Traveling Fool

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts exhibit "Power and Beauty in China's Last Dynasty: Concept and Design by Robert Wilson" features artifacts from the Qing dynasty, China's last imperial period. There is a modern touch in the way the exhibit is laid out, from the first room which is dark and set up for a brief period of meditation through other rooms that are stark and brightly lit to another that is covered in pungent hay. It's different from the previous exhibits I've visited at MIA, and that's not a bad thing, is it? It's here in Minneapolis until the end of May. 

Did you know that Superman is really a Cleveland native? Born of the imaginations of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, two kids from Cleveland, an incredible collection of Superman memorabilia has been on display at the downtown location of Cleveland Public Library. Most of the collection is courtesy of Mike Curtis, who donated his collection to CPL in 2016. I'm a little late to this party since the exhibit has been up since May 2017 and is coming down at the end of March 2018. The exhibit is free and is on three floors, which kind of gets you moving around this beautiful building. There are costumes, signed photographs, comics, Jerry Siegel's typewriter, and from all eras of Superman, George Reeves to Christopher Reeve to Henry Cavill. If you only have time for one floor, the first definitely has the gems. So glad I forced myself away from the Law and Order marathon on television. A few years ago, I went to Glenville, where Siegel and Shuster grew up. I don'

Well, I've done it. I finished my third stair climb in three weeks. Today was for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at the IDS Center; up 1280 steps/50 flights. You may recall that this whole stair climbing obsession began a year ago as I prepared to take on the winding steps to the top of Notre Dame, all 387 of them. At the time, that seemed  an impossible task, and I thought I should practice to avoid the embarrassment and inconvenience of dying in Paris. In hindsight, 387 steps seems like a treat. Upon returning to work, I decided to keep walking the stairs, even increasing the amount to 25 flights (which is about 600 stairs, more or less). I need goals or a list or something to keep my mind occupied, and the next goal was in November for the Minneapolis Lions Club, climbing 35 flights in the AT&T Tower. Since that wasn't as terrible as it could have been, I kept going, and started looking for other climbs in the Twin Cities. Just my luck, there were three, all in a