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| Methuselah (left), Otis Ostrich (background, right) and I (front, right) are at the grand opening at the new museum exhibit! It was a great turnout! |
When Memorial Day comes around, obviously it's time to
remember something special. And that some special is all the many souls who
lost their lives to make our country the way it is now, e.g. the Civil War.
Many died to keep our country free. We often take this for granted
nowadays. At the Riverville Museum of Natural History, right here in
Riverville, New York, they plan to do something that will help even more people
remember what those many soldiers who died in the line of duty died for. This
Memorial Day, the museum is opened a new exhibit: “Remembering Memorial Day.”
Of course, the museum already had an exhibit on things relating to wars and
Memorial Day, but that exhibit hadn't been fully updated since 1961 (with the
exception of rewording some things and adding new pictures and videos). I'd
agree that it's time for an update! For more details on the exhibit, my trusty
junior photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater and I went to the museum's
co-curator, Otis Ostrich, who also turns out to be the President of the Town
Board. Somehow, he manages to fit being the President of the Town Board and
being the co-curator of the museum into his schedule. “This exhibit opened on
Memorial Day at 9:00 a.m.,” says Otis. “I'm glad it was a big turnout. What
this exhibit features is a lot of cool things to learn about the wars that
America has had something to do with in the past, mainly the Revolutionary,
Civil and World Wars. We also have cool videos that people can view to learn
more about these remarkable times.” Otis also told me that the exhibit is also
going to have famous historians give presentations on these extensive subjects.
When I asked what historians Otis was planning to visit the museum, he said,
“We'll have many of the famous guys, such as Dr. William Channing, Dr. Phil
Scott, and Dr. Francis “Frank” McDowell among others. Due to have sections
dealing with other important people to remember that died trying to make our
country better. “As always, people coming to the museum who live in the area
can get in free, and people who don't live near here can just give a small
donation,” Otis told me. “We don't like to charge too much for coming in because
if people are focused on paying money, they are losing some of the fun they
could be having learning about history, wildlife and nature, the solar system,
dinosaurs, Biblical times and in this case, people who died while attempting to
make our country a better place!” After our interview with Otis Ostrich, we
went to a few other “locals” to get their opinion on the new exhibit. First, we
asked Dr. Dodo Bird, a psychologist who lives at the nearby Animal
Adventures Inc. (AAI.) “I think it's an awesome idea,” says Dr.
Dodo. “It's about time the museum updates its exhibit on American history. I
mean, history is often portrayed as boring and with a 'been-there-done-that'
attitude. It doesn't have to be this way. History should be portrayed as
something fun, new and exciting, it should be as exciting for us as it was for
people living at the time the history happened. I hope the new exhibit captures
that excitement properly. Knowing Otis Ostrich is heading the project, I'm sure
it will!” Next we asked the ever-popular Sarah Bus Stop Guy. She is quoted for
saying, “It's exciting . . . because it hasn't been updated since . . . 1961,
right? There are a lot more veterans now than there were then. So it's a good
thing.” (For once, Sarah wasn't sarcastic during the interview) Our last
interview was with Methuselah, a bull African Elephant living at AAI. “Ah,
the museum,” he says. “Yes, it's about time they update that Memorable exhibit.
I mean, the way it was before they started updating it was cool. But 1961 was
ages ago! So much has happened since then. So many other veterans have died for
their cause since that date. They could even add some people who didn't exactly
'fight' in a physical war, per se, but a 'mental war' nonetheless. Take Martin
Luther King Jr. Now he was a cool guy. He didn't fight in a physical war, but
if he didn't do what he did, the poorly mistreated African-Americans might
still be mistreated like they were back then or they might be just getting out
of the mistreatment. I'm glad that segregation mess is over with. I mean, not
only is it not fair, but it's also cruel and heartless. I could go on with this
topic, but I'll save this for Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday day!” As we already mentioned, the grand opening was a great success, with over 5,000 people in attendance. But the museum could always use more guests who are ready to learn, so be
sure to come and visit the “Remembering
Memorial Day” exhibit so you – and all of us actually – can learn new and
amazing things about America's exciting history!
Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan
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