This email exchange happened between myself and my dean at the college. Not only does it sum up my Monday night but I’m pretty sure it’s a metaphor for my life:

Hi A—-

I am very embarrassed to report that my entire class and several guests were trapped in the lab 2 elevator for almost an hour tonight. We had to call police services, who in turn had to call the fire department and the elevator repair folks. No one was hurt, or seemed upset, and police services are filing an incident report.

My class was divided into groups to make site specific paper installations as an in-class exercise. One group used the elevator as their site and requested that we all get in, ride up a floor and come back down. Well, we rode up to the first floor and came back down to the basement without incident but then the elevator doors would only open several inches. We were instructed by police services not to pry open the doors, which we didn’t, and patiently waited for almost an hour for help to arrive.

I am truly sorry and incredibly embarrassed. I take full responsibility for my poor decision. Please let me know who else I should be apologizing to for wasting school resources and time, and if there are any other actions I can take to rectify the situation. I will be in the studio tomorrow at 4pm if you’d like to talk in person.

Sincerely apologetic,

Judy

Response:

Judy,

I’m sorry to hear that the malfunction of mechanical features of the campus had such an impact on your class, but please keep in mind that it was a malfunction of mechanical features. I don’t see how that is your fault, and I wouldn’t go looking to place blame anyway. I’m just happy that you were all able to survive the hour without further incident. Is there a silver lining anywhere? Did the class get to know each other better? Did installation art become an inspiration for performance art? At any rate, I’m glad you’re okay.

A—-

Response:

Thanks, A—-, for your support. I think we may have been past the elevator’s weight capacity, which is what caused the malfunction. But Oh! The Silver lining is so sweet… I think every class should be trapped in a small, confined space for an hour without means of escape. It truly provides a great bonding experience. At one point while trapped, a student told the rest of us (in jest) to stop laughing because it was contributing to the rising temperature in the elevator. I think we learned a lesson in art as social experimentation. Some of the students have already emailed saying they had the best Monday night ever. Anyway, please let me know if it does become a problem and I should apologize to anyone else; I know that every time the fire department is called to school it costs several hundred dollars.

Best,

Judy

Response:

Again, I don’t think apologies are necessary. It sounds like a good learning experience.

-A—

Yes, this is my life. Can I really complain? I learn something new every day. At least it makes a good story.