With the recommendation of several adults that I know, Arp and I took M into NYC last week to view Bodies: The Exhibition. Yes, we took a 4.5 year-old to view preserved, dissected, real human bodies. I actually thought M would really enjoy it. He has been very interested lately in both the human body, and in the concept of death. We have a book on the human body with lots of pictures of all the various systems and organs. We look at the pictures quite a lot. We’ve also had quite a few talks about what death is, what happens when you die, etc. When our cat died, Arp brought her home from the vet in the cat carrier. It was very important to M that he be allowed to go out and see her body, and to help Arp dig the hole and bury her. He handled it fine, which I am so glad about. So anyway, I thought he would be very interested in Bodies. I was right.

Since we had a general plan of going to eat in Chinatown after the Bodies exhibit, we decided to park our car near our departure point. So we parked in Chinatown and took the Subway to South Street Seaport, the location of Bodies. M loves riding the train, something he doesn’t get to do very often. Usually when I think of riding the train, I remember the depressing rides to work that I used to take on the A-train when we lived in NYC a few years back. Hundreds of unhappy people, their dour faces pretending they were alone in their misery. But riding the train with M is another story entirely. He gets so excited about it that I manage to block out those old memories of the hellish morning commute.

Here is Arp and M as we arrive at South Street Seaport.

Before we head into the exhibit, we stopped to look at all the historic ships parked at the Seaport. We talked about how some aspects of the ships are very similar to the pirate ships that he loves.

We see this boat sailing far off in the Hudson. Is it a sloop? I’m not sure. But it’s a fairly small ship, so I tell M that it might be similar to a ship that pirates would have used. We learned in a book last year that many pirates used smaller ships, like sloops or the next size up, because of easier maneuverability and the ability to hide in smaller rivers or inlets.

As I was editing the pictures for this entry, I asked M for his input on picture choice. He insisted on including a picture of the anchor on this boat. He also insisted on doing some photo editing himself. I sometimes use Photoshop for the fancy editing, but I was using some nifty light filters in ACDSee this time (they have some easy adjustment bars that were fantastic for toning down the hazy glare in this batch of pictures). M really enjoyed editing the shadows in this picture:

And here we go in to the Bodies Exhibit.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any more pictures from the inside of the actual exhibit. They don’t allow photography. My description will have to suffice. It was fantastic! All of us absolutely loved it. Although it was kind of expensive, it was worth it. I doubt very much that I will ever again get to see the inside of the human body in this detailed way. And it wasn’t just an exhibit showing organs alone. True, that would have been interesting in itself. But they also had exhibits, for instance, showing just the circulatory system. Suspended in water and lit from below, the entire circulatory system in all its’ beauty. It was awe-inspiring.

Although the exhibition was overall rather upbeat, two parts of it made me a little sad. One was an exhibit that showed the effects of some very late-stage breast cancer. I’m guess the person must have been from a place with no available medical care, as obviously, no treatment had been given to this person. The caption explained that we almost never see these kind of effects from breast cancer anymore since most people undergo some form of treatment for the disease. I just felt kind of sad thinking about generations past, when cancer was so misunderstood, talked about in hushed tones, and untreated. A death from that sort of disease must have been horrible, even more horrible than a death from cancer is today.

The other part of the exhibit that made me a little sad, but also amazed and appreciative, was the room of fetuses and babies. They showed all the stages of fetal life, from just a few cells to 30+ weeks. It was truly amazing, and I almost wished that I was pregnant so that I could really see the stages going on inside myself. This takes A Child Is Born" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html_3FASIN=038533754X_26tag=tinygrass-20_26lcode=xm2_26cID=2025_26ccmID=165953_26location=/o/ASIN/038533754X_253FSubscriptionId=1N9AHEAQ2F6SVD97BE02_br_/_A_Child_Is_Born?referer=');">A Child Is Born to a whole other level. But seeing some of the late-stage babies was hard for me. I could see their little faces and I couldn’t help but wonder why they had died, or why their mother had died.

After viewing the fetal exhibit, Arp and I both said to each other the same thing – that the exhibit had made us question at what point we would consider having an abortion. Let me make this clear – Arp and I are both pro-choice. Seeing these real fetuses did not at any time make me question my belief that women should have the choice. Deciding to continue a pregnancy is a very personal decision. This exhibit just made me wonder whether I would be comfortable aborting, and at what point. Actually, as far as a six week old fetus, I’d say it confirmed my feeling that I’d have little hesitation in having an abortion at that time if the need arose. Beyond that, I was thoughtful. I think it’s funny how the anti-abortion activists parade around their pictures of aborted fetal tissue, like they are going to suddenly turn someone like me into a pro-lifer. My experiences at the exhibition show that it is possible to take away the propaganda – just a woman, her capable brain, and the science – and I was able to really think about a decision the we all have to wrestle with, at least hypothetically.

After Bodies, we headed back to Chinatown. First we stopped for some ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I had one of my favorites, green tea ice cream. It was fabulous.

After eating ice cream, we walked around and did some shopping. The highlight for M was probably buying a pink sword. Arp and I hesitated in buying it for him. We don’t generally have weapons in our house. But M loves pirates, and I felt he was old enough to understand how to be careful with it, and not hurt others. In fact, that was the deal we struck in buying it. He has mostly kept to his end of the bargain. The most exciting thing and Arp and I discovered was in a candy shop. Candy-coated chocolate sunflower seeds. They are basically tiny M&Ms, but with sunflower seeds in the center. They are actually far superior to M&Ms. Actually, since they have a sunflower seed in the center, they are more like peanut M&Ms, but not overly sweet. They are nutty and crunchy and delicious. Arp is going to head back there this week and buy a few pounds of them. I think they would be great as a homemade cookie topping.

And finally, we headed to the Vegetarian Dim Sum House for a light dinner before heading home. Yum. There is no Chinese food even close to this quality and taste in upstate NY. I must go back.