Culture Corner

Culture Corner – June 2013

So for my second Culture Corner post (see the first one here) I have A LOT to share. I was really tempted to just drop in the photos and let you enjoy them, but I guess I should explain everything or at least give some basic descriptors, so without further fanfare here you go.

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Updates

May 2013 Recap

I guess what they say about time moving faster as you get older really is true. I feel that every time I sit down to write my monthly recap I always wonder where the month went regardless of if it was short or long month. Regardless it was a busy month on the blog and in the real world. I somehow managed to stick with my post schedule of every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had 95% of all the posts written at least three days in advance so whoop for that! That planning ahead helped me with my first Culture Corner and Work Out Wednesday posts and I’m already looking forward to getting started on June’s posts.

2013 05-18 Graduate Leigh!In addition, the planning ahead helped for when my entire family was in town for my younger sister’s graduation from her Master’s program (that’s her to the right). While they were in town I played host and tour guide for five days in a row and we went to numerous restaurants, touristy places, museums and even to see Pirates of Penzance at the American Repertory Theatre. But as soon as they were all gone I wound up with a stomach virus and spent two days in bed which stunk, but at least I’m feeling better now and was able to get to work by the end of the week just in time for another four-day weekend. And as if things weren’t busy enough as it is, when this posts I’ll be running around work slightly crazy trying to help the alumni relations team as work is hosting the 2013 reunion classes the weekend of the 1st and it’s going to be an awesome weekend full of all sorts of exciting activities and events! Click here to continue reading.

Culture Corner

Culture Corner – May 2013

As mentioned in my April Recap post I’ve decided to add a couple of feature posts once a month and here is my first one and I hope you enjoy it! I’ve decided to call it Culture Corner because 1) I love alliteration and 2) I figured Museum Monday’s was too limiting on both the day of the post and the subject matter. I apologize in advance for the length of this article. I saw two exhibits and took a lot of pictures.

I’ve been a member of the MFA for most of my time in Boston and since I’ve been here, I’ve seen some pretty cool exhibits like Chihuly’s Through the Looking Glass (2011), Alex Katz Prints (2012), Mario Testino’s In Your Face (2012/13) and The Postcard Age Selections from the Leonard A. Lauder Collection (2012/13) among others.

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2013 Challenges, Books

Book 195: Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World – Sharon Waxma

Sorry for the long post in advance, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book about museums and antiquities and I forgot how much I love them and how much they make me think!

This book has been on my to-be-read shelf since July of 2011 and I can’t believe I waited this long to read it! I will never forget my first Anthropology class in undergrad and the professor going off on a tangent about the looting of the museums after the fall of Saddam Hussein. It pretty much guaranteed I would be an Anthropology major. (I later switched to cultural anthropology and focused on gender in the media, but still the people were awesome!) The intrigue, the drama, the affairs and the crimes, it could be a spy novel if it were fiction and not fact! This book will count as a bonus book for my 2013 Mount TBR Reading Challenge.

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Updates

April 2013 Recap

What a month. I can’t believe how fast the month has gone and things were definitely not boring here in Boston with the marathon bombings and ensuing chaos. I’m glad to see the month go, but not ready for May or the summer that follows shortly after.

April felt like a short month for reading, but I actually read an above average six books: one for book group, three challenge books (two pre-listed one additional) and two ‘trashy romance’ novels/galleys. (I don’t really think they’re trashy, well some are and some I read are, but I just love to call them that.)

Recent Acquisitions

Well I was doing really good about not buying books and then in the last week of the month all of a sudden I bought three books and downloaded two galleys (one of which I completed); story of my life right? I  bought one kindle book for $1 (it sounded too good not to buy) called No Strings by Nick Nolan which I’m excited about. In addition I bought two physical books, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, Peark and Sir Orfeo translated by J.R.R. Tolkien, above left, which I saw on someone else’s blog and I wanted a copy; and I purchased a copy of Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, above right, for my May Books into Movies book group.

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