[Angela Reynolds] Okay, a day in the life since COVID-19.
On my way to work, guys.
We made it to the city in no time.
There's my beautiful building,
my historical landmark.
Coming into work, the Museum is absolutely empty.
There's a sadness,
because we're used to having our hallways and galleries filled
with people and laughter and picture taking.
We're in the Temple of Dendur and I can actually hear my echo.
That reality is just—bam—it kind of slaps you in the face.
[Angela] Hi, everybody!
[Room shouts hello]
[Angela] I work with four different departments: Horticulture, the Mason Shop,
the Paint Shop and Custodial.
They cover the 2.2 million square feet in here.
I think that they have an amazing responsibility.
People automatically think of essential
and they only think of nurses and doctors.
[C. Griffith Mann] We are just starting our rounds and our first task
is to feed the koi.
Alright, that's the fun part of the day.
[Angela Reynolds] People don't realize that they rely on us.
You have staff in the building, you're going to need Custodial people too.
It's just like playing the piano, like, you can
take a person who can play the piano.
No one ever thinks about the person who tweaks the piano.
We're the ones who make sure that you have a place to come to
to make your beautiful music.
When you realize you need a person,
that opens up a greater sense of respect and compassion.
Imagine how important that compassion would would be when you
are at your weakest point.
[violin music]
So, um, November 10th, 2019,
I got off the Long Island Railroad and I was
walking towards the escalator, and my foot clipped the top part
of the step. I hit the steel,
and I heard my skull crunch. There was a moment of nothingness,
like if you just take a deep breath and hold it, I was in that space.
I just started screaming, like, "Somebody help me. Someone help me,
please help me."
And, I'm sorry. I'm okay. But I'm sorry.
The healing process was the toughest, emotionally, psychologically.
I could not be in crowds. I couldn't even go in the galleries.
I couldn't go in the Great Hall.
I couldn't go anywhere.
It was too much for me to process.
The compassion that my staff gave me.
They were just there for me.
[mouse clicks] The lesson that I learned about myself was it's okay to need people.
Coming to work every day and seeing the employees here,
they're not just coming to work. They're actually showing up.
I think people are getting a real sense that Custodial is needed,
but that awareness of essential, and what it really means,
is bigger for them, rather than us
because our job is still the same.
[piano music]
[mouse clicks]
[Gretchen Rubin] So I'm hitting record. I see it going.
When I did my "Happiness Project,"
I wanted to do something in my everyday life to see if I could make myself happier.
But for my next big book project,
I wanted to find a way to shake myself awake.
I thought I want to go to The Met every single day and I want to see
how does my experience at The Metropolitan Museum change over time?
So I started 2020 going to The Met every single day that I was in New York City.
And what I started to do was to massively slow myself down.
I'm just going to look at every object.
I'm going to read all the signs.
When COVID-19 started skipping from continent to continent,
I was paying attention like everyone else.
The very day that I had decided that I wouldn't go back was
when The Met announced that they were closing.
I hadn't had sort of my farewell.
I hadn't gone with the idea of like, "Goodbye, Met,
until I see you on the other side."
[Applause] It's seven o'clock.
Can you hear the people clapping for the healthcare workers?
COVID-19 has meant so many dramatic changes in everyone's lives.
Now that we're doing social distancing,
our experience of other people has changed.
And a lot of people are having that hunger to be in a crowd.
Before the time of the pandemic, there was this special privilege for Members.
You get to go into The Met before anybody else did.
And that always seemed really exciting to me, to have it all to myself.
But now I have to say "empty Met" has no attraction for me.
What I want is crowded Met.
I would not have wanted the experience of the pandemic, but I feel like it has shaken me awake.
And one of the things that it's awakened me to is how ordinary things are becoming extraordinary.
If I could take a Van Gogh home and put it in my living room,
I don't think it would seem like a masterpiece the way that it does
if I go see it in The Met
and I'm with other people who made a special effort to come to this room to see this art object.
We all have to experience something together in order for it to achieve its true significance.
[mouse clicks]
(piano music)
[Hai-Hsin Huang] I've been living in New York for thirteen years,
but I always feel I'm an outsider.
I don't speak the language perfectly.
For me, drawing and painting is more
like my language.
Coming to Met, I feel really safe. Like, "Oh,
I'm home." The lobby and The Met entrance, to me,
is kind of like entering a night market.
You just see everyone waiting to enter somewhere, like different,
different spaces.
I made a bunch of drawings related to The Met,
and I made two books out of it,
and they are both in the collection of the library
of The Met.
Since I visit Met so much,
I didn't really necessarily look at art. Mostly I'm looking at visitors.
It's very inspiring because of the setting itself, it's like a stage already.
So people entering the space, it's like a theater.
The very first drawing I did from that book is of a fancy lady.
Their makeup and how they dress up
is so, so, so nice.
Now, because of the Coronavirus,
I look at my drawings like looking at old photos.
A big group of people all there together
was super normal, but now looking back at this I feel
germs, germs, germs everywhere!
I grew up in Taiwan. [There's] always some natural disaster—earthquake and typhoon.
So I always had that kind of sense of crisis.
In December, I came back to Taiwan to do my solo show,
and then the pandemic arrived.
So I'm temporarily stuck here.
I feel really sad, and I miss New York,
especially The Met and my routine.
But at the same time,
I also sometimes feel like, "Oh, Met closed, so I don't need to go back.
No rush. Once The Met opens I can go back."