On 3 April Dave Harvey said of Newt and his ilk :

> If you want to kill such a thing, ignore it!

and Claudia Nicholson said:

> And I say that museums should respond.  My question is, how?

and Barbra Brady shared an experience:

>Just today, in fact, while giving a fifth-grade tour of an exhibition, the
>teacher asked me to explain to the kids what a curator does.
>While I was telling the kids, in 5 minutes or less, their eyes lit up, they
>were amazed. (Especially when I related the fact that zoos have curators.)
>The kids were sincerely interested in knowing that I (a real person), had
>worked on the "room of art" they were beholding.

>Yeah. It was great. They suddenly realized, people (meaning potentially,
>they, in the future) can design and execute museum exhibitions...



May I suggest that this is a way to respond.  Visitors are fascinated with the
behind the scenes stuff.  Not the gossip but the real nuts and bolts of doing
research and building exhibits and all the dirty drudge work and late nights.
Like Barbra, I see their eyes light up and their questions change.  They
engage with the museum on a human level, not a look but don't touch one.  I
suggest that the more people learn to do this, the less Newt and his ilk will
be able to snow them.  Or am I just a cockeyed optimist?

Hopefully,
Su Carter