1. The Museum of Northwest Art is located far away from Seattle. It's in La Conner. That is why it became exhausting for the very good Seattle-based arts administrator Tim Detweiler (this guy, here for several years) to continue in his job as director at MoNA. Detweiler is leaving MoNA after October 10, and will be consulting-while-parenting.

"Too much driving, not enough time with my kids," he wrote in an email. "I figured out that if I added up all of my driving over the past year and a half it was like driving 45 days straight!"

Would it be smart for the "Museum of Northwest Art" to relocate closer to the cities of the Northwest, where much of the art gets made and talked about? This question gets raised perennially and probably will not lead anywhere soon. I haven't done a full analysis, so all my thoughts at this point just lead to more questions.

2. Lois Harris, who's been Provost/VP of Academic Affairs at Cornish (sort of the president under the president) for 12 years, is retiring. I love this line from her bio: "Her teaching interests beyond music include Holocaust Studies and Ornithology."

On October 1, associate provost Jenifer Ward will take over as interim provost while a national search is conducted. Given Ward's extraordinary participation and vitality in the arts community in her five years here so far—she has collaborated on projects and writings, published her own book, organized some of the most memorable recent events at Cornish, and generally become the college's most visible and steady link to the visual art and artists in the city)—it would be best for all of us if that national search takes very seriously that the best candidate may be sitting in the next office over.