History, politics, and the role museums play: Starlee Kine examines this interplay in her piece for "This American Life"

MuseoBlogger seen here eagerly awaiting a
call from Vail's Colorado Ski & Snowboard
Museum in reply to her offer to work for lift tickets.

As I am on vacation this week, living my dream, schussing through the Sierra Nevada mountains at Heavenly in Lake Tahoe, I am posting an audio segment I heard last month on This American Life. Listen, enjoy, discuss amongst yourselves, and I will catch you all next week, when I'm back at my laptop in Cleveland.

On January 14, 2011, in Episode 424, This American Life brought us "Kid Politics." Following Ira Glass's brief prologue centered around a documentary film by Weijun Chen, entitled Please Vote For Me, we hear Act I, "Trickle Down History." This brilliant piece by Starlee Kine about a middle school class' trip to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum includes reminiscences of her own class trip to the Nixon Library as a child. Ms. Kine's take on the museum education programs, interactive exhibits, and educator/facilitators in the galleries is both hilarious and insightful. Ask yourself, what are we teaching school groups in our galleries? Is there politics at play in the education curriculum at your museum?