Wolves in the Urban Environment

On Friday morning Room 206 -- a.k.a. The Wolves -- boarded a bus and headed downtown in their matching sweatshirts to see the Calder exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. The exhibit is great (if you haven't been, get yourself down there -- it's up through April 11th) and we liked our docent-in-training, but we did find ourselves wishing more than once that the guards could just back the hell off and refrain from (for instance) interrupting a child in the middle of asking a question to tell her not to lean against the wall of the gallery. (The wall of the gallery, mind you, not the art.) It was also a little surprising that the museum had chosen, as part of its recent $200 million expansion, not to provide anywhere for school groups to eat lunch, and so after our tour we joined two other classes hunched on the steps of the Grand Staircase trying not to drip yogurt onto the life-size Ming Dynasty camel statues while the guards glared at us. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who breathed a sigh of relief when we managed to get out of there with all 22 children accounted for and all of Calder's stabiles & mobiles intact.

Melanie had arranged for the bus to pick us up at Pike Place Market, so we could spend a little time wandering around downtown. We stopped by Benaroya Hall to look at the ginormous chandeliers hanging in the lobby, and Hattie's mom told us a little bit about how they were made. She asked the kids if they thought it was fair that only Dale Chihuly's name is on them, even though thirty or forty people worked to blow all that glass. Opinions varied. (Big thanks to the Benaroya employees who let our whole pack in to use the bathrooms at a crucial juncture -- you guys rock!)

We also stopped by the Gum Wall in Post Alley: a truly remarkable ever-evolving, goopily mobile collaborative installation that we're pretty sure Alexander Calder would have appreciated. Chihuly too.

I think it was Violet's mom who pointed out that rural kids just don't have access to this kind of cultural amenity! Yes, we all agreed happily -- while privately hoping we hadn't just seen that one boy pry a big pink wad off the wall and pocket it...

But the highlight of our little urban foray wasn't the Calder, or the Chihuly, or the Gum Wall. It wasn't even the glamorous woman in a glittery mermaid costume greeting customers at the Lusty Lady, or the giant vat of cheese curd in the window at Beecher's. No, the highlight was definitely our semi-impromptu protest march up First Avenue and through Pike Place Market.

Since adopting their totem animal earlier this year, the kids have discovered that wolves are under attack in several areas of the country, after coming back from near-eradication in the 20th century. So they had come prepared to whip out their "Save the Wolves" signs and bring a little attention to their cause, should the opportunity present itself.



Yep, that was the definitely the highlight of the trip -- especially that moment when the flower vendors were cheering and the Fish Guys were pounding on their counters and all the bike messengers started howling! We also appreciated the mohawked guitarist who shouted, "What about save the humans?!" (We're working on that too, promise!) When we overheard one passerby say, "I didn't know the wolves were in danger," and his companion answer, "Well, now you do!" we had to laugh: what more can you ask of a protest march?

After we wound things up with a deafening group howl at Victor Steinbrueck Park, we wandered back up Pike Place along the crowded sidewalk, gazing covetously at displays of giant grapes and flaky pastries. At the corner of Stewart Street, we were stopped in our tracks by what appeared to be a cat-petting booth on the sidewalk. "I'm a professional cat socializer," a weathered man in a Tigger hat told the kids as they gathered around to caress a pair of comatose tabbies. "I'm collecting donations for my cat shelter -- we have thirteen cats right now."

He paused expectantly, hoping that one of these kids -- or us parents, more likely -- might be willing to part with a dollar or two for a good cause. "Well," Davion countered, "We're out here saving the wolves! You should go to www.savewolves.org."