The hottest thing going in Fort Lauderdale this month is no doubt spring break.  But if you could pull yourself away from the surf and suds for a minute, you'd find there another attraction that at one time was a national phenomenom:

King Tut. 

The treasures of the Pharoah Tutankhamun are touring again, and they'll be in Ft. Lauderdale until April 23rd, followed by stops in Chicago, Philadelphia and London.  The first time this exhibit was in the U.S. it spurred a national craze--people flew in to Washington DC from around the country to stand in lines that went around the block. 

Today it still draws crowds, but even so it's not exactly emptying the beach.

Perhaps that's a good thing.  Now instead of ooohhing and ahhhing about all the gold, folks are engaging these relics on a deeper level, looking at them for what they say about ancient life and even modern faith.  

New times bring new perspectives.  For example, here's an article in today's Winston Salem Journal a rabbi notes the coincidence between the exhibit's current run and Passover this April.  The author raises questions few discussed openly during Tut Tour I, such as whether we should celebrate goods built on slave labor.

By contrast, here's a classic video from the 1970s, offering a nuanced analysis of commercialization: