Ok, I'll be brief.  Life is NOT fair.  PERIOD.

Now, with that said, since you and Lori believe that
we have to fix this, please tell me how you intend to
change it?  What are you, in specificity, going to do
to make it better?  What are you intending to do
differently to achieve the desired outcome, and do you
have the stamina it takes to effectuate that?  It is
both expensive to take on such an endeavor and
physically taxing.

In very unpolite terms, reality is a (well the word is
tantamount to a female dog).  There is much about
reality I'd like to see changed--and trust me when I
say I spend tremendous portions of my personal time
trying to effectuate change for segments of a
dysfunctional world (vis a vis about ten years in
personal volunteer service to shelters for abused
children, two years of adoption search and support,
and about three years worth of personal time
championing for the disabled), but I personally can
only do so much, and try as I may, I haven't been able
to squeeze 26 hours out of any given day, or get more
than 7 days out of any week.

This is a question of picking your battles.  I am
convinced from the countless museums professionals who
have sounded in here on this very topic over the last
three years that the problem is larger and requires
more time and effort than I am personally willing to
commit to because, if I choose to take on this battle
and fight the definition of museum reality as it
stands today, it will keep me from fighting the
windmills of things I consider personally more
important and dysfunctional.

As I proferred heretofore, the residual Hippie spirit
is alive and well and slaying as many dragons as I can
in one lifetime (to the point I often go to bed quite
late and quite exhausted--but that is MY CHOICE and,
remember, this is all about choices; some of you chose
to go into a field you love with fully warned that it
doesn't pay.  While you satiated your need to be
involved in something in which you believed, you now
have problems with the fact that life still requires
money and, for the most part, there is no money in
Museum work).

Since some of you think that this battle needs to be
fought, what are you going to do to take action?
Whining, from my perspective never cuts it!  If you
truly believe it's wrong, roll up the shirtsleeves,
sit down, be still, figure out an action plan, and
then set about communicating it and enlisting
solidiers who can help you.  The battle is larger than
one person.

Now, since I consider myself an empassioned disability
advocate at this point, I happen to have a slew of
advocacy links.  If, in fact, you, Lori, and others
here want to become advocates for museum compensation
change, my goodness, you certainly don't need it, but
you have my blessing and my gratitude.  There's enough
to change in this world for two civilizations
and--while one monkey doesn't stop the show--it takes
more than one monkey to fix it!

If you need tools for advocacy, let me know, either on
list or off.

If you devise a workable plan that requires letter
writing and/or telephone calls to the powers that be
that can effectuate such change, let me know.

If you need other resources toward this objective let
me know.

If, however, this is just, for lack of a less
frustrated, more polite term, a bitchfest, please
don't be offended if I withdraw to fight dragons I
believe I can more successfully slay.

I am not, in the least, trying to discourage you from
taking up the charge and becoming the Anne Sullivan of
the museum field (aka the Miracle Worker).  In fact, I
truly encourage you to take up the sword and begin the
battle.

What I would expect from people who are truly
empassioned about this topic enough to try to change
the definition of reality is strategization and
teamwork to develop an action plan, specific
communications that solicit action with precise,
step-by-step instructions of whom to contact and what
to say, and feedback as to progress you are making.

If you believe I've been sitting on my thumbs and
abandoning you, as Lori has just suggestedto me,
please step over to my disability advocacy forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indecision2000.

Not wanting to get too caught up in Vitamin I, I have
personally raised about $3/4 of a million for charity,
most of which has been on a volunteer capacity, and
spent many, many years working in a volunteer capacity
for children's groups.  I am presently the Mistress of
Ceremonies (seven years and counting) for Special
Olympics, and my most recent nonprofit work involved
several part-time stints raising money so that Los
Angeles area children could have musical enrichment
programs to enhance their lives and make up for the
fact that we, as a society, have effectively abrogated
our responsibilities to bring culture and the arts to
children.  Now, that part-time job was after doing
eight hours in Corporaterica. (Translation = 12 hour
work days, an hour for lunch if taken, and an hour and
a half commute.)

Like I have insinuated, I'm tired.  I don't feel this
is a battle I am willing to invest in, but, with that
said, if you feel you can, GO FOR IT!  I'll be your
biggest cheerleader.

I'm not intending to flame any here.  This isn't the
forum for such kinds of action.  As I've said before,
future employers are here, and frankly, life is too
short.

But I won't be made to feel a scofflaw--as was
privately insinuated--because this is just not the
battle for me.


--- susan e <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > Hello List and Lori --
> > I think Indigo Nights has a point -- where is the
> money going to come from?
> > BUT
> > what Lori so eloquently pointed out is something
> that I believe is a real
> > issue
> > facing museums today. If we continue to take
> Indigo's point of view, and the
> > salaries in museums dosen't increase to a living
> wage, museums will be doomed
> > to be the kind of archaic, stuffy old tombs that
> is the stereotype. Many
> > museums today are fetching large grants to rectify
> this situation -- to bring
> > in diverse audiences AND diverse staff, to change
> the view that museums are
> > dead places. How can we hope to bring in a diverse
> staff when it is a
> > profession that only retirees, student interns,
> and those with other sources
> > of
> > a living income can afford to work in? We need to
> convince our boards and our
> > communities that having quality cultural
> institutions costs money and is a
> > valuable asset to the community worth spending
> that money on.
> >
> > Susan Edwards
> > Seattle Art Museum


=====
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]


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