Here's the story.

Alright, I am finally making the time to sit down and record this. I actually find this to be quite hilarious and very entertaining. So grab a seat, a hot cocoa, and prepare for a long entry.

As many of you know the last entry I posted on this blog was about my trip to the Milwaukee Art Museum. I was fine with the experience, just glad I didn't pay for it as most of the art was not to my liking. A couple of days after I posted my entry I got two comments on it from people I did not know. One said, "You are retarded." Another one told me the same and gave me a brief and ridiculous history on what Georgia O'Keefe's paintings all represent.

Hmm. I thought. That was weird. In two years of having my blog I have never had that happen. So I deleted those two comments and made it so that I could preview all comments before they are posted. Well, a week or so goes by and I hadn't gotten any more comments, or so I thought. This was because I actually forgot that I had to preview comments. So naturally I had forgotten all about it.

Last Saturday I went to check my e-mail and had a message from Facebook. I also have not been checking Facebook because quite frankly I am tired of it and updating about my extremely boring life (although now that I am famous...). Well, it said that I had a message from a Mary-Louise Schumacher. Huh? Who the heck is that? So I go to look at my inbox. Here is what I found:

"Hi Emily,

I tried sending you a message via your blog and thought I'd try to reach you here, too. You may not know this, but your recent blog entry about the Milwaukee Art Museum has had the local art community buzzing via social media, listservs, email and general chatting about town. I think it's wonderful that you packed up three small girls and took them to the museum, and I'm sorry you didn't have a better experience. It might seem strange that your blog would have such an impact, but I think it represents something -- a larger world of people who don't always connect with their art museums. In any case, I am going to write about this for Sunday's paper, and I'd like to interview you briefly, if you'd be comfortable with that.

Though a blog is a public forum, I'm assuming yours is intended for close family and friends, and I want to be sensitive to that. If you have a few moments, I can be reached at my direct line 414-224-2328 or mschumacher@journalsentinel.com. My deadline is immiment."

Thanks,
Mary Louise Schumacher
art critic
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Now I am just staring at the screen with my mouth hanging open. This has to be a joke, I am thinking. Nobody cares what I think! How would anyone find my blog about this? This is ridiculous. I click on the next e-mail from Mary-Louise Schumacher. It reads:

"Hi again, Emily, here's is a peek at the column that will run in Sunday's paper about your blog post. I'm sure all of this must seem very strange, and I certainly understand that you may not want to communicate. But if you'd like to, I'd love to chat.

Have a great weekend,

Mary Louise Schumacher"

Here's the link:http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/40860577.html?c=y&commentSubmitted=y

I of course clicked on the link and found the article titled, "An Open Letter to Emily Thomas and the art community." So it just escalates from this point on. After the article is posted online on Saturday it gets 24 comments. I think there was initially one that was positive. All of the others condemned me as uneducated, close minded, and declared that my children would end up the same way. Really? Really?

I am also mentioned in two other online articles. You can get to those ones from the first link above. While I am reading these articles and comments I am bursting out laughing! This is hilarious! I am in the paper for stating my opinion about art, which is supposed to be subjective, and getting told that I have the wrong opinion! If only I would take classes on art history and learn why the artists created those pieces then I would like them and connect with the art. What? When I showed all of this Ben later he all but rolled on the floor laughing. My friend Amy left the best comment on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinnel article. She made it under an anonymous name (hee hee). She wrote:

"Do you suppose this lady has an opinion? Why are people getting so geared up that she has an opinion that's different than yours? Do you suppose that YOU might have an opinion that's different than someone else's? You can disagree with her opinion...but you should respect it. You can try to teach her about art...but perhaps the real issue is that everyone's different. Not everyone likes art, or likes art the way that artists like art. Not everyone likes winter. Not everyone likes dogs. Do you think we need to educate these people on winter? On dogs? Maybe, we just need to respect the fact that she is her own person, she has an opinion, and just because she's not like you...well, that's why the world and its people are interesting."

Loved it. You're the best Amy. Amy also posted another comment which means that now I have 4 comments out of 28 that are nice to me. :)

I did write back to Mary Louise Schumacher. I did initially want to write a scathing letter to her and the art community but Ben advised (and rightly so) me not to. He said the best way to kill the attention and topic was to kill her with kindness. So we did. I wrote back:

Mary-Louise,
I honestly enjoyed your article. It was well written in the way that it highlights different approaches to the arts.
I appreciate the invitation to speak, but I think I'll respectfully pass. Also, I've privatized my blog in anticipation of tomorrow's printing, but I'd be happy to invite you to continue viewing my blog.
I'm excited to see the article in print tomorrow, and I've been enjoying the discussion this has sparked with family and friends.
All the best,
Emily Thomas

Right after I realized that was not a joke I immediately privatized my blog. Which of course all the art people twittered about. I truly was not bothered by the article. I am not embarrassed about what I wrote or about my opinion of what I saw. It is just that. My opinion. Which is why it was hard not to respond to this. But one of the commenter's knows that I am Mormon and referred to me once as Mormon Mommy and I do not want that brought into the limelight. I can only guess what that would bring out. All the wrong facts they could find.

So, it is now two days later and I still think this is pretty funny. I cut out the article in the Sunday paper to keep of course. Although in the Sunday paper the title was changed to "A mom's blog highlights disconnect." I can't help being a little disappointed that my name is no longer in the title but at least it's all over the article. :)

There are only two things that really bother me about this experience. The first, and biggest, is that one of the commenter's took a picture of my blog post in anticipation of me closing the blog. He posted it himself so that everyone can read it. It has my picture and the girls picture. I really don't like that.

The second thing is that Mary Louise Schumacher said she wanted to be sensitive about my blog being written for just my family and friends and yet she put a link to my blog in the article so that everyone could read it. I don't think she knows what being sensitive means. That is also why I would never let her interview me. She really must think I'm a blond, uneducated, stay-at-home, soccer mom.

My friends and I have been joking for the last couple of days that I should go back to the museum this Wednesday and wear a shirt that says, "I am Emily Thomas." Any friends who want to come can wear shirts that say, "I'm with Emily Thomas. Modern art is crap." :)

So that is my long story of why my blog is now privatized. I have been in the basement now for almost one hour writing this. My fingers are frozen and I need to make dinner. I hope you got as big a kick out of this as I did. I already know I have the best friends and family in the world! Love you all!

The now famous Emily Thomas.

By the way, if you google my name I am the fifth or sixth link. Yep. Go ahead and try it. And check out the comments on the art posting. I added some of the ones that were left by the art people. They are interesting. I deleted the others that weren't.