Hello Explorers!

Last week we journeyed to the SFO Museum and had a lovely time wandering through the terminals seeking art. Our email today highlights that trip in the Captain’s Report below.

There are some other updates before we get to that though. First of all, we’re less than two weeks away from our Forager Badge workshop. We have only a couple spots left, so if you want to join make sure to register.

We’ve also had some interest in Explorers joining our Slack channel. This and the link to our calendar are great resources for all Explorers looking to join events. Our next few events are:

• Forager Badge Workshop - April 19th

• Microscopic Wonders - May 3rd

• Expedition: France - June 6-14th

We have a returning event being planned July 17-19th, with more information to come soon too, but for now we’ll keep it at that.

Captain’s Report: SFO Museum

What does it mean to make a liminal space our intended destination? On Friday, April 3rd, I was accompanied by 14 other Explorers, all looking to answer that question.

To my surprise, the first challenge was actually finding the museum itself. Tucked away near the security gates in the International Terminal, the museum was a replica of the very first SFO terminal, fashioned as both a museum and a library. The Explorers were buzzing as, one by one, we received our security passes, allowing us to move through to the main terminals without a boarding pass.

Our tour guide, Nicole, gently walked us through the terminals, answering the many questions we had about creating the conditions for art in an airport. Both the Women of Afrofuturism and the Give Me a Ring exhibits were lovely and well received by all of us in attendance.

As I alluded to in my opening remark, we were also there to discover what it meant to make a liminal space an intended destination. Each of us experienced varying levels of sonder. Everyone in the airport was on their own personal mission. We, too, were on a mission, but one radically different from everyone else around us. We did not carry the stress of watching the clock, or the literal weight of baggage, or the concern of being anywhere other than where we currently were.

It felt like a parallel belonging. Travelers moved together in one mass, chaotic current, while we remained a small pocket of curiosity, Explorers opening our eyes to a world we normally rush past. There was one piece of art that drew us all in. Our whole group stopped to play with the light and reflections. I realized I must have walked past it before, but only in this moment did I feel like I was truly experiencing it.

Having all 15 of us stop and examine it seemed to invite other travelers to pause as well. I suppose that’s the deeper hope in making a liminal space an intended destination. Perhaps it catches someone’s eye in just the right way, allowing them to feel something they otherwise would have rushed past, if only for a moment.

We’ll most certainly find another time to revisit the SFO Museum and are looking forward to their next installation coming in August. Thanks to all who came out, and I hope you can all appreciate this moment of joy caught on camera, even if it’s not quite right for the Captain’s Report:

Semper Explorandum Explorers!