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Musings | Dec 4, 2020

Getting Lost

Young girl lying on a log with her hands behind her head.

Dear Usdan Community,

Wednesday was my birthday, a day when I traditionally take off from work and treat myself to a museum. The Museum of Modern Art was this year’s destination, and as I entered the galleries with anticipation, a very nice guard said to me: Let me know if I can help you find anything. To which I replied: Thank you, but for me the best part is getting lost.

In a time when each day feels prescribed and rather constrained, the act of getting lost in the museum was extra-exhilarating. I loved wandering from one room of artworks into another, each dense with a new array of surprising ideas. This time, the art seemed especially powerful, direct, and courageous. Was that because the world outside is feeling so dreary and messy? While transported within this alternative world, I thought about how the inspirations of a museum are always there. We just need to go inside.

Twice, I spotted elementary-aged children with a parent or babysitter. I thought, how lucky these kids are right now. They’re not learning on Zoom or seated at a desk; they’re learning in a highly visual and inspirational world, skipping around and getting lost. Seeing these children reminded me of Usdan’s children: kids with strong taste who wear rainbow sweaters and American flag pants. I wondered, why isn’t Usdan here right now, encouraging kids to enjoy this world? 

What if we set times for families and supporters to come and join some colleagues and me in a safe and socially distant manner at a museum? We can say a quick hello or get lost together for a minute or two. Would you like to do that? 

If you and/or your children might be interested in going to a museum on an upcoming weekday, please reply, so we can try to set it up.

Lauren Brandt Schloss, Executive Director

P.S. I took some photos and a video for you of artwork I liked at MoMA and included the artists’ names for reference.

Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollack painting at MOMA

Atsuko Tanaka

Nam June Paik

BONUS FEATURE

On my birthday night, I hung out with my best friends on Zoom, who in advance had planned to each bring a poem. We can thank my dear friend, who is also a Usdan mom, for sharing this one below:

Last Scraps of Color in Missouri
By Karen Craigo, Poet Laureate of Missouri

Today I passed a stand
of trees: tall, closely packed,
bare and almost black
from rain. But underneath,
I saw smaller trees, just
getting started on their slow
snatch-and-grab of sky,
and I saw these were golden
still, and they glowed
like campfires in the dark.

Lately I’d been wanting
a little light — and there it was,
and all I had to do was turn
my gaze a few degrees
from center. Some blessings
find us when we move to them —
they’re waiting only to be seen.
Near the end of a difficult year,
may we spot the light,
as we breathe in prayer
or supplication: Show me,
Show Me, show me.