Looking over the rental application from a potential tenant, I noticed that she, a Maine School of Art student, had gone from working for the Portland Museum of Art to working in a coffee shop. Curious about this move, from an organization that appeared to align with her interest and studies, I asked for an explanation. Her one-word answer: “Benefits!”

Though pleased to have a tenant with such practical priorities, and delighted to hear that many of our coffee shops are enlightened employers, I puzzled over the fact that a purveyor of high culture would not routinely care for the health of all of its employees. Doubtless the museum figures that the savings from withholding health care would be better deployed on acquiring a new piece of fine art. What strange priorities. Shame on the rich people who sit on the elite board of the PMA for not caring more for the people who make the organization run!

Clearly, if any institution needed a union, it is the PMA. What a sad pass we have come to as a community to see that one of our treasured institutions needs to be coerced into righteous behavior.

Sive Neilan
Portland