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THIS WEEK’S NEW EPISODE
This week’s guest is Laura Fies, the executive director of the USS Hornet Museum in Alameda, CA. We talk about the challenges of running a “midsize museum in a big museum body,” how the Hornet’s exhibits put you in the mindset of an ordinary man enlisted in World War II, and the aircraft carrier’s reputation as the “most haunted ship in America.” Plus: How do you make a batch of 7,000 donuts? The Hornet has the recipe!
Find the podcast on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify — or find your favorite app here! A full transcript of this episode is available here.
BEHIND THE SCENES
🚪 Finding a way in
The USS Hornet is the second of two museums this season that were recommended by friend of the show Evan Phillippe from the Pacific Pinball Museum. The first was the California Historical Radio Society, which was an easy sell for me because I used to work in radio and I love basically everything about it.
Truth be told, I wasn’t as sure I would love visiting the Hornet. I don’t watch a lot of war movies, I usually start skim through battle descriptions in books, and I’ve never thought of myself as a “military museum” guy. You know?
While working on this podcast, though, my mantra has become: I have never regretted going to a museum. And the Hornet really rewarded my open-mindedness. Museums are not a linear experience that must be enjoyed in a certain way; you have to find your own way in and go deep on the thing that you enjoy the most.
I’m never going to remember the names and histories of all the different types of fighter planes, and that’s OK. But walking down the Hornet’s claustrophobic hallways, I kept finding surprising and occasionally wonderful things. There’s even a room about a Boston Terrier who lived on the ship, named Gunner!
— Eric
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IN MY INBOX
🔥 Protests, parks, and Lucille Ball
Me at Chapultepec Castle, in Mexico City
Protests broke out in Colombia after conservative president
Abelardo de la Espriella removed 30+ items from the National Museum in Bogotá: “the objects… include a copy of the first magazine published by Colombia’s LGBTQ+ community and a poster depicting a former guerrilla leader who later became a presidential candidate.” [AP News]
I’ve just returned from a trip to Mexico City, so this story caught my eye: The Mexican military has retreated from a plan to build a museum in Bosque de Chapultepec, an amazing park that already contains several museums within it: “Sedena subsequently issued a short statement explaining that it would seek an alternative location for the museum ‘at another military base where it would not impact the surrounding natural environment.’” [The Art Newspaper]
A glowing review of “America’s funniest museum,” the National Comedy Center Lucille Ball’s hometown of Jamestown, New York: “The museum opened in August 2018 and was still finding its audience when the pandemic shut it down in March 2020, two weeks after USA Today readers voted it the best new museum in the country. It was a terrible time to be a museum relying on shared microphones, touchscreens, and strangers laughing in the same room.” [Fodor’s]
THE GIFT SHOP
🎁 Free hat! (for one of you)
Everyone who subscribes to this newsletter before November 10 has been entered into our Gift Shop Giveaway! (Full rules here)
(Not subscribed yet? You can do that right here.)
One of the prize packages will include this dashing hat from the Hornet’s gift shop, which features scrambled egg-style embellishments on the brim and a picture of the ship. The winner will also get stickers, postcards, and maybe some surprise goodies!
💪 How to help the podcast:
Tell a friend: Forward this email to a museum lover in your life
Leave a review: On Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify
Before we go … here’s the Hornet’s cameo in the movie that Laura calls “the critically acclaimed ‘XXX: State of the Union.’” Viewer advisory: Some PG-13 language and extremely silly stunts.