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My comments--I hope I was clear, though--oops--I hadn't intended to  
"Reply All"--are in support of collections museums and science  
centers and everything in between, and for which I effortlessly  
maintain a livelong passion.  (I'll even admit--at great risk--some  
fond fascination for the Creation Museum trend, inasmuch as I'm  
thrilled by the potential of alternative viewpoints.)

Is the livelihood of The Collection truly threatened by the emerging  
world of science fair-style attractions?  I don't really know.  But  
certainly our culture is one in which the old and the traditional are  
constantly called upon to justify their existence.  And that gets un- 
pretty.  Another tear falls for the opera house.

For me, support for differentiation boils down to support for  
insulating the collections museum from this particular cultural  
abuse.   But, who knows, opera is not insulated from popular music,  
and there are only a few incidences in which those terms are  
interchanged, as I'm sure Baba O'Riley and Isolde would both agree.

I've written way too much!  I keep thinking about a museum director  
for whom I once worked who insisted on calling groups of exhibits  
"exhibitions."  Exhibitions are made up of "exhibits."  And she'd get  
stubborn if staff would slip and refer to a group of exhibits as, an  
"exhibit."  I bought it, but I was an English major back in college.   
There were no other English majors on staff, and you can guess as to  
the overall success of the director's semantic mandate.

--Jason

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