Holocaust Museum Houston - Rachelle Escobar, Week 3

 Week 3!

07/23

    My first day on Tuesday was a little slow, but it allowed me to get a lot of work done at my desk. Let me walk you through my routine: I took the Metro bus and rail this morning to get to work (with a total of two wrong turns to and from the rail station), once arriving at HMH the nice security guards opened the door for me and scanned all my stuff in. Not really a fun fact, but since HMH is a Jewish institution it’s a high-risk building so the security here is exceptionally good. After I climb to the second floor, I set my stuff down in the Education offices and trek to the third floor. On the third floor, the breakroom has a myriad of accommodations but most importantly it has a nugget ice machine. Once I’ve filled my water bottle to the brim, I settle into my desk and talk to Laurie, my internship supervisor, about the day's schedule.

    Today I had some meetings scheduled, but they were cancelled so I got to work on my final project. I finished creating the English version of my Zine for the Samual Bak Gallery and Learning Center, so I started translating and creating a Spanish version. I found this somewhat challenging because using simple language in Spanish, applicable to any audience, is very difficult. I was able to get it fully translated and laid out today so I will be printing the first few tomorrow to see what they might look like. 

Lastly, I was tasked with creating a flyer for a Latinx Heritage Month Event the Museum has planned. Creating the Spanish and English versions of the flyer took up most of my afternoon, but it was fun to put words together on a page. This event is really impressive, they have several panels and discussions in their theatre for the whole day, have opened up the museum for free admission, and even invited the only bilingual children’s choir in Houston. If I was still in Houston in September, I would love to attend this event. Throughout the past few weeks, I’ve realized that HMH is extremely well-rounded in its approach as an institution, which is most likely the reason I have the opportunity to be here. With a staff of less than 50, I’m impressed and astonished by the work that every department puts in to make this museum so successful. 

07/24
    

    On Wednesday, my schedule was rearranged because of the rain we’re anticipating in Houston. I was meant to visit other museums here in the museum district, which I will be able to do later. Today I focused on preparing for my story time that is going to take place tomorrow afternoon. I’ve been working on my house activity to display as an example, I even enlisted my sisters and mom to make some examples for me. Here is their and my work below: 

    

    I read through the picture book today, and it reminded me of when I did a bilingual spelling bee in elementary school. I obviously didn’t win because it was a district-wide contest against people older than me, but my then third-grade teacher Mrs. Trevino really encouraged me to do it. As I write this I look over at the picture of her I have pinned to my office desk. This is an inspirational and touching coincidence, but it makes me feel old. 

    Since today was somewhat slow, I gave myself a tour of the galleries I hadn’t had a chance to explore. I read some diaries of young people in the gallery and used an audio guide to look through the Human Rights Gallery one more time. The diaries exhibit includes some accounts of Japanese Americans during WWII and a young man from Syria. It’s really special how they have incorporated more modern and diverse stories to emphasize the importance of young people’s diaries. Lastly, I explored the temporary exhibit that HMH is hosting: a beautiful collection of an artist’s work creating photorealistic portraits of Holocaust survivors. The main focal point is a large painting with life-size depictions of several holocaust survivors looking out to the audience. It’s incredibly impactful and makes you wonder what they see when they look out at us.  

07/25

    On Thursday, I started my morning off by doing some research on Samuel Bak and reading the catalog

book of all of Bak’s work that Laurie gifted me. I’ve gotten really into his pieces and the artistic growth

throughout his life. Laurie taught me, as she’s the contact person between Bak and his publisher, that they

want Bak’s work to be more than just “Holocaust art”. His work showcases more than just questions

regarding the Holocaust, but also the human-made experiences of war and destruction. His work is meant to

make you question what human experience he’s describing. For example, the crumbling buildings could

represent destruction or reconstruction, there is no concrete (pun not intended) answer to what his work

signifies. His earliest watercolor work, from when he was in the Vilna Ghetto, is incredibly somber.Since this work features landscapes of Vilnius before WWII, they’re a reminder that that peaceful reality

only exists within Bak’s memory and that it will never be fully restored.  

    My storytime was also today! We had some rain come in, so we were worried that turnout would be low

but a good amount of people and kids showed up. Before lunch, Laurie and I went out to a Panaderia the

education department frequents to pick up pan dulce for everyone. Here’s a picture Laurie took of me there:

      Roselianne, the YAP intern last year, joined me today and we read the book together in the HMH’s theater. While we were outside the theater some people asked what the book was about, and they learned that speaking Spanish at school was illegal in our state from the 1920s to 1973. Also since today was National Intern Day, Clare from the Marketing team showed up and took some pictures of me during the storytime. 

The setup was great, Laurie did an incredible job planning most of the logistics. We had a projector that Laurie used to turn the pages while Roselianne and I read in English and Spanish respectively. We had a sizeable crowd in the theater, and Amy said we both did a great job at reading and expressing ourselves. I didn’t get nervous, as one would assume, seeing a crowd and little girls that looked like me inspired me to do my best and convey a meaningful message. Everyone also had a lot of fun when we transitioned to the Education classrooms, ate pan dulce, and did the house activity. I really enjoyed this activity and it was so fulfilling to see families enjoy this event. 

07/26

On the last day of this week, I had a bagel for breakfast from the Cafe on the second floor. I’ve gotten familiar with the two Hispanic ladies who work at the Cafe, they’re very friendly and ask me questions about my work. I see them most mornings and we have nice conversations about random subjects, one of them told me about her son who took some Graphic Design courses. Getting to know most of the people here makes me feel fulfilled. Although I’m slow to make friends, I do enjoy meeting new people. 

Today Laurie took me to the University of Houston to meet some people at the “Center for Mexican American & Latino/a/ Studies”. They have a Latino cARTographies Digital Board, kind of like the totems we experienced in the Molina Gallery. It’s a collection of different LatinX artists here in Houston, featuring murals you see around the city, different LatinX organizations, and important spots in the city. Here are some pictures, including the Ballerina Mural I see at my bus stop every day in the Theatre District. 

Laurie treated me to lunch today, and we went to the Black Walnut. It was one of those nice Restaurants in the Montrose area which is one of the nicer and more expensive places to live within Houston and close to the Holocaust Museum. I saw Rice University on the way back for the first time. The small bubble where Rice is is really beautiful. I really enjoy driving around and seeing new things. 
    
I ended the day and week off by creating a Spanish and English flyer for HMH’s LatinX Heritage Month activities. One of the coolest things they’ve planned out is a community altar workshop, where people are invited to help create an altar for Dia de los Muertos. Overall, this week has been incredible, and I’m excited for my next and, sadly, last week at the Holocaust Museum Houston.