Minneapolis
Today I am rearranging my bedroom and the guest bedroom, and found myself hanging up some clothes, including my brown wool suit.
I bought that suit in 2002, for the opening of the Smithsonian (a.k.a. "my") Viking exhibition at the Minneapolis Museum of Science. The exhibition had traveled to five other cities before coming to Minneapolis, and at each new venue, a head of state from one of the Nordic countries formally opened the exhibition. In Minneapolis, Ólafur Ragnar had the honor. He had, in fact, also been to the opening in Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Anyhow, the local news wanted to do a big segment on the exhibition for their Sunday morning program. So the PR person from the museum contacted me, said that me and the President of Iceland would be jointly interviewed for the live segment.
My very first thought was, "What in the world am I going to wear?!" because well, Ólafur is one fine dresser, that much is certain. I went out and bought a very nice Liz Clairborne suit, brown wool, with a tie belt.
Sunday morning rolls around, I get in my new suit, show up at the museum, at which point in time, the PR person from the museum says, "They are just going to interview the President on his own." Hmm, I thought. I did not mind, really, my professional ego was better satisfied anyhow with the one hour radio interview I had on women in the Viking age that same weekend, and although I do not know who exactly made the decision to have Ólafur on camera on his own, I thought it was the right decision. He did a fine job, he certainly knew enough about the exhibition and the Vikings to talk about it, and he's a charming guy.
Still, I must admit, I would not have bought that suit for any other reason.
I bought that suit in 2002, for the opening of the Smithsonian (a.k.a. "my") Viking exhibition at the Minneapolis Museum of Science. The exhibition had traveled to five other cities before coming to Minneapolis, and at each new venue, a head of state from one of the Nordic countries formally opened the exhibition. In Minneapolis, Ólafur Ragnar had the honor. He had, in fact, also been to the opening in Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Anyhow, the local news wanted to do a big segment on the exhibition for their Sunday morning program. So the PR person from the museum contacted me, said that me and the President of Iceland would be jointly interviewed for the live segment.
My very first thought was, "What in the world am I going to wear?!" because well, Ólafur is one fine dresser, that much is certain. I went out and bought a very nice Liz Clairborne suit, brown wool, with a tie belt.
Sunday morning rolls around, I get in my new suit, show up at the museum, at which point in time, the PR person from the museum says, "They are just going to interview the President on his own." Hmm, I thought. I did not mind, really, my professional ego was better satisfied anyhow with the one hour radio interview I had on women in the Viking age that same weekend, and although I do not know who exactly made the decision to have Ólafur on camera on his own, I thought it was the right decision. He did a fine job, he certainly knew enough about the exhibition and the Vikings to talk about it, and he's a charming guy.
Still, I must admit, I would not have bought that suit for any other reason.
Comments