Huffington Magazine Issue 60 | Page 33

Voices from Boulder, Colo., joined the discussion. Farida Sharan, as her students know her, loves rain. “The other day, I left the Guggenheim, and it was showering,” she told us, smiling broadly. “It was so lovely. I walked all the way back.” The rest of us weren’t quite on board. Mid-summer in New York tends to be wet, but this year has been particularly soggy. The mother of two explained that she brought a family-sized umbrella just in case. She wondered if she’d made a good parental decision, bringing her kids to an adult party. Beyond the initial choice, there were tricky calculations: whether to wake them up earlier in hopes of a shorter wait, or let them sleep and suffer the consequences. “The only other thing they’ve done like this was Disney World,” she said. “And that was a shorter line.” We inched forward. Matt told us about showing up the weekend before, naively thinking he might get in. It was 9 a.m. on a Saturday. He was told by a guard to expect to wait all day, though he’s a member. Apparently, where we were standing, by an egg sculpture, represents four hours to go. The mother became alarmed. I volunteered to suss out the numbers ahead. MALLIKA RAO In the promise land up front, I discovered a white rapper from Virginia. His management suggested he film a stealth music video in the Rain Room, which is why he was there, complete with a camera man, and stiff-billed hat. He was staying in Long Island; he’d woken up at 3 a.m. When I told him the 10-minute viewing time was just a suggestion, that rAndom International actually flew to New York to impress upon the MoMa that visitors should linger as long as they like (10 visitors at a time), he broke into relieved grins. “This video gon’ happen,” he told me. “Check out my YouTube page. I got two million views.” I decided not to tell my mom friend back in line that I’d just upped our wait time. Further back, two teachers on summer vacation told me they’d been offered triple the price of their member guest passes from people hoping to skip the general admission line. I pointed out the booth up front where anyone could spring for a membership on the spot. At $85 for a single person, that was a stiff fee just to see the Rain Room, but could be worth it if you’d buy the membership anyway. Plus you’d join the shorter line. The revelation an- HUFFINGTON 08.04.13