Fifteen Minutes of Fame ~ Cover of Life Magazine & the Asian Art Museum Quarterly Magazine

Stacy, the Membership Manager of the Asian Art Museum, wondered who would be a good candidate to have a photo taken of them and have them tell a story about something that happened to them that was note worthy for the Asian Art Museum's quarterly magazine.  I was taken down to the basement of the museum and there, Kaz, their professional photographer, had me pose and took multiple photos of me. 

Here I am on the left, one of many poses taken in order to select the right one for publication.  I kept thinking of something noteworthy to tell them and did a phone conversation with the magazine's editor about a happening in the museum when it was originally located in Golden Gate Park before they moved to the Civic Center.  After a while I thought this was not a very good story so I thought about what to else to talk about.

An inspiration hit me after a while, the Mandala I had seen over 30 years ago being created by Tibetan Monks was and eye opening experience.  So I called the editor and related my new story about the museum.

(Mandala (Sanskrit: मण्डल Maṇḍala, 'circle') is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism representing the universe. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a  center point.  Each gate is in the general shape of a T.   Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.

The Mandala was huge and the monks had worked on it for months.  Then one day I saw in the newspaper, a man had run in and took his hands and messed up the pattern while screaming strange things.  I and others were irritated and rushed over to the museum to console the monks and see the damage.  Well the monks just smiled, told us nothing is permanent in the universe.  Thing come and go, that is the nature of the world.  Just keep calm and brush off the sands and start over again because in the end, the sand and patterns will be brushed into a pile and put into a bag for safe keeping. 

Well the employee thought that was a great story so hopefully it will appear in the magazine.  The museum staff also told me they thought the photo looked great and I do look good for almost 74 years of age!  And no Photoshop was used in making this photo!  So I had my 15 minutes of fame when I was six years old and on the cover of Life Magazine in 1946 in the one room school in Illinois that I attended.  Now I am in the Asian Art Museum's quarterly magazine in 2013 at the age of 73, 68 years later!

Cover of Life Magazine ~ 1946

Article & Photo in the Asian Art Museum Magazine ~ 2013