Today I woke up with a headache. This is a bad thing, likely caused by (a) my daughter having allergy noises during the night, and (b) kids in the hotel.
Still, we attempted to muddle on. We started the morning by going to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, which is an art museum housed in a former art-deco post office. My headache was rapidly approaching killer stage, although I did enjoy the Sylvia Hyman display, which was clay sculptures of everyday objects like paper, boxes, pencils, crayons, etc. that were 100% lifelike. It was totally amazing.
Alas, the headache continued to get worse, so we returned to the hotel. After a 2nd Maxalt, 2 Codeine, and 2 Naproxin, it finally abated… just in time for the highlight of the evening… the Weinbaum-Jacobus reunion. This was the first regathering of the family in 150 years. We learned of the pivotal role of the family in the establishment of Reform Jewry in Nashville, as well as other facts… such as the connection to Stanley G. Weinbaum of Science Fiction fame (inspiration to Asimov and Roddenberry, who has a crater named after him on Mars), Weinbaums that worked with Samuel Gompers and Hellen Keller, and the connection to the Werthams of Driving Miss Daisy. We also learned of some relatives who live out in Los Angeles who were really neat people; we’ll get together with them when we return to Los Angeles. We also saw a movie on the history of the Jews of Nashville. It was a really fun evening, a true once-in-a-lifetime event.
Tomorrow we’ll be getting together with my Cousin Les and visiting the Grand Old Opry, the Opryland Complex, and Opry Mills.
