VIP

Somehow, when I pictured myself working in a museum, I always imagined myself in an office stacked with books and full of priceless artifacts.  Now here I am in a sea of grey cubicles.  The third floor of the DIA is not glamorous.  Even the director's office is just a modified cubicle with a door.

Most of the windows don't even look outside-- they're all interior windows (partly a result of the renovation) that look into interior courts or directly into other walls.  Which is why I was surprised to walk out of my cubicle corner and see this:

An unusual sight in the hallway...

Hey, I wasn't done with the comics yet!

Yes, that's right.  They put newspaper over our (interior) windows!  These windows weren't all that exciting to begin with, so it was disturbing that someone felt the need to cover them entirely.

You can see that they look out onto... nothing:

Our now papered windows, looking at a wall.

Odd and sad.

I haven't been at the DIA very long, but this was the first time I had seen something like this.  There had been rumblings throughout the week about a "VIP luncheon" that would be happening on Wednesday.  I figured there might be some connection... but what?

As it turned out, it was no big deal at all.  The "VIP" guest was only the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama.  Who cares, right?

Needless to say, the entire museum had gone bananas.  All of the office windows were covered in paper (lest us common-folk lay eyes on the first lady), the museum was on lock-down, and there were more police officers than I had ever seen in one place.  It was something to behold. 

All day on Wednesday, if I wanted to go from my office to the Kresge Court (which I did want to do... about 6 times that day) I had to go outside of the building and walk along Woodward Ave., then re-enter the building from the other side.  I was just happy that it was a warm and sunny day.  If it had been raining, I think the Obamas' approval rating would have dropped significantly in the City of Detroit.

On one of my many walks around the building that day, I noticed something strange about the grand Woodward entrance-- it was open.

Mrs. Obama uses the front door.

As I mentioned in another post, the Woodward entrance is not functional, and thus remains gated at all times... unless, of course, the first lady is visiting. 

Mrs. Obama was speaking at Wayne State University that day to a group of students about things like education and leadership.  I am told it was a great speech, and I have no doubt that it was.  I, however, missed it while I was running laps around the museum.  After her speech, Mrs. Obama held a luncheon for 200 of these students and their celebrity mentors at the DIA.  The celebrity mentors included people like Spike Lee, Magic Johnson, and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (which one of these things is not like the other?).

For the duration of this event, I was either leaving tracks on the museum's lawn or I was stationed in the Kresge Court, administering a staff engagement survey.  While I found the survey to actually be somewhat interesting, the rest of the museum staff was more "engaged" with Mrs. Obama.  I hear that many were standing on chairs and climbing onto window ledges (apparently some were left paper-free) to catch a glimpse of the first lady.

A co-worker managed to get this photo as she was entering the building (not through the Woodward entrance, I might add).  Mrs. Obama would be that little pink blip near the center of the photo:

Exciting, right?

For as ridiculous as it seemed to demand that I walk outside of the building all day, I will say that normal museum operations appeared to be generally uninterrupted.  The museum remained open for its usual hours, and there was even a full schedule of school groups and tours.  I think that just goes to show how these large-scale institutions are able to act as well-oiled machines. 

However, I know that it is the excellent DIA staff, walking around with oil cans, that really keep things running smoothly.  I don't believe I have mentioned yet how impressed I am with the staff at the DIA.  Not only are they professional and extremely knowledgeable about pretty much everything-- but they are some of the most friendly people I have ever worked with.  In the few weeks that I have been interning, everyone has been happy to answer my questions, and quick to make me feel welcome.

That's probably why Michelle Obama wanted to have lunch with us.