Obama and the Broad Art Museum

I just spent about a half-hour debating a complete stranger on Facebook. Why do I waste my time in this manner? It's not worth it. I will not change his mind and he sure as hell isn't changing my mind. The guy, who commented on the post of a mutual Facebook friend, had a Barry Goldwater profile picture--featuring ol' Barry's famous quote, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice." That should have been my first clue that this debate would only succeed in pissing off the two of us. I am proud of myself, though, in that in my final post I took the high road and praised my Republican foe for his intelligence and insight. I must say that he at least was able to write thoughtful, though extreme, retorts that demonstrated true intellect.  I knew full well that this "debate," which mainly amounted to the two of us hijacking this poor woman's pro-Obama post, was doomed to never be resolved. It was best to just take the high road, extend an olive branch, and get the hell out of there.

Once again, my apologies for not writing on this blog for awhile. What has been going on since the last time I was here? Well, for one, Barack Obama won a second term as President of the United States and I am both relieved and thrilled.  It feels like vindication for Obama and proof that the 2008 election wasn't a fluke.

Election night, I was nervous and decided to go to bed early. I was worried that 2012 was to be a replay of 2000 with no winner declared for days following the election. Imagine my relief when I woke up at 4:00 AM, checked my Droid Razr to discover that Obama had won. In an autumn beset by losses by my favorite sports teams (MSU football, Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Detroit Pistons), I felt that having my President re-elected saved the Fall (and beside, the future of our country is just a tad more important than sports).

What else is new, you ask? I, and the family, went to the open house at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on MSU's campus yesterday. It is an amazing building and I still find it shocking that architecture this modern and cutting-edge has found its way to sleepy, Midwestern East Lansing, Michigan. As one can imagine, there are plenty of whiners and naysayers who complain about it, but when this museum proves to be a financial windfall for this community, I'm sure the trolls will go back under their bridges and hide.

And what of the art inside the Broad? It's definitely contemporary and modern and challenging--though the old artwork from the Kresge Art Museum has been incorporated into the new museum, so it is not exclusively dedicated to modern art. I'm not sure how the provincial folk in our area will respond to it, but it will certainly attract art lovers from around the world. (And before I act like everyone around here is a hayseed, that is not true. There are plenty of people in the Lansing area who are excited about this museum, and the long line of people waiting to get into the Broad Museum on Sunday only reinforces this point).