Ya'll. Today I am going to talk about the organization and people that made me the museum person who I am today. Buckle up for some long, nostalgic, weird joke times.
Every March, a bittersweet week rolls around when all my TN museum folks start talking about this tam conference we like to call TAM, #tamit. The TN Association of Museums.
2011 was my first #TAM, in Johnson City. I had my first Hospitality Suite experience with Alice, the white gloves, general hilarity & door prizes. I met so many amazing people & every year got better. Memphis w @abby.gautreau @randybandyandfrankthefloof @jarynabdallah & @rkd80 and the weird Fran Leg Dance and the fire pole. In Franklin there was the wine waterboarding, weird bathtub painting for the auction, & the Jesus beans. Greeneville brought the infamous bid war with @maderush & Aretha Franklin's bathtub & the droopy ghost nipples. That may have been the year I won Miss Congeniality.
TAM was where I did my first presentations about my work, and they were so welcoming, gracious, & kind to me as a graduate student who didn't know what was what. I made connections & friendships I still value today, & these people are a wealth of information and always happy to help, even though I'm hours away.
There are a lot of things I miss about Tennessee; I lived there for 29 years and TAM is in the top 10 things I miss, topped only by landscape/geography, @dollywood, and the Jig and Reel (and all the food in Memphis, sorry). All that to say. Be nice to young professionals in your organizations. Be outgoing, talk to people at conferences. Conf. organizers, make yours awesome as TAM, always have white gloves shower people with at your weird hospitality suite (but dont go out on the roof). I probably presented every year, went to some cool sessions, & learned something, but oh man the #TAMFam is what sticks with ya. This year, as with the past 4 years since I've been in South Carolina, I'll follow along on the social media & be sad. But I am grateful to everyone in TAM for all the good times, & I hope to come back someday and show ya all that I made it alright. I miss you all!! #DroopyGhostNipples #ArethasBathtub #Wineboarded
