Dearest Readers,

This most delightful of task completions was not only a pleasure to orchestrate, but also to accomplish and furthermore reflect upon. I have unwavering faith that you will enjoy the high caliber of accomplishment by all of the collaborators involved. If you have not already, I would urge you to read the original event posting.

Before we go much further I will begin with a brief overview from my perspective. In mid November I decided that we ought to either play Hide and Seek or Sardines in one of San Francisco's two fine art museums. I pushed to make it a legitimate task and succeeded. After some discussion I decided on Hide and Seek. The Legion of Honor seemed like the natural choice.

For those who haven't ever been to The California Palace for the Legion of Honor, I urge you to create an opportunity to do so. If you let me know ahead of time, then I will take you on my tab. It is one of the most majestic locales I have visited. An obvious choice for a kids game.

I won't bore you all will all the details about my online publicity tactics, but it is worth mentioning that this event got posted all over the place, and that it drove sf0 membership up in the week prior to the event. So much so, in fact, I started to get a little nervous. How was a game of Hide and Seek going to work in a fine art museum without almost any real hiding spots? Was I going to get arrested?

I spent the Saturday before the event thinking and scheming. I visited the museum and briskly walked through. I was smiling the whole time. Museum goers scowled at my odd apparel and devious grin. I knew I had made all the right decisions.

In order to deal with the anticipated size of the game I decided that there ought be leagues. I didn't know if all players who were coming would be expecting to pay to enter the museum and so I came up with a contingency plan for dealing with that as well. We needed to easily identify all players from regular museum goers. I solved these problems with ribbon. We would have four or five concurrent games of Hide and Seek happening.

Each league would have one "It" at a time. Their "It" would only be allowed to tag the players wearing the same colored ribbon as themselves. After being tagged, the new "It" would return to the room known as "Base" and count to 25 with the word "Alligator" or "Mississippi" in between each number. After saying "Ready or not here I come" the new "It" would repeat the proccess. "It" could not tag a new it while the other player was in the "Base" room. No hiding in the bathrooms (elevators ok). Outside was out of bounds.

I explained all of this to the first wave of players on Sunday in front of the Museum. They tied their ribbons on their arms and made their way in to the museum. And there I was... the orchestrator standing outside and waiting. In a tuxedo. Non-playing museum goers asked me for directions, asked me what time I would be playing music, who was getting married, or just "What's going on?!". I always replied with a dignified smile saying:
"We're playing Hide and Seek."
"But why the formal wear?"
"Well we're playing Hide and Seek inside of the Legion of Honor."
Most stopped asking anything more after that. After a while I started asking people who were leaving the museum if there was a ruckus inside. I was a little disbelieving when they said no.

But there I stood... an hour after the game had started with players still trickling in. An hour and a half afterwards I decided I would gather some extra ribbon, and head inside to play. Before doing so, I put on my own ribbons: Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, and White. I was playing on all leagues. I do what I want.



Promptly after making my appearance inside I was tagged by both the red league "It" and the white league "It". I was delighted.

At four o'clock there was an organ recital. I'll admit that it was just a serendipitous part of the plan, but so timely, none the less.

By five we were on the front lawn drinking tea, and eating cookies. It really felt regal.

I didn't even come close to getting arrested. (I think).

I am purposefully omitting my reflection of what it felt like to play, as there will likely be plenty for the reader to enjoy on that topic below.

Special Thanks to The Vixen and Tiny Dancer for their contributions to the Tea Party. Another Special Thanks to Natalia Envy for her prowess as documentarian.

Finally, thank you for your time, and once again, I hope that you enjoy this just at least a fraction as much as I did.

Best Regards,
Herbie Hatman
the Growing Artist Guild
Event Coordinator



Magpie
******
After a hard morning chasing a small ball around a hockey pitch, there was no better way to continue my day than playing hide and seek in a museum. Especially with the promise of tea. I was rather distracted by the art most of the time, especially the illustrated book section. The organist playing Christmas carols was interesting, as was this older lady who kept staring at the players in the group and grinning to herself. I kept wondering if she wished she could join us, I wished she would have. Going to the Presidio for the first time was magical. Having really strong proper tea in fine bone china, was lovely. Meeting everyone was brilliant. I think that's the best Sunday I have spent in months. Cheers.
******
Fis Sid La
********
As others have posting more complete details regarding the event, I'll just mention my most daring escape. A certain top-hat wearing blue league player had me caught. No room to run. End of the line, I thought! But oh ho ho! Much in the style of a previous escape, I succeeded in getting the persuer to circle around a central object (in this case, an Objet d'Art). I deftly made my escape, but he was in close pursuit. I slipped myself into a crowd of people listening to a presentation being made by a guide and he passed by me. Mmm. Smooth.
A bit later, while "It", I walked up behind him, swiped his top hat, tagged him, and walked off. I look rather fetching in a top hat.


svn tsv the dis.believer
******************
Sundays, as always, being working days, I lost some personal capital in rushing to get my sad self up to Lincoln Park..... but it was o so worth it! The payoff in spiritual, collaborative enjoyment was profound. From Market St., a fine gentlemen from Georgia(?... Armenia? Russia?) rocketed me down Geary Street in record time, and I was dressed for the fanciful occasion by the time I exited the door. Wandering in around an hour late, I spied Mr. Hatman still outside by the large fountain. We resolved together to enter the museum, y nos divertir bien.

Boy o boy was I pleasantly surprised at this place. Excellently chosen, it proved a perfect accompaniment to the spirit and style of our little game. Everywhere we walked, attention was paid by the museum-goers. Furthermore, people seemed to speak somewhat differently to individuals in fancy dresses, hats, coats and ties - especially when we were cavorting, laughing together in small groups. The volunteer ladies (and gentlemen) that run the museum were most kind, and enjoyed our presence, no matter our intent. As long as we refrained from running.

Choosing to be a member of blue, for obvious reasons, I 'tied up' and slowly meandered towards Ms. Marie Antoinette (yes! that very same icon of insatiability!) and was at once taken by the beautiful artifacts of her gluttony, wealth and rapacity. (For those San Franciscans not present on Sunday, I do recommend glancing at this exhibit's pre- and post- revolutionary material on display... utter sensory overload. If only everyone in the Republic could have armoires such as hers...)

Well. Being it, not being it, hiding, seeking, coming, going.... I met new players - joyous, it was - and reveled at the participatory beauty of old friends and co-taskers. At one point, Herbie let slip an answer I'm not sure that I'm allowed to divulge. Then again, I wasn't there for the opening...

~Good Sir, why ever did you bring all this ribbon? I thought we were going to suit up in 'hello, my name is ARTIST' stickers? Why the colors, and ribbons?
~Well, these are revolutionary times.
~Yes, I can see that... much like those of Ms. Antoinette, no?
~Right. And one can't help but, emm, participate, when the revolution... happens.
~I agree. So this is your way of...
~Commenting, I guess. My subtle commentary.

The day was a commentary, it was, yes..... It should be noted that more than one player has recently taught me (as I was, um, ostensibly leading them...) and re- and re- and re- taught me the great value of whimsy, tomfoolery, silliness... this Sun-day in the museum underscored all of my fleeting desires to eschew the seriousness of the quotidian and to remain always as if running tiptoe across pointy-top rocks on a windy seashore. Does that make any sense? Yes, it was hide-and-go-seek, but so much more. So much more than playtime.

And the game itself was only a beginning, in a sense... other tasks were also borne of this evening. Tasks, and adventures... sushi, tango, red paint, new clefs, old whiskey, meetings, massage, towers, and, and, and...

well, not now. that's another praxis.

**************


Chris Boone
**********
The museum was a very serious place.



We too looked serious.



But that was a bit of a farce.



Or perhaps just seriously farcical.



love,
cb