MSU Museum

I visited the MSU museum's two exhibits, "Our Journeys/Our Stories" about Latino Americans and "Visual Griots of Mali" about images from the children from Mali. Both exhibits were told through an insider's point of view but in different ways. The Latino American exhibit is done through words, while the Mali exhibit is done through images. The Mali exhibit's opening statement has a quote that talks about the people being able to tell their own story through images that they've chosen from their own opinion of importance, rather than Westerners coming in to take pictures of their land that they considered important. It's like telling the insider perspective rather than letting the outsiders come in and interpret in order to tell their perspective. The Our Journeys/Our Stories exhibit had a story by Sandra Cisneros, an author who talked about how she found her writing voice. She says that she found it after realizing she didn't want to write like her classmates and teachers, but wanted to write for everyone's enjoyment. She talked about how she encourages people to just write from their true selves (as if they're writing with their pajamas on rather than being dressed up for someone or something). Another story that intrigued me is by Derek Parra, who is a Olympic medaling speed skater. He really focuses on his idea of success and how it isn't measured by any award but rather the fact that one is constantly improving and raising the bar for themselves. He explains that your dreams are where your success begins, so your mind and imagination is a terrible thing to waste. I appreciated this story even more because I am a skater as well and sometimes I focus on my success by equating it with the awards I've acquired rather than realizing that I've accomplished so much with or without proper recognition. I also read Rebecca Lobo's story as a Latina American who grew up to become a successful WNBA player. I have followed her since her college days in Connecticut, since I too played basketball and never realized that she was a Latina American. This may seem like an unimportant factor but it is probably very important to her. All of their stories were told in English as well as Spanish, which I also thought was important because of both heritages that were represented. Sure they were now residents of the United States, but they were both Latinos and Americans and therefore I think it was very good for both languages to be present. It causes not only equal representation but a sense of comfort rather than choosing one side over the other.