Chagall’s Cows
When our son was a toddler many friends began fleeing Manhattan. They couldn’t imagine raising a child amid all the dirt and crime.
“But think of the culture!”, I’d say.
Noah at 5, wide-eyed at the Met’s Arm & Armor exhibit. And making Purim masks at the Jewish Museum, and model dinosaurs at the Natural History. And reading the night sky at the Planetarium, and delighting when Red Grooms took over the Whitney.
But my sweetest memory of Noah’s museum-going childhood was at a Chagall exhibit at the Guggenheim when he looked up from his stroller to ask incredulously, “Another cow who’s flying?”
RetroFlash / 100 Words
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Tags:
Museums, Marc Chagall, Art
Characterizations:
funny
Priceless!!
Thanx! i think by now my son is tired of hearing this story … but we did instill in the kid a love of museum-going!
This is so beautiful, Dana. You captured a child’s perspective of the world in just 100 words. Brava!
Thanx Laurie, spoken like a wise nursery school educator!
Great RetroFlash, Dana! I love Chagall, and I love this story! Sorry if Noah is tired of it – I’m glad you shared it with us!
Thanx Suzy!
Delightful story, Dana and I agree, raising a child in the city offers invaluable opportunities for museum-going and introduction to culture.
Thanx Betsy!
What a sweet story, and there is nothing but truth in a child’s reaction.
Yes, and wasn’t it a child who told the emperor he had no clothes!
This is perfect, Dana. And reminds us of the beauty of a child’s mind, uncluttered by lofty and pretentious judgments. Or, as Groucho once more coarsely put it, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Thanx John!
And in replying to Betsy, I was reminded that it was also a child who saw the emperor had no clothes!
My wife began raising her first two (my adult stepchildren) in New York City and still raves about how wonderful it was. She will be pleased to see this paean to urban child-rearing. You packed a lot of imagery into a few words and the punchline is a keeper, even if its protagonist would like it to be released for good.
Thanx Dale, glad your wife and I agree raising kids in Gotham has it’s upside!
He’s not wrong! Thanks for the laugh!
Yep, like the kid in the Emperor’s New Clothes!