jason Marck / WBEZ)
In his new memoir, A Fool’s Errand: Creating The National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Age of Bush, Obama, and Trump, Lonnie Bunch details the obstacles and joys of stewarding the creation of the first Smithsonian on the National Mall dedicated to the black experience.
As he kicked off his national tour in Chicago, Bunch stopped by Reset to talk history, pain and hope. Read the interview.
Art and Design
Melissa Chiu to curate third Honolulu Biennial
Artforum, October 15
Melissa Chiu. Photo: Greg Powers. Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Melissa Chiu, director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC, has been named curator of the third edition of the Honolulu Biennial, which will open in February 2021. Since joining the Hirshhorn in 2014, Chiu has organized exhibitions by Shirin Neshat, Robert Irwin, Yayoi Kusama, and Charline von Heyl, among others. A specialist in contemporary art from Asia and the Pacific, she also served as museum director and senior vice president, global art programs, at Asia Society in New York for over a decade. Read more.
‘Lee Ufan: Open Dimension’ transforms the Hirshhorn’s outdoor plaza, subtly
The Washington Post, October 17
“Lee Ufan: Open Dimension” is an installation of 10 minimalist sculptures on the outdoor plaza of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. (Cathy Carver//Lee Ufan and Pace Gallery)
It’s easy to see what Lee Ufan’s minimalist sculptural installations are made of. To see what they are is more complicated.
Positioned in the outdoor plaza around the Hirshhorn Museum, the 10 pieces that constitute the artist’s “Open Dimension” employ found stones and manufactured steel, as well as gravel and water. But those are just the elements that the Korean-born artist brought to the exhibition, the first single-artist takeover of the entire plaza in the museum’s 44-year existence. To Lee, the preexisting context is essential. Read more.
Why Was ‘The Art of Burning Man’ Cincinnati Art Museum’s Highest-Attended Exhibit of All Time?
Did you feel the burn?
City Beat, October 14
Five Ton Crane’s “Capitol Theater” (Photo by Hailey Bollinger)
I can tell you how the Cincinnati Art Museum’s record-breaking No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man changed me: Since seeing it, I can’t drive past a gigantic, aesthetically negligible power transmission tower without it reminding me of the great wooden effigy Man, legs and arms extended, set afire at the annual Burning Man event at Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. I’m not suggesting these towers be burned, mind you, only that having this new, beautiful image now implanted in my mind makes them more tolerable. Read more.
History, Culture and Education
Native American museum director: Columbus was far from the first to discover America
Scores of cities and a growing number of states are renaming Columbus Day to honor the history and cultures of America’s indigenous peoples.
USA Today, October 13
For decades, Americans have marked the second Monday in October as “Columbus Day.” Why Columbus? Because, as my generation learned in school, Columbus “discovered America.”
But, of course, he did not. The two continents of the Western Hemisphere, including the Caribbean islands that Columbus invaded, had long since been settled and put to use by a stunning array of peoples. Read more.
‘We’re Still Here’ : The Meaning Of Indigenous Peoples’ Day
The Kojo Nnnamdi SHow, October 14
A 2017 Prairie Island Indian Community Wacipi in Minnesota. LORIE SHAULL / FLICKR
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is being recognized and celebrated in a growing number of cities across the country, including right here in the Washington region. The District and other local jurisdictions — including Alexandria, Prince George’s County and Takoma Park — have passed legislation to change the Columbus Day name in honor of Native Americans.
So, what does this day really mean to Native people? And why is it important to shine a light on the indigenous history of our region? Read more.
How Two Distinct Go-Go Movements Are Changing D.C. Culture
Musicians, activists, advocates, and scholars are energizing a movement to preserve and celebrate the music that makes the city.
Washington City Paper, October 17
Backyard Band. Photo by Darrow Montgomery
The night Backyard Band played on the National Mall, the Eastern High School Marching Band and its graceful Lady Gems dance line led the Million Moe March down 7th Street NW. On that September night, Backyard Band leader Anwan “Big G” Glover and vocalist Leroy “Weensey” Brandon Jr. were among those marching against gun violence while advocating for statehood and unity across the DMV.
Down on the Mall, activists—including the D.C. chapters of Black Lives Matter and the post-Parkland March For Our Lives—were out in force. Long Live GoGo, the same organization behind the remarkable Moechella rally four months earlier in May, presented the event. Once again, Backyard Band headlined, this time with cameos from rappers Wale and Pinky KillaCorn. Statehood coalition 51 for 51 distributed free T-shirts, but more folks wore various DontMuteDC tees. Weensey’s shirt read “Go-Go Been Here Way Before You.” Read more.
Girl awestruck by Michelle Obama portrait hopes to inspire other kids with new book
NBC Nightly News, October 11
The painting of Michelle Obama at the National Portrait Gallery stopped young Parker Curry in her tracks, and a photo of her amazement quickly went viral. Now Parker and her mom penned a children’s book to inspire other kids to see endless possibilities. Watch the video.
Science and technology
Inside the camp that empowers young girls to reach for the stars, literally
NBC News, October 14
The She Can STEM Camp at the National Air and Space Museum is a one-of-a-kind experience that introduces young women to the science of flight, exposing them to diverse careers in aviation and STEM fields. Watch the video.
The Lines of Code That Changed Everything
Apollo 11, the JPEG, the first pop-up ad, and 33 other bits of software that have transformed our world.
Slate, October 14
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images.
Back in 2009, Facebook launched a world-changing piece of code—the “like” button. “Like” was the brainchild of several programmers and designers, including Leah Pearlman and Justin Rosenstein. They’d hypothesized that Facebook users were often too busy to leave comments on their friends’ posts—but if there were a simple button to push, boom: It would unlock a ton of uplifting affirmations. “Friends could validate each other with that much more frequency and ease,” as Pearlman later said. Read more.
That groundbreaking photo of a black hole has raised some mighty big questions
“Nature is providing us with a sandbox.”
Popular Science, October 11
Staring into a cosmic abyss. Alessandro Rustighi
It’s hard to sneak a peek of a black hole. Not even light—the fastest known thing in the universe—can escape its gargantuan gravitational pull. “You’ve got something that is just designed not to give up its secrets,” says Shep Doeleman, senior research fellow at Harvard University and director of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
In April 2019, Doeleman and his colleagues spilled the beans, revealing to the world the first image of a supermassive black hole. The behemoth in question sits 55 million light-years away in the M87 galaxy in the constellation Virgo. This big reveal could help answer some of our heftiest questions about the universe. Read more.
What Made Me Reconsider the Anthropocene
Whether our civilization is transient or not, its effects on the living world will last forever.
The Atlantic, October 11
From a slightly elevated position looking across a vast rubble strewn desert towards the 2nd century Funerary Temple at the end of the Great Colonnade. JOE & CLAIR CARNEGIE / LIBYAN SOUP / GETTY
Looming over the new food court of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is one of those creatures so massive and menacing that its mere existence in Earth’s ancient past counsels against time-travel research. It is an accurate, if unbelievable, model of the Megalodon shark—52 feet long, dagger-studded maw agape. These things ate baleen whales and, hovering here above tourists munching on artisanal grain bowls, mindlessly swiping on their phones, Megalodon accuses our modern world of decadence. Read more.
Bye, Bei Bei: Panda will leave National Zoo for China next month
The Washington Post, October 18
ei Bei will move to China next month. (National Zoo/Smithsonian)
Bei Bei, one of the National Zoo’s giant pandas, will leave the nation’s capital Nov. 19 to live in China, zoo officials said Friday.
The panda’s move has long been expected and is part of an agreement with China that all giant panda cubs born in U.S. zoos be sent to a breeding program in China after their fourth birthday. Read more.
Board of Regents
Senate approves Arizonan Barrett as fourth female Air Force secretary
Cronkite News, Arizona PBS, October 16
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., left, backed the nomination of Arizona businesswoman Barbara Barrett to be secretary of the Air Force. The Senate confirmed the nomination 85-7, which will make Barrett the fourth female Air Force secretary. (Photo by Heather Cumberledge/Cronkite News)
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to confirm Arizona businesswoman Barbara Barrett as the next Air Force secretary, one day after brushing aside an attempt to stall her nomination over Air Force use of Trump hotels for official business.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., was unhappy that Barrett refused at her confirmation hearing last month to say she would prohibit the continued use of Trump properties by Air Force employees. Barrett said at the time that she supports such a rule, but would not single out one company for imposition of such a rule. Read more.
Various Subjects
The Smithsonian hosts its first wedding in D.C. — and vows more
The Washington Post, October 18
Jeffrey Akman, left, and Steven Mazzola were married on Oct. 12 at the Renwick Gallery. (Geoff Chesman/ImageLinkPhoto )
Gasps and wows filled the Renwick Gallery’s Grand Salon on a recent Saturday night. All 150 well-dressed guests seemed appropriately awed — and not just by the art or the opulent setting. They had come for a wedding, the first in the gallery’s history. Read more.
House holds its first hearing on a Smithsonian Latino museum
“The best gift we can give others is empowerment, and a museum is a visual reminder of that gift,” Mari Carmen Aponte, the former acting assistant secretary of state, said.
NBC News, October 17
Rep. Jenniffer Gonzalez speaks out in favor of the creation of the National Museum of the American Latino on Capitol Hill on Oct. 17, 2019.@RepJenniffer / via Twitter
The first congressional hearing on the establishment of a Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino took place Thursday, with some supporters reiterating that “Latino history is American history” and legislators saying the step is long overdue to create a truer story of America. Read more.
Smithsonian Museums Are Supposed to Tell the American Story. So Where’s the One Dedicated to Latinos?
TIME, October 15
When I was growing up in San Antonio, Mexican culture permeated every aspect of American culture. I heard Spanish every day: at the grocery store, on the playground and, of course, at home. The staples in the school cafeteria included corn dogs, but also cheese enchiladas. Kids of every background broke piñatas at their birthday parties. But in large parts of America, Latinos were seen as foreigners and outsiders, mentioned only in the context of drugs, gangs or immigration news. Not much has changed. Read more.
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Posted: 22 October 2019
