a brief interlude of sensational experience

Fukushima and Disasters of Centuries Past

2011-11-20T10:38:00.001-05:00

In today's Washington Post, there is an article about the large-scale abandonment of areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that occurred after March's nuclear accident. The article focuses on the disaster's effect on the region's cattle industry, but also mentions how the sudden human abandonment left the area "frozen in time." Because of health risks associated with exposure to radiation, an area of about 12 miles surrounding the plant will probably have to remain abandoned for decades.

It's sad to see how many lives have been ruined by the earthquake-precipitated accident. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be removed from a place that is your home, and lose your business to boot. However, the situation did make me recall several archaeological examples of large-scale abandonment. Probably the best known example is Pompeii, buried under a thick layer of ash from an AD 79 volcanic eruption. A similar example from Ceren, El Salvador, reveals the wealth of information that can be gleaned from rapid abandonment and preservation due to volcanic eruption. The Makah village of Ozette in northwest Washington, buried under a mudslide in about 1700, was also well-preserved and and a fruitful project for investigating continuities in Makah cultural identity.

Plaza area at Aguateca

Yet some examples of abandonment are not linked to an obvious natural disaster. For example, the Maya site of Aguateca in Guatemala was burned (probably due to warfare) and abandoned at some point during the late classic period (AD 600-830), its residents leaving household materials in the process of use. This example is especially poignant when compared to the area surrounding the Fukuskima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Both are examples of how cultural as well as natural disasters can lead to sudden regional abandonment, but also provide a unique glimpse at household practices. While advanced technology like nuclear power - a cultural adaptation - fuels a complex, inter-connected world, it does not remove our vulnerability to natural and culturally-precipitated disasters.

Sources:

Inomata, Takeshi and Laura R. Stiver. 1998. Floor Assemblages from Burned Structures at Aguateca, Guatemala: A Study of Classic Maya Households. Journal of Field Archaeology 25(4):431-452.

McKee, Brian R. 2002. Household archaeology and cultural formation processes: Examples from the Ceren site, El Salvador. In The Archaeology of Household Activities, Ed. Penelope M. Allison, 30-42. London: Routledge.

Wessen, Gary. 1990. Prehistory of the Ocean Coast of Washington. In Handbook of American Indians, vol. 7: Northwest Coast, ed. Wayne Suttles, 412-421. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Honoring the Dead

2011-11-18T18:30:00.001-05:00

I'm back! The past three months have been a whirlwind - moving (back) to Williamsburg, starting graduate school, and wedding planning - and somewhere along the way blogging got left in the dust. Yet my mind has been brimming with thoughts and ideas, so here we go --

Recently, I've spent a lot of time thinking about my academic specialty and career in general. While I have always loved being in school, life as a graduate student has certainly made me question my desire to get a PhD and pursue an academic career. I suppose it's easy to idealize working or being in school from the other side of the fence - I certainly did when I was working full time. This semester has been full of frustrations - fear of failure (or fear of just adequacy), a struggle to fit into an academic environment as a grad student, and efforts to maintain balance between "work" and "home". All the same, I've at least reached an understanding of some academic interests (those pidgenholed "research interests" on a CV...) and tentitve ideas for my thesis.

Archaeological discovery of a human burial

As some of my readers will remember, I spent much of my "year off" working in repatriation, the return of human remains and objects to claimant Native American Tribes. When I returned to William and Mary for graduate school this fall, I decided to take a class in human skeletal biology. The inordinate amount of excitement I had for this class - which consisted of learning to identify and analyze in basic ways the bones of the human body - started the turning of the gears...

In contemporary archaeology, you generally don't want to find burials. Human bones mean paperwork, politics, and controversy, especially if they turn out to be the remains of Native Americans. But I've realized over the past few months that sometimes the best way to mitigate controversies is to understand them, to be well versed in mortuary practices and skeletal biology so that when issues arise - whether in museum repatriation, construction projects, or academic archaeology - you are prepared to reach a compromise between the prerogatives of different communities.

From Written in Bone

Let's face it: we (Americans) don't like to talk about death. It's the unknown, the uncertain (and in the case of zombies, the seriously frightening). In some cultures, talking about death is taboo. Yet for others - the Hispanic celebration of the Day of the Dead, for example - family members revisit the graves of the dead as a way of remembering their lives. As Americans, we see great importance in honoring those who have gone before us, especially those who died tragically or in military conflicts, as revealed in recent controversies about Arlington Cemetery, the Air Force (and this), and the placement of the remains of 9-11 victims in a public memorial museum. But it's important to remember that culturally, we understand death, burial, and memory in very different ways - hence the reason why the remains of early Euro-American settlers can be displayed in a museum while it would be unacceptable (today) to display Native American remains in a similar way.

I see the study of the dead as an important way to honor those who have come before us, by remembering their lives. Just think about it.

Remembering those who died on 9-11

A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp

2011-08-05T12:35:00.001-04:00

Unlike cadeaux, swamps are not generally thought pleasant things. William Byrd II, the famous Virginian diarist, certainly didn't think they were pleasant at all; during a surveying expedition establishing the border between the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, he called a large intermittent swampy area the Great Dismal Swamp. And, after a week in that swamp, I can definitely see why.

Edge of the Great Dismal Swamp, along a 20th century canal

In June, I spent a week volunteering with American University's field school in the Great Dismal Swamp. It was a pretty incredible experience, specially for someone who's used to urban archaeology, or simply arid archaeology. Swamps are wet, muddy, and full of all kinds of critters: turtles, frogs, snakes, mosquitoes, bears, flies, deer, you name it. Who on earth would want to live in a swamp?

The study area is just over the border into North Carolina

In the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, escaped slaves, also known as maroons, formed communities in largely inaccessible places like the Great Dismal Swamp. These maroon societies functioned apart from the rest of the world, their inhabitants making use of objects left by previous Native American occupation, or whatever they could carry into the swamp themselves. Though it's hard to imagine living in a swamp, it was worth it to these people. They risked their lives in order to escape from slavery, then again to find their way to communities in the swamp. It really says something about how much they valued liberty.

A black bear got into the supplies during the night

The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study (GDSLS) is focused on documenting the occupational history of the swamp, primarily the eighteenth century. There's not a whole lot of heavy-duty digging - features are pretty shallow in the soil. However, this was certainly the most detailed screening I've ever encountered at a site. While screening with 1/4" mesh is common, and 1/8" mesh is used for feature fill, the GDSLS uses 1/16" mesh for all but the uppermost "root cap" layer. Additionally, they run a magnet over the screens before dumping the organic material. Both of these methods help to catch smaller artifacts like small pieces of metal or a flake that would otherwise be lost.

Getting ready to hike out of the swamp at the end of the day

This was definitely one of the coolest projects I've worked on. Just hiking in and out of the swamp in waders and snake chaps - and digging with the snake chaps still on - was an adventure. It was also an great opportunity to understand just what people were willing to put up with in order to gain freedom on their own terms. So while I can understand William Byrd II's attribution, especially pre-bug repellent, I didn't find the swamp dismal at all. I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

before-it-was-Virginia Heritage: Wade Site

2011-07-23T20:29:00.004-04:00

I got up obscenely early (as in, before 5am) on a Monday morning in June, packed up my car, and drove down to Longwood University's campus in Farmville. From there, I joined a caravan to the site house, then onto the Randy K. Wade Site in Randolph, Virginia. Archaeologists and field school students from Longwood have been excavating at the Wade Site for over ten years, which has allowed them to amass a huge amount of data on the Native Americans who lived there from about AD 900-1425. They also conduct their research in consultation with Sappony Indian Tribe of Virginia and North Carolina (which I find especially exciting).

Geographic location of the Wade Site, 44CH62, in Charlotte County, Virginia

This year, the field school opened an 8x8 meter unit (note: this is a pretty large area, but manageable with 20 eager diggers). I volunteered during the third of four weeks, when they were cleaning up the lower portions of the plow zone (natural or cultural fill disturbed by plowing, usually a couple feet deep) and beginning to define the outline of features (cultural deposits like pits, postholes, and hearths). They drew plan maps of their features on Friday morning and started excavating them in the afternoon. I wish I could have stuck around for the rest of the field school to see how feature excavation went!

The block had dozens of features - we're looking at some pretty dense occupation here!

Since my experience in prehistoric archaeology has primarily been in the southwest, this week was a great opportunity to experience Mid Atlantic/Southeastern material culture. Since the site was probably an island on the Staunton River during its prehistoric inhabitation, there was a lot of fish bone, turtle bone and shell, and riverine shell. Additional artifacts included ceramics and lithics - both projectile points and debitage/flakes (the "byproducts" of stone tool production). There were also some human remains uncovered - as I understand it, not an uncommon occurrence for this site. Longwood archaeologists and Sappony leaders have consulted and worked out a procedure for the partial excavation of human remains and associated funerary objects - after which all materials are reburied. I found this agreement particularly interesting (and promising), especially considering the sensitivity of such issues.


Discussing the context and treatment of human remains at the site

Despite the incredible heat, my week with Longwood's field school was a really great experience. They were a very hospitable group and I really enjoyed spending time with everyone both on and off-site. Guess this is what it's like being in the (real) South!

Virginia Heritage: Colchester

2011-07-20T22:29:00.002-04:00

Digging is one of my favorite Saturday pastimes. After spending a long week in the stuffy, air-conditioned office, it's wonderful to spend a day in the fresh air. However hot, it's a pleasant way to decompress and (quite literally) get my hands dirty.

While in past years I've spent many Saturdays volunteering with Alexandria Archaeology at the Shuter's Hill site by Old Town Alexandria's Masonic monument, this February I started volunteering with the Colchester Archaeological Research Team (or CART) in southeastern Fairfax County. CART focuses on the excavation of both historic and prehistoric site components on county-owned land around the Occoquan River and the Mason Neck. I've spent a few fun Saturdays excavating at the historic tobacco port town of "Old Colchester," which is located just across the river from Occoquan. The town dates primarily to the second half of the eighteenth century and though there's only one original structure left, there's a wealth of history underground. It's still early on in the project - it seems like every time I'm there the team has found a new mystery structure or soil anomaly. I definitely recommend checking out CART's blog if you're interested in following the excavations.

An especially fun unit I was working on back in April - I think they eventually had to saw out this tree/root

Since I be moving back to Williamsburg for grad school next month, I won't have as many free Saturdays in Northern Virginia. However, I look forward to continued volunteer days with CART and Alexandria Archaeology during breaks!

Weekends

2011-06-05T23:49:00.001-04:00

...probably my favorite part about working, rather than being in school! Since it's been a while, I wanted to share a couple photos and stories from the past few weekends.

I went down to Williamsburg for Class of 2011 graduation - so much fun! It's hard to believe that they are all grown up.

I got to spend time with a lot of friends that weekend, including Shoop and Stephen :) Saturday evening included some Magic Hat #9, Harry Potter 7.1, and a fun German train game.

Paul enjoys home cooked meals...except this one! I put a little too much cayenne in my cajun chicken and penne, thus the tears.

I got plants! I bought Basil (pronounced Bah-zul) the basil plant Mothers' day weekend, and then Paul and I got Tom the tomato plant and Holly the jalapeno plant at a farmers market a few weeks later. Basil has gotten several significant haircuts already for some delicious pesto :)

Paul and I also went to NJ for memorial day weekend...and this weekend we helped my dad fell a tree. What's next? This week I'm headed down south to Clover, VA to join Longwood University's archaeological field school for the week. After that I'll be driving down for a week doing archaeology at the Great Dismal Swamp with American University's field school. I'm really excited for the opportunity to work at these sites, and enjoy those humid Virginia summer days.

Virginia Heritage: Menokin

2011-04-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have noticed that I occasionally disappear Monday-Thursday. This is why! I've been working on an archaeological project at Menokin, a site near Warsaw, Virginia. It's not your typical ground-truthing project: we're actually excavating rubble from a house, part of which is still standing.

Menokin's northeast corner

Menokin, the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee (signer of the Declaration of Independence and brother of Richard Henry Lee) and his wife Rebecca Tayloe, was built around 1769. It was inhabited until the 1930s, after which it fell into disrepair. The Menokin Foundation would like to rebuild the mansion with structural glass. This would protect but still show architectural elements of the house, and be a great way to teach about historic architecture. DATA Investigations has been excavating rubble from Menokin, room by room, since 2006 (I believe). During this field season, we cleared out a large portion of the southeast cellar room, and rubble around the exterior. My job? I screened a lot of dirt, and found a lot of nails and window glass. Doesn't sound particularly exciting, but it's fun to see the progress we're making on the project - especially when the weather's as beautiful as it was this past week!

We reached the floor!

My time at Menokin, interestingly enough, lined up with the liturgical season of Lent. The first week of the season, I rushed home from a dusty day of excavation to shower and go to Ash Wednesday Mass - where I was reminded that I am dust. It's a sobering thought, and not one that is easy to forget while working at Menokin.

The backdirt pile (or "mountain") - it's even bigger now!

This coming week I will be working down in Gloucester at the Fairfield Foundation. I'll be gone from Northern Virginia, but should have slightly better access to the internet!

Virginia Heritage: Buckland

2011-04-17T22:57:00.002-04:00

I'm still alive! I've just been running helter-skelter across the state, and into D.C. and Maryland as well. This past Thursday/Friday I voyaged to Williamsburg to go apartment hunting with my former-and-future roomie, Angela. I will be returning to William and Mary as an MA student in the fall - and I cannot express how happy I will be to live in Williamsburg (and to live with Angela) again!

Springtime in CW

I have been working and volunteering at several archaeological sites over the past few months, so I thought I'd devote one blog entry to each. All the sites I've been working at lately are "historic" sites, which means that he written record, in addition to archaeology, is used to study the past. Hopefully by the end of the summer, I'll have at least one Virginia prehistoric site to write about!

Broad Run and the Buckland Mill

I spent several weeks working with a team of archaeologists at Buckland in Prince William County. (For more information see: Buckland Preservation Society). Built alongside Broad Run, the small town of Buckland was established in 1798. By around 1830 it home to a large distillery and a grist (flour) mill, among many other buildings. Today there are several historic structures still standing - including the old mill, a former post office converted into a residence, and a tavern. There are additional buildings across Rt. 29 as well.

Our job was to carry out survey testing in the hopes of locating the distillery. We dug shovel tests - about 1x1 foot round holes, about 1-3 feet deep - to determine stratigraphy (soil layers) and artifact type/density. We didn't find the distillery (well, probably not), but we did find a lot of interesting "junk" from multiple centuries, from old pottery and oyster shells to industrial 19th century iron to old buckets and chunks of cement. Further investigation north of the mill shed light onto the foundations of another structure - perhaps a woolen mill mentioned in documents. Since much of the surveyed land was in a floodplain, cultural deposits have been obscured by seasonal and hundred-year floods. Sounds like ground penetrating radar (GPR), other remote sensing, or geoarchaeology may be in Buckland's future!

A shovel test reveals a foundation

This coming week I'll be working at Menokin, on Virginia's Northern Neck. I'm looking forward to some great digging weather!

Weddings and Womanhood

2011-03-19T16:29:00.001-04:00

Over the past few months, I've learned a whole lot about wedding to-dos and taboos. From an anthropological perspective, it's interesting to pick apart the traditions - the veil, the white dress, a father giving his daughter away, the size of the engagement ring and wedding. But for the most part, I see most of these traditions as cultural survivals - non-functional practices that once had a purpose in past society. I mean, look at white maternity wedding dresses - need I say more? But regardless of function, weddings are just something you have to do.

I must admit that I'm not a big fan of wedding planning. I've never been one of those girls who dreams of her wedding day - and certainly not about a dress, flowers, or table settings. Growing up with two brothers, I spent a lot of my childhood in the woods building forts and making mud-pies, or playing dinosaurs vs. transformers (or reaching potatoes vs. frogberries). I spent the past two weeks excavating the ruins of an 18th century mansion - with my bare (ok, sometimes gloved) hands, one bucket of rubble at a time. For the longest time, I hated the idea of being feminine. If someone said I'd make a good housewife all they would receive in return was the classic Laura scowl.

At some point in college I came to terms with being a woman. It had nothing to do with wearing pink, shopping for bras, or putting on makeup and everything to do with loving, caring, and giving of myself in a uniquely feminine way. I love to cook, bake, and host small gathering with friends. I love to take care of people, listening to their woes and sharing in their joys. I am ecstatic about marrying Paul and God willing, having children in a few years. To me, this is what it means to be woman - though I recognize that to each woman, femininity means something a little different.

If only everyone else understood. Dresses, flowers, and table settings - that one day - are all ephemeral. I have a good man who loves me, and on our wedding day we will make promises to each other and to God. That's what matters. That's what I'm excited about. That's what I'll plan for.

Where is Four Corners, really?

2011-02-24T23:44:00.002-05:00

I visited the Four Corners monument on a family vacation in 2004, then again in October 2010. It's not much to see - you pay three dollars per person to take your picture at a very ostentatious monument that's located on Navajo tribal land. (Not until after the second visit did I discover the joys of frybread.) This place is in the middle of nowhere. Really, I mean it.

The middle of Nowhere (actually a nice place to visit)

Since the 2004 trip, I had heard rumors that the monument was actually misplaced when initial surveying was done in the 19th century. When Paul and I were driving through the area last October, my GPS placed the monument squarely in New Mexico. As I was doing some of my geography reading a few weeks ago, Four Corners flashed into my mind.

Since Earth has a very irregular shape, geodicists (people who study the Earth's shape) create models called ellipsoids to make calculating geographic locations easier. When a new ellipsoid called GRS 80 replaced the previously-used Clarke 1866 ellipsoid, the geographic coordinates for specific locations changed, usually between 10 and 100 meters. But when I thought a little harder, I realized that this would in no way explain the supposed 2.5 mile discrepancy in the location of Four Corners. So I did a google search, and found this article from the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), vehemently defending the accurate location of the monument.

I searched for the geographic coordinates, converted them to decimal degrees, and created the Mercator projection below showing the location of Four Corners.

Penn State Oneline GIS Education, 2011.

Next I checked google maps:

And there it is - right where it's supposed to be! I suppose I really should believe the NGS after all. And I suppose that means that even though Paul and I did not take any epic hail-showering voyages through Utah, he has, in fact, set foot in the state. Or at least, on sovereign tribal land that just happens to fall in the state of Utah...

Oh Paul. You would.

Sojourner

2011-02-06T22:14:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks have been almost Colleen Earp-esque. In the past nine days, I've been to seven states and the District. That's a lot of places. Yet somehow, I haven't felt like an itinerant (or a Soujourner, if you prefer) as much as I have in the past. Perhaps I've gotten used to this roving lifestyle - or maybe I've learned to think of home as a state of being rather than a place.

Thursday: Virginia to Maryland (my daily commute to work). Maryland to Virginia (my daily commute home). Virginia to Maryland (drove with Mom and Dad to my brother's house in Annapolis, to drop off our furry golden friends). Maryland to Pennsylvania (drove to Harrisburg, where we stopped for dinner). Harrisburg to Selinsgrove (Grandma's, where we stopped for the night).

Friday: Pennsylvania to Michigan (it snowed the whole way), where we stayed for a couple days with my brother (the other one) and sister-in-law (and their two adorable kids). Favorite memory: playing with my niece Kiera, who, like any respectable four-year-old, has inexhaustible energy. I'm pretty sure I changed gender and/or species a number of times during our "adventures" (and that was just over about an hour!)

(The next) Saturday: Virginia to New Jersey (with Paul, of course) for a family get-together, which was thankfully not snowed out this time. I must say, Paul's family is pretty awesome. My fondness for New Jersey has grown over the past few years, which is good, as I seem to spend a lot of weekends there.

Sometimes it's a relief to know that for the next few days, all I have to do is cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge into work, then back again in the evening. All the same, it's pretty amazing that over the past two weekends, I have seen almost the entirety of my dad's side of the family, and Paul's mom's side of the family. And that's kind of cool.

Mom and Dad pose in the frigid western Pennsylvania snow

That's all the profundity I can manage for right now. I'm pretty worn out...must be time for another work week.

a brief interlude of sensational experience

2011-01-25T21:35:00.004-05:00

I felt bold on leaving Concord, but I confess I find New York rough and strange, and myself strange in it. Mrs. Kirk believes I am here for a brief interlude of sensational experience before succumbing to a matrimonial fate...but I hope that any experience I gain will be strictly literary.
- Jo, Little Women (film)

When I began writing this blog two years ago, I laughed to myself about the specific context of the title. I had just been on a first date - the first date I'd been on in long time. And as much as I liked the guy, I was eagerly anticipating a semester in Guatemala. Well, we went on a second date (I really, really liked this guy) and four days later I boarded a southbound plane. When I got off the plane four months later, he was there with flowers, waiting for me. And that was the fifth time in my life that I had ever seen him.

Sometimes I smile when I think about all those early memories. The first weekend we met (and this was on a church retreat, mind you), when we stayed up late just sharing funny stories - I'll never forget the image of a tiny Kevin (his brother) climbing a dinosaur at a museum. Four months later, when we got artery-clogging burgers at Five Guys and talked until dark. And six months after that, when he took me out to my first brewpub - and gave me my first hangover (which mostly just shows that I was a lightweight). Before he was my boyfriend, he was my good friend. And before being my fiance, he was (and is) my best friend. I could not ask for a better man and a better life's companion.

So I must admit (as would Jo, I’m sure), that I’m glad my experience has not been “strictly literary.” My grandma keeps telling me that I need to quench my adventuresome spirit and settle down. But I know, as does Paul, that I will never be done having adventures. Only, from now on, they will ours – our simple days, our struggles, our joys – our adventures.

Holiday Highlights

2011-01-05T20:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! I feel a little better now that we're caught up with holiday greetings. It's been an exciting, crazy, and fun holiday season but somehow I'm very glad that things are winding back down...I've had plenty of days of a full stomach, given my liver enough of a workout (I neglect it shamefully sometimes), and eaten my fair share of tasty desserts.

Psyched to go to Narnia again, in our 1940s gear!

Some holiday highlights: None of the four dogs assembled at home got into the turkey neck, mashed potatoes, or cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. They (or rather their dander) did prove a formidable enemy to Paul's sinuses on Christmas, though. Maybe I should buy stock in benadryl... I had a fun weekend in Williamsburg to celebrate Gaudete Mass (third week of Advent, Gaudete means "rejoice") and finally got to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Narnia #5 or #3, depending on how you're counting. I spent about a week in New Jersey with Paul's family - the first few days were intentional, and the rest were the result of the crazy post-Christmas blizzard that dropped over two feet of snow in the area. All the same, the Masurs proved lovely company, especially due to their tolerance of my love of "boring" historical films. I actually made it to a few daily Masses, and Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve was beautiful (I don't care what you said about the music, family, it was awesome). And for the big news, my brother Chris and his girlfriend Katie got engaged on Christmas Eve - congratulations!

I headed back to work this week - not as an intern, but a contractor in the Repatriation Department of the NMAI. I'm very excited to be spending the next four months in the office. Especially since I've discovered the bountiful Smithsonian library system.

Twenty Years

2010-12-20T12:50:00.001-05:00

Please forgive my long hiatus. It has been a busy month, between state-hopping, holidays, job-searching and grad school applications. I'm currently enjoying a relaxing stay with Paul's family in New Jersey. My Christmas shopping is done (well, almost), my gifts are wrapped, and I'm getting a good rest before the baking-and-wrapping extravaganza that will be Wednesday and Thursday. Come mid-January I will be starting a post-graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (yay!). In the coming weeks and months I hope to have official news about jobs and graduate school.

In a previous post, I outlined the basics of repatriation and legislation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) Act. In honor of the 20th anniversary of NAGPRA, George Washington University held a symposium in mid-November. Those two days were an illuminating experience, revealing the deep hurt difficult conflicts that are an inevitable part of the repatriation process. Scientists, curators, and Native Americans spoke of their divergent experiences and perspectives. It was a very moving experience - an chance to see human faces rather than the simply sherds and bones and dirt of archaeology.

The difficult: The sorrow of Native people whose continued efforts have been unsuccessful. The hurt that has a place, even in successful repatriations. The yet unresolved disagreements between scientists and Native people. The inspiring: Beginning and ending each day with prayer. Inspiring stories. Academics and curators with the courage to admit wrong practices. The opportunity to learn from the experience of so many others.

I continue to be glad that I decided to take time off before grad school. I am learning so much from these unique opportunities, things I most certainly would have missed had I decided to push on through. As I anticipate returning to the hotbed of academic theory and thought, I do not want to forget the human faces - the the human experience that unites us all, regardless of time period, culture, or language.

National Museum of the American Indian

Fear and Sorrow

2010-11-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

I got back from Mass this morning and browsed through the Post. The metro section was open; at the bottom of the page I spotted an article about William and Mary. As I read, thoughts flashed through my mind. When I was visiting campus several weeks ago, a good friend had told me about the recent suicide. Sorrowful happenings like these rock even the strongest community - she told me that people had been struggling, crying, sorrowful about this student's death.

The article highlighted different schools' efforts to detect depression and prevent suicide - high-stress and high-achievement schools like Cornell, MIT, and NYU, or W&M, where "your best isn't good enough since 1693" (to quote a popular phrase at the College). To say that I'm not surprised sounds cold and unfeeling; I promise that these are not my sentiments. What I mean to say is, I understand. I know that place.

Last year (2009) was the most difficult of my life thus far, though it was also a year of joy and beauty. About two weeks into the year I flew to Guatemala for a much-anticipated study abroad experience. Yet while I was visiting ancient Maya sites, tutoring children in math, and diving into lessons in Guatemalan Spanish, I sunk into the depression that comes from absence; the absence of loved ones, familiar places, and human intimacy - the touch of a hand, an embrace, a knowing smile. When I returned home, the difficulties did not disappear, but were replaced with new ones. The beginning of my senior year at William and Mary, I was struggling with health issues I did not understand, and a recent breakup with a man I love dearly. September I was hospitalized with an abscess; in October I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Yet through all this, I was striving to maintain my GPA, to apply for jobs and volunteer opportunities after college, fulfill leadership roles in multiple organizations; to be a friend. But I never felt that my efforts were enough; this was not an excuse to let my grades slip, or to not give all my effort and energy to campus organizations. I cannot imagine getting through those months without the love and support of my friends and family - from my roommates to my campus ministers to my parents.

In the face difficult times, or even the seemingly small difficulties of everyday life - depression does happen. To struggle with it doesn't mean you're weak, or that you are worthless, or that you are not loved. And it certainly doesn't mean you're alone. I don't want anyone to be deceived; to think that my generally lighthearted entries mark a life without fear or sorrow. Each person bears heavy struggles through his life, too often silently and alone.

In memory of Whitney Mayer, who I never knew, or met. For all those who feel alone, who bear their struggles silently. In thanksgiving for every single person who brought light and joy to my dark times.

Days at the Museum

2010-11-13T10:26:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe - I'm already halfway through my internship at the Smithsonian. It's been a fun five weeks so far, full of museums and behind-the-scenes collections tours...and, you know, work.

Posing with Kari and Carrie

A couple weeks ago, I was walking with a few of my coworkers over to the Museum Support Center (MSC), and we caught sight of the above vehicle. I guess it was some kind of advertising ploy (I forget the website the was written on the back) - but this van was pimped out with all kinds of halloween/graveyard-style stuff. I believe it was called the "Vanadu."

Enjoying preserved organics!

In a previous post, I regaled you with the story of our tour of the NMAI's collections. That day we primarily went through the ethnographic collections, which contains items acquired from people (not excavated) over the past hundred years or so. Since then, I've also had the opportunity to look around the archaeological collections, which includes artifacts that are thousands of years old. We looked through collections from a dry cave in Arkansas, which mean preserved organic material - baskets, bags, bones, seeds, wood - all still intact after thousands of years in the ground. It's pretty darn awesome.

With old exhibit props

Finally, I had the much-awaited tour of Natural History's Museum Support Center - also known as "where they keep the Ark". I must say, they have some pretty cool stuff from all over the world. Chinese opium pipes. A million-year-old (and proto-human made) hand axe. One of the Easter Island heads. Mesoamerican sculpture. Parkas made from seal gut. Old exhibit props. Both of the collections buildings in Suitland (NMAI and NMNH) were built during the 1990s, and are truly state-of-the-art facilities. I'm glad that the Smithsonian is taking good care of the world's treasures.

I didn't find the Ark. Maybe I should keep a look out for secretive-looking black cars pulling through the wrought iron gates...

Natural History's Museum Support Center

The Streets of Manhattan

2010-11-08T18:31:00.014-05:00

Keep your splendid, silent sun;
Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods;
Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and orchards;
Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-month bees hum;
Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms incessant and endless along the trottoirs!
Give me interminable eyes! give me women! give me comrades and lovers by the thousand!
Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones by the hand every day
Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan!
-"Give me the Splendid, Silent Sun," Walt Whitman

This past Friday we took an intern field trip (yes, intern field trips again!) to New York City. As part of the internship at the National Museum of the American Indian, we visited the original museum - the George Gustav Heye Center - in New York. Housed in the old marble-columned commerce building, it has a very different atmosphere from the Mall museum. Yet its exhibits are wonderful - everything from beaded tunics and moccasins to Maya epigraphy and Aztec obsidian "mirrors," to Peruvian gold emblems. I love how the NMAI unites native heritage throughout the Americas.

I also had some time to explore the American Museum of Natural History before flying back to D.C. It's a bit of a shock to go from Native American museums to Natural History museums. I suppose I've been spoiled by the NMAI and its devotion to consultation with native groups in curating exhibits. The museum-goer is presented with a different perspective when exhibits are imbued with traditional, as well as anthropological, understandings of the objects displayed.

NMAI interns in NYC

It was interesting to be back in New York City again. So much noise, movement, and diversity. But I must say, I don't quite agree with Whitman. I would choose the quiet serenity of the country any day over the bustle of city life. It is beautiful, in its own way, but not so peaceful.

Autumn Blush

2010-11-07T22:30:00.001-05:00

I've had a very exciting month since my arrival back in Virginia, with two weekends in Williamsburg and a trip to New York City with work this past Friday. I must say that it's left me in a bit of an exhausted state. As much as I love seeing new (or rather, old and well-loved) places, there is something to be said for being at home. But for now, I am an itinerant. Home changes day by day, and I don't think I'll feel quite settled again until I have a place of my own.

I enjoyed spending time in Williamsburg again - compared to my usual haunts in Virginia, D.C., and Maryland, it's very quiet (though there were some pretty crazy parties on campus Halloween weekend!). There are plenty of places to go walking, and just enjoy not hearing cars or trains whiz by. And of course, there are many wonderful people to spend time with. It was so good to catch up after my long sojourn in Colorado.

Last Saturday evening I had a free hour before meeting a friend for pizza. It was nearly dusk; the sky was painted pink and orange by the setting sun. Just as the blue sky widens west of the Mississippi, I am sure that light becomes sweeter and softer in autumn. The rose light of sunrise can render beautiful even the most unromantic of city streets. I grabbed my camera, hoping to snatch a few photos of the autumn dusk. While I arrived a little too late to get any good photos, I passed the hour in a peaceful walk through Colonial Williamsburg, enjoying the red and orange leaves against brick buildings.

Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Storage Space

2010-10-25T22:16:00.003-04:00

Do you remember the last scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark? You know, post wrath-of-God and Nazi face-melting, pre-final kiss with the lovely Miss Ravenwood? We see the ark, packed into a wooden crate, and loaded into a storeroom the size of a football field - which we must assume to be filled with similar such sacred treasures from faraway lands. That place exists - in the Smithsonian museum support center in Maryland.

As a brief introduction to my current stage of post-graduation adventures (which have led me to such an Indiana Jones-esque discovery): I am interning at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI), a very recent addition to the Smithsonian. I work at the Cultural Resource Center (CRC) in Maryland, sorting through papers and computer files relating to repatriation. Repatriation is, in the most basic sense, the return of Native American (and Native Hawaiian and Alaskan) human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony, to tribes. With the passage of the NMAI Act in 1989 and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990, museums, as well as federal and academic institutions are required to work with federally recognized tribes in order to return objects in the above categories. I'll go into more detail in a future entry.

Today the interns (most of whom work at the museum in DC proper) visited the CRC for a tour of collections and various labs. The CRC is a pretty recent building - it was opened in 1999 - and it is built to house collections in a respectful, considerate way. To many native peoples, objects are alive, so it is important for them to be stored in an appropriate environment. When I walked into the room, my jaw quite literally dropped at the kind of items before my eyes. Totem poles, some more than fifty feet high. Canoes. Sculptures. And as we explored the collections further; buffalo robes from the plains, feathered baskets from California, and kachinas from the southwest. I felt alive among all these beautiful and powerful objects. They are alive.

I hear that the Natural History Museum's collections (just a stone's throw away at the aforementioned museum support center) are extraordinary. A very different environment from the NMAI CRC, with objects from all over the world. We're scheduled to go on a tour in a few weeks - I'll let you know if I see the ark.

The Journey Home

2010-10-20T22:26:00.005-04:00

Last Wednesday morning (and by this I mean back during our road trip), it was still raining. As a Virginian, and more importantly, as a William and Mary alum, I am quite used to pouring rain that continues for days on end. However, Wednesday was epic. Weather like this doesn't happen every day in the southwest.

Hail-covered road near Flagstaff, Arizona

Our projected route took us out the south entrance of the Grand Canyon, southeast to Flagstaff, Arizona, then further east to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As we checked the weather report for Flagstaff, there were predictions of thunderstorms, a chance of hail, and even a few brief tornado warnings. Being that I am incredibly impatient, I insisted that we leave as planned. It started hailing as we arrived in the small town of Williams, about twenty-five miles west of Flagstaff. A cop was directing traffic off of Route 40. Thirty minutes later, we made it onto the highway - only to find out that there had been several accidents. The chilly temperatures (42 degrees F) allowed hail to accumulate on the road. It looked like the area had been blanketed by a dusting of snow! About ten miles from Flagstaff, we saw demolition caused by a tornado, right by the side of the highway. Thankfully we got through the storm safe and sound (without seeing Phoenix's tennis ball-sized hail), and did not stop until the dark stormclouds were far behind us.

Central Plaza in Santa Fe

It was pretty smooth driving for the rest of the day - blue skies and white fluffy clouds all the way to Santa Fe. Once we arrived, Paul and I strolled around town and looked around the cathedral. Santa Fe is a beautiful Spanish colonial town - its layout reminded me so much of Antigua! Lots of shops, churches, and a few museums that I'd love to return to visit someday.

On Thursday, we drove through Texas. There was not much in Texas except farm towns and dust, at least along our route. We made it to Mesquite, an eastern suburb of Texas, for the night.

At Cafe du Monde!

Friday we drove through the rest of Texas, then made our way through the beautiful bayous of Louisiana. The landscape was quite refreshing. By late afternoon we arrived in New Orleans. I must say that in all my traveling, I had never experienced real culture shock until this moment. The streets and cars and buildings and people were just a little too much for me to deal with after several months in the wide open spaces of Colorado. All the same, I enjoyed our time in the Big Easy. First we visited Cafe du Monde to try some fresh beignets and coffee. Both were, of course, delicious. We walked around the French Quarter a bit, then slipped into a brewpub for some craft beers, after which we found a little hole-in-the-wall place for gumbo and more local brews. The walk back up Bourbon street was not nearly as awkward on the way back to our hotel as it had been on the way towards the French Quarter. Thank you, beer.

New Orleans at dusk

Saturday took us through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and into Georgia, where Paul and I stayed with my Aunt Sharon. It was nice to catch up - I hadn't visited her house since my family stayed with her during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. And finally, on Sunday, after a very early morning Mass, we drove back up to Virginia (and a home cooked meal). Finally.

It's funny how quickly I seem to have acclimated back to life in the east. It's a whole different world - traffic lights and houses and highways and trees. The sky isn't so big here - there's always something obstructing the clear blue (or gray and rainy) sky.

So what's next? you might ask. I'm in the second week of an internship at the National Museum of the American Indian. I work in the Repatriation department at the Cultural Resource Center in Suitland, Maryland - and I'll be there until right before Christmas. I'll be sure to update soon (what is repatriation, anyway?)

Kegs and Kivas (and a big canyon)

2010-10-06T23:15:00.005-04:00

Wild horses at Mesa Verde

Paul flew in Sunday morning, and thus began the great adventure of our return home. After breakfast and Mass in Durango, we visited Steamworks brewpub, a local favorite. I’d been meaning to visit this place since my first week in Colorado – there was an hour and a half wait during our first intern night out. The beer was delicious. Paul tried their gold-medal-winning stout (he let me have a few sips) and it was excellent. After our beer adventure, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park and spent a couple hours touring Spruce Tree House, making friendly conversation with park rangers, and getting stuck behind people in SUVs who stopped in the road to take pictures of wild horses. We had to stop, so Paul snapped a picture of the first pair of horses we saw. We ended our evening in Dolores – an old railroad town just northeast of Cortez. Our hotel was right across the street from the “pub” (Dolores River Brewery), so we walked over for a couple beers and a pizza.

Spruce Tree House!

We had a slow morning on Monday – Dolores is the kind of town where people gather at a restaurant every morning to shoot the breeze over breakfast. As such, we didn’t make it out to the site (Goodman Point Pueblo) until after nine. I gave Paul the quick tour of my “workplace,” then we took a short walk around Crow Canyon’s campus. By noon we reached the tourist trap that is the Four Corners monument (hey, you kind of have to do it) and took appropriately silly photos before hitting the road again. The afternoon drive through stormy monument valley/Navajo and Hopi reservations was beautiful. When we were about half an hour from the Grand Canyon entrance, we ran into a pretty strong storm. It was pouring by the time we could see the canyon, so of course I had to run around and take a look. After a few more miles of driving, the rain had stopped and the canyon was full of white, cloudy mist. Just a few more minutes later, the mist was completely gone. I’ve seen a very different side of the canyon than in July of 2004 when I was here with my family.

Misty Grand Canyon

Today we had planned to spend the day hiking – but awoke to the sound of rain on the roof. Thankfully it let up and after a hearty breakfast, we started hiking into the Canyon. It rained on-and-off, which made for some wet, muddy hiking. We made it to the first stopping point a mile and a half down, and figured we should head back before the weather got worse (which it did). By the time we got back to the top, visibility was very poor – at times all you could see was the trail! We kept ourselves occupied this afternoon, visiting some 13^th century ruins and a small museum near the east entrance to the park. It was interesting to see the differences in kiva structure and size – smaller and with some different architectural features than Mesa Verde or Chacoan kivas. On the way back we got a glimpse of a rainbow in the misty canyon – then saw the mist blow away over the course of about five minutes. Crazy!

As I write this, the rain falls yet again on the roof of our lodge. I’m pretty sure the rain is supposed to stop tomorrow afternoon – and we’ll be well on our way to the next stop on our journey – Santa Fe!

Saying Goodbye

2010-10-02T23:55:00.001-04:00

It is the nine o'clock hour; I'm sitting in my basement "office," gathering my things and crossing a few last to-dos off the list. Campus is quiet, but for the sprinklers and the other interns, in a slightly modified version of our Saturday night routines. My car is packed, my phone is charged, and I made my last several-minute commute to the "super hogan" bathroom for a shower. Those of you who are well acquainted with my usual before-I-leave routine know that I am usually up all hours of the night packing. I can't tell you how strange this calm, peaceful night feels. Paul's plane lands in Durango in about twelve hours. I may not sleep tonight after all.

Around noon today, I drove up to Dolores. I rolled the windows down, opened the sunroof, and let the wind blow through my hair as I drove down the country road, accompanied by mesas and mountains in the distance. I will miss this, I thought. I will miss the sunrise and the purple mountains in the morning; the late evening sun shining on Mesa Verde to the east, clouds every color of the rainbow. I will even miss hot afternoons in the field, baking under the dry sun, looking to the southwest in hopes of a few clouds for shade. This country is a wonderful, peaceful place. But it's time to leave. Virginia is home.

We took a midweek field trip to "Big Point"

I finished up work in the field on Friday - I did paperwork on several units, backfilled, and drew a profile map of a kiva. Now Steve and Grant (my supervisors) will be racing against time to get all the units finished up before the snows come in a month or so. We had a party last night - it was a good way to say goodbye to the staff, and enjoy a few more local brews. Crow Canyon, and Cortez for that matter, is an awesome community. People are so friendly out here - I will miss the random conversations with townies and cashiers in little shops. Perhaps I just need to look a little harder to find these things at home.

Kiva unit - look at that huge hearth!

Paul and I will be making our way home over the course of eight days and about three thousand miles, including visits to Mesa Verde, Four Corners, the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Dallas, New Orleans, and Atlanta - and as many brew pubs as we can find!

Golden Aspens and Golden Brews

2010-09-28T22:03:00.002-04:00

Last Wednesday, amidst storm clouds and rain showers, Mom and Dad flew out to Colorado for a visit. We packed a lot into four days - a winery, three breweries, seven mountain towns, explorations of the Great Sage Plain (where I live) - and Mom and Dad even made it out to see the red rocks of southwestern Utah.

San Juan Mountains outside of Telluride

The mountains: It's a beautiful time of year up north in the mountains of Colorado. The aspen trees turn to gold and shed their leaves onto fir trees, creating an almost Christmaslike spectacle. We drove along the San Juan Skyway - north first through Dolores, then passed Rico on the way to Telluride, where we spent the night. Telluride is a pretty snazzy, yuppie ski town - plenty of neat restaurants and expensive-like-woah real estate. It was a fun place to stay. We took the gondola more than two thousand feet up the mountain (we were very proud of Mom, but that didn't keep us from teasing her mercilessly) and ate a delicious dinner at a little Italian bistro on the main drag. On Saturday we drove northeast through Ridgway, Ouray, Silverton, and Durango on our way back to Cortez. The drive between Ouray and Silverton (known as the "Million Dollar Highway") was a breathtaking drive. The road is cut into the mountain, so you're right there in the wilderness.

Million Dollar Highway

The brews: When I arrived in Colorado several months ago, I found out that the region is well known for its brewpubs. Pretty much every town of at least moderate size (even with populations less than a thousand) has a thriving pub that brews its own beer - I believe the philosophy is "drink locally," not just "eat locally." Most of the places have great atmosphere, and a lot of awesome beer to taste. Mom, Dad, and I visited Cortez's Main Street Brewery, the Dolores River Brewery, and the Silverton Brewery, and also Guy Drew Vineyards during our long weekend. Silverton hands down had the best beer (I had the delicious Red Mountain Ale), and Guy Drew's wine was excellent - I especially liked all the dry whites.

Mom and Dad on the gondola in Telluride

It's hard to believe that Mom and Dad's visit went so quickly - and that my days out west are quickly drawing to an end. I only have three more days in the field - finishing up documentation on two 1x1 meter units, and getting to work on a nearby kiva. I can't say I'll miss the hot sun, but it has certainly been awesome to get hands-on experience doing southwest archaeology. The wilderness has been giving me some lovely goodbye presents lately - yesterday we heard coyotes calling nearby, and today we saw a big bull snake in the path! I'm going to miss spending so much of my time out-of-doors.

Chance Encounters

2010-09-21T00:12:00.004-04:00

It's been a pretty quiet week - no big thunderstorms, field trips, or life-changing events. I spent almost the entirety of last work week digging a small test unit (1x1 meter) - it just kept getting deeper and deeper, and I couldn't find any indication of sterile (sans artifacts) soil. Alas, today my supervisor and I pulled out the big guns - a rock pick - and after some probing, he decided that it's probably an early kiva (circular subterranean structure). So it looks like I have a lot of digging to go, but at least now I have some perspective.

I sit under this tree during lunch, and also occasionally nap.

This past Saturday was Crow Canyons second annual Open House Festival - visitors came from near and far to explore our reconstructed pithouse and pueblo, learn to throw an atlatl, and enjoy Chef Jim's delicious green chile stew! It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun to see so many families enjoying campus. It's days like these when I realize that while I enjoy archaeology, my passion is also to teach and make research accessible on lots of different levels. As many of you also know, I am quite fond of talking, and it was fun to get to chat with so many different people during the Open House as well.

Friendship dance with the Pow Wow dancers at the Open House

On Sunday I made an expedition to a local coffee shop, in search of some good coffee and a change of scene. The coffee was indeed delicious (I had the Guatemalan blend, of course), and I had some time to catch up on letters. I also spent several hours in friendly conversation with a local storyteller (Remember Lorenzo? This man was like his PG counterpart). Cortez is such a welcoming place. The community, if not the landscape, is probably my favorite thing about the area.

Mom and Dad are due to arrive in less than 48 hours - I can't express my excitement! It will be so much fun to show them around Cortez and Crow Canyon, and I'm especially looking forward to our expedition into the mountains: Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Rico, and Dolores. The best part? Each town has its own brewery!

On Home, and Hovenweep

2010-09-13T23:52:00.000-04:00

All of the sudden, my life here has become almost, well, busy. I'm down to the last three weeks of my internship, and perhaps for the best, I'll be working a lot, and running all kinds of crazy places before Paul flys out for the "extended" trip home. I've snagged a sweet babysitting job, Crow Canyon's open house is set to happen this Saturday (somehow I've been assigned to the decorating committee...), and to boot, Mom and Dad are flying out for a visit mid-next week - we'll be driving up north into the mountains for a couple days. I can't say that I'll miss the gloriously lazy evenings and weekends on campus too much. I was never very good at being bored - or being motivated to get anything done unless there's a deadline. As much as I despise beltway traffic and sprawling suburbs, it will be so good to be home.

Home. It has come to mean so many different things to me over the past few years. Home, where I grew up. Home, where I walked colonial streets and figured out what kind of person I wanted to be. Home, where I walked Spanish colonial streets and figured out what kind of person I wanted to be. Where there are always people bugging me to bake pie; where leaves fall in the autumn; where scorpions and rattlesnakes do not roam. But most of all it's a place where I share my life with loved ones, and where I can be at peace with God. It's human intimacy - in the best, most wholesome sense of the word - that I miss most when I'm away. Hugs. Heartwarming conversations. Coffee. Meals. Smiles.

I remind myself each day that I am living such a wonderful experience out here. I breathe deep as I walk up to my cabin in the chilly evening air, gazing at the big dipper and the milky way. I soak in the sun during lazy lunches in the field. I savor the delicious southwest-style food that the kitchen staff cooks up. Life won't always be this simple, and this time is truly a gift.

My supervisor pulled one of these out of a kiva on Friday!

Last Saturday we took another intern field trip. First we visited the Anasazi Heritage Center just a few miles north in Dolores, CO. It was really cool to see some artifacts on display (mostly some unusual ceramic vessels), and grind maize with a mano and metate (it's really hard work!) In the afternoon we drove west, across the border to southeast Utah. A note on Utah: it's really desolate, at least the eastern portion that I have seen, aut at the same time the landscape is absolutely magnificent. We visited the main site (Square Tower) of Hovenweep National Monument and hiked a few miles into and around the canyon.

Hovenweep's "Twin Towers," a fitting reminder for 9/11

It was a late site, late 13th century, with a whole ton of towers on the rims of canyons. The function of towers in this period is still in many ways a mystery. The fact that they built a big one inside the canyon leads me to believe that their function was not just defensive. In any case, we headed back to Cortez in the early evening for a delicious dinner at the home of one of Crow Canyon's archaeologists, where I ate green chile stew, my new favorite food, for the first time. I'm serious, this stuff is delicious. It's like southwestern-style pot pie. Only better.

The "Castle"

Excited for home, three weeks and counting. But trying to make the most of every day I have left on the great sage plain.

Field Archaeology 101

2010-09-10T01:12:00.001-04:00

It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that the practice of archaeology is a pretty abstract idea in most people's minds. What do you think of when you imagine an archaeologist working in the field all day? It's probably a lot different from what you would expect. Yes, we dig holes, and yes, we collect artifacts - but we also take photographs, keep very exact measurements, make maps of our units, and spend a lot of time recording anything and everything about the soil.

The tools: tarp, buckets, dustpan, trowel and brush

One of the most important things to keep in mind about archaeology is that we record everything. We want to know exactly where we are digging horizontally (this is where satellite technologies like GIS and GPS come in handy), and vertically, which means taking constant measurements of elevation. Before you start to dig a unit, you have to plot its location on a map, and lay out its measurements with nails and string. When you're trying to get a feel for how people used the landscape in the past, you have to be exact. Most of what you'll learn from an artifact comes from its location (in archaeology jargon, its provenience). That means digging a unit within the boundary of the strings, and also in vertical levels based on how the soil was deposited.

This unit has already been dug, but I need to document it

Units are usually measured in meters, except occasionally at historic sites. The photo above is a 1x1 meter unit - this one was part of a midden, or an area where people deposited their refuse. We find all kinds of things - pottery sherds, flakes from the construction of stone tools, charcoal, bone, and a whole lot of sandstone that was used for construction.

First thing's first - clean off all the crap!

Since the student and adult participants at Crow Canyon do most of the digging, my job is to take care of residual documentation, and get units ready to backfill (throw the dirt right back in). I first clean the unit, and make sure we have reached sterile soil - that's what was there before people used the land. It usually has a high concentration of clay, so it's the yellowish-red color you can see above. This unit looks done - the brown stain in the lower half of the unit was probably caused by rodent activity.

The surface of a pit feature

Sometimes, however, once you get through a layer of soil, you can see the imprint of a feature, something caused by cultural activity that can't be removed from the ground and studied like an artifact. The above photo represents a pit that was cut into the yellowish-red clay by people who lived here 800-900 years ago. My job is to excavate the feature, taking lots of notes (and photos!) along the way.

I bisected the pit feature to look at a profile of the fill

All done! A final photo for this midden unit.

Once everything in a unit is excavated, I take final photographs of the unit. It is important to provide shade for photos with a tarp, so that the difference in color won't distort the picture (my earlier photos would not be appropriate for a site report - the ones above are much better). There should always be an arrow or a trowel indicating north in the photo, to best record the orientation.

The tools: clipboard, graph paper, pencil, ruler, line level, tape measure

Finally, I finish up the unit by drawing a profile map to keep track of the change in soil color and texture. We use a book called the Munsell soil color chart - just imagine a bunch of paint samples in dirt colors, bound together in a book - to try to be as objective as possible about the soil color. It's more tedious work, but important for understanding how the soil layers were deposited, and thus learning about the relationship of one unit and its artifacts to another.

After that is another story - stay tuned to learn about artifact processing back in the lab!

A Tale of Two (or twenty) Kivas

2010-09-06T00:35:00.008-04:00

Last weekend - back when it was still August - the interns took a weekend camping trip to New Mexico. We're only about an hour from the border, and it took us about two hours to arrive at our first destination: Salmon ruins. Salmon (pronounced Sal-mun after a local family, not the fish) is a site known as an "outlier" to the political/social/economic system of Chaco Canyon. Think of the Roman Empire, and the way that Roman architecture spread throughout Europe in the early centuries AD. Chaco was kind of like that - and associated sites are identifiable by similar architectural traits, burial patterns, kiva styles, and a lot of attention paid to astrological alignment, among other factors. Salmon archaeologist Paul Reed gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the site - meaning we got to learn about cool things like potential cremation remains and coprolites (yep, centuries-old poop) - and the destruction and reconstruction of Salmon's great kiva after a huge flood in the twelfth century.

Great House (Pueblo Bonito)

After our tour of Salmon, we drove another hour or two south to Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Chaco has been on my list of places-to-visit since I first learned about it my freshman year of college. As I have mentioned before, Chaco Canyon was (debatably) a huge political/social/economic system operating in the southwest between the ninth and twelfth centuries AD. Chaco is known for its monumental architecture: three or four story "great houses" - village-size communities, and "great kivas," really big variations of the circular underground religious structures still used in modern Pueblo societies. T-shaped doors, architecture with small, narrow stones and bands of dark stones, and "chinking stones" are also traits associated with Chaco. (Are you still awake?)

Great Kiva (Chetro Ketl)

T-shaped door (Pueblo del Arroyo)

Banded masonry (Pueblo Alto complex)

We spent the weekend hiking and touring Chaco Canyon's bounty of great houses. We also saw a lot of petroglyphs (pictures carved into rock), and some pictographs (pictures painted on rock) and did a lot of stargazing - there were some pretty cool shooting stars. There is very little light pollution in Chaco, and we went to a presentation on astronomy given by a park ranger on Friday night, and even got to look through a gigantic telescope.

Petroglyph

Supernova pictograph

It was my first experience camping since the fateful night freshman year when I sprained my ankle. Definitely a fun (injury-free!) weekend. I'm pretty sure I ate my month's allowance of peanut butter in three days. Peanut butter on both sides of the bread keeps the bread un-soggy from the jelly. A peanut butter apple with granola is also a lovely breakfast. Peanut butter is pretty much indestructible, and delicious.

Destination: Mesa Verde National Park

2010-08-21T12:20:00.007-04:00

Durango & Silverton Railroad (2004)

Right now I'm sitting outside a hole-in-the-wall bagel shop in Durango - about 50 miles east of Cortez. This morning I drove one of the interns to the airport at oh dark thirty, so I figured I'd enjoy the change of scene out this way. Durango is definitely a tourist town - complete with artsy shops, a historic railroad, and a lot of unique places to eat. It's definitely a treat to get a bagel - you don't see them very often between St. Louis and well, California.

Mesa Verde at dusk

Today completes week four of my internship. I just about have the weekly routine down (including unofficial field trip Fridays) and time is starting to pass a little more quickly. This past week the interns got a taste of Crow Canyon's weekly program for students and adults who come to learn about archaeology. We got to tag along with the adults in the lab, and the lab interns (also known as "labbies," we are "fieldies") got to come dig with us. The week also included a field trip to Mesa Verde National Park (making it my second consecutive Friday in the park) about an hour southeast from Cortez.

Balcony House

Last Friday, I took a trip to Mesa Verde while most of the other interns were networking at the Pecos Archaeological Conference (I figured I'd save my networking for the east coast). I drove around the park, getting a chance to see all kinds of pithouses and cliff dwellings. I also took a tour of Balcony House - which meant climbing a 30-foot ladder to get to the site, and crawling through a narrow tunnel to get out. It was a neat site - though I don't think Mom would have liked the heights very much :-P In the evening I stuck around the park to hear George Mason Professor James Snead give a lecture on his research concerning ancient roads.

Mug House

Yesterday we toured Mug House - a pretty out-of-the-way cliff dwelling on Wetherill Mesa (to the west of Chapin Mesa, the main attraction). We really had to do some adept rock-crawling to get down to the site, but it was worth it. We got to see a painted kiva, and some pretty cool other structures. The interns also drove to Spruce Tree House on Chapin Mesa. It is splendidly preserved, and it was pretty awesome to give it a look with a more discerning eye than I had at 16 (when I visited Mesa Verde with Mom and Dad).

Otherwise, I've been doing a lot of chilling out, tasting the local beer (the writers of Dear Beer Friend would be proud), and working my way through the first season of Glee and The Columbian Exchange. I wanted to thank everyone SO MUCH for sending me mail. It is really nice to come back from the field and find a letter or postcard in my box. You guys are awesome.

Interns at Mug House

This weekend: relaxation. Next weekend: the great Salmon ruins and Chaco Canyon expedition. It's going to be pretty epic - so keep your eyes peeled for an excited post mid-week six!

Morning

2010-08-09T18:24:00.004-04:00

This is how I feel most mornings when I step out of my cabin and come down the hill for breakfast. (Even Mondays.)

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
wich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

e.e. cummings

Island in the Sky

2010-08-08T23:47:00.000-04:00

I arrived at Crow Canyon two weeks ago today and I'm finally pretty well settled in. I live in a "rustic" cabin, maybe about eight by ten feet. One of the interns calls it her shed. My grandma said it looked like an outhouse. I'll let you decide. It works out pretty well - I don't have heat, AC, running water, or electricity - but I can get all of the above in the nearby lab building (where I am now).


Home sweet home

I spend my days in the field, and by that I mean inside a one meter deep hole. Crow Canyon's participants (middle schoolers, high schoolers, and adults) do most of the digging at the site, but that leaves all the finishing touches and documentation to the archaeologists, Grant and Steve, and to us interns. This is the last year of the project, so there's a lot of work for us to finish up in the field. This week I should finish digging my unit, which is part of a midden (think: trash heap) that's probably a thousand years old - I have to look at the pottery I've found to get a better idea. Ancient trash. Cool.

Hanging out at Woods Canyon Pueblo

Since there are a bunch of new interns on campus, we've been taking a lot of trips to nearby sites. Susan Ryan, one of the research archaeologists, took us to Albert Porter Pueblo and Woods Canyon Pueblo to the north. Porter and Woods were among a group that Crow excavated earlier in the 2000s. You have to have a sharp eye and be able to read the landscape and surface scatter of artifacts to figure out where sites are. It was a little more obvious at Woods Canyon - as you can see below.

The interns at Aztec

We also had the chance to visit Lowry Pueblo, which is at Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Like many of the sites out here, Lowry was excavated and preserved early in the 20th century. It has a very large kiva (or as my adviser would say, a "big ass kiva") - a kiva being a subterannean structure used as a gathering place for religious and community purposes that exhibits some signs of influence from Chaco Canyon (you'll be sick of hearing about Chaco by the time I leave in October). This Friday we took an intern field trip to Aztec, a site in New Mexico that was most likely a colony or "outlier" of Chaco Canyon. It was a neat site, and we had fun hanging out with the Park Service archaeologists and becoming junior rangers.

Courthouse Rocks at Arches Nat'l Park

Yesterday a couple of us also took a day trip to Utah to check out Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. I must say, it was pretty darn cool. We took a few fun hikes in Canyonlands (Islands in the Sky district - so aptly named!), and the views were just breathtaking. It was drizzly for most of the afternoon, and rained for the drive back to Colorado, but the clouds made nature look all the more mystical.

Mesa Arch at Canyonlands

Monuments, Mounds and Mountains

2010-08-03T23:16:00.008-04:00

Two weeks back (yeah, I'm really behind the times) Paul and I embarked on our grand trip our west - four days, 2000 miles from Clifton, Virginia to Durango, Colorado. It was actually a really neat trip - traveling through different cultural and physical landscapes, seeing the west unfold over a couple days, and trying to get the best gas mileage possible in my Jetta (and analyzing the reasons why we weren't getting as good mileage as we could). Day one took us to Indiana, Day two to western Illinois, the Cahokia Mounds site, and St Louis, day three to Kansas, and day four to Colorado.

Did you know that it takes a very long time to drive through West Virginia and Kentucky? We spent most of the day doing just that - going first through western Maryland, then lengthways through both WV and KY. A lot of rolling hills and farms and that still-near-home feeling. We stopped for the night in Evansville, Indiana, just shortly after everything got flat.


Monk's Mound from a distance - it's so big that it's hard to get a good picture!

After all that driving, we were glad to have only a few hours to our destination for day two: Cahokia Mounds Historic Site. Anyone who is a student of North American archaeology knows that Cahokia is just about as cool as it gets. It is the best example of a pre-Columbian city north of the Rio Grande; at Cahokia's height 15-20,000 inhabitants lived on the site. Just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Cahokia was a huge center of the Mississippian "mound-building" tradition. Today the park preserves about 70 of the 80-100+ mounds that Native Americans built early in the second millennium AD. Some have burials, but others were most likely used for ceremonial purposes. Most prominent is Monk's Mound, the largest pre-Columbian earthwork in North America.

Paul and me halfway up Monk's Mound

For several years, Cahokia has been one of those must-visit places for me, so I was thrilled that we could take time to see the site. (I was even more thrilled that Paul was such a good sport about putting up with my nerdy infatuation with the place.) We took a four or five mile hike around the site, visiting Mound 72 and Monk's Mound. There was also a great late-80s/early-90s museum that made me feel like a kid again. That evening, Paul and I drove into St. Louis to see the gateway arch and get some good beer at a local brewery. From the little I got to see, I really liked the city.

Day three took us through Missouri (flat, but lots of trees), and Kansas (just as flat, but without all the trees). I believe we were pretty tired of driving by this time, but there were some neat sights to be seen. A lot of wind turbines, pro-life roadsigns (I think we saw the most in Missouri and Kansas), and corn. Not much else to say about that. We stopped for the night in Larned, KS, where we stayed with Paul's cousin Mark and his family. They took us out for some delicious Mexican food and (my favorite) a trip to the county fair. We got to see all kinds of animals, from chickens to goats to horses, as well as a neat rodeo.

Roping a calf at the rodeo in Larned, KS

I'm convinced that the sky gets bigger as you go out west. Maybe I'm just used to Virginia woods and buildings everywhere, but for real - there is so much sky to be seen. You could see that more and more as we drove through the rest of Kansas and into Colorado. There were some stretches of road in eastern Colorado where we didn't see anything (or anyone) but landscape for fifty miles or more. It was absolutely beautiful once we started getting into the mountains. Unfortunately, we hit a huge rainstorm between the Rockies and the San Juan mountains and it lasted all the way to Durango.

Nothing for miles and miles

It was a pretty cool (albeit exhausting) trip. I must say I was very glad when the driving was over, though that meant dropping Paul off at the (tiny) Durango airport on Sunday morning. I'll be picking him up ten weeks from that day - October 3 - for the return trip once my internship at Crow Canyon is finished. We're going to take a little longer for the return journey, so I can give Paul a tour of some of my favorite places in the southwest.

"We can make squirrels!"

2010-08-02T01:19:00.006-04:00

Hello again, loyal patient readers. It is after 10pm and therefore far past my bedtime, but I thought it was high time to start writing again. Right now I am sitting in Crow Canyon's basement lab, also known as the land of electricity (I live in a "primitive" cabin). The environment has improved significantly since Elizabeth (one of my fellow interns) and I cleaned the muddy floor, and Jennifer (another intern) removed the putrid smelling mystery skull from the animal bone shelf next to me. It's a pleasant enough work space - I am surrounded by archaeological supplies, books about Native Americana, and some very large blue and white speckled pots next to a box labeled "zooarchaeology cooking supplies." Yep. It pretty much delights my nerdy heart.

Hanging out with my fellow RPAs Eric, Sarah, and Katy on the ferry to Surry, Virginia

But alas, wasn't I just in Williamsburg? Yep. Another place that delights my nerdy heart. The NIAHD program, much to my chagrin, ended in mid-July. It was certainly a unique experience - sharing the floor of a dorm with 20 high school girls - but I really loved spending time with them and my fellow RPAs (Resident Program Assistants). On the last day of the program, we awoke to find that the girls had made us t-shirts. Mine read "Top ten reasons to <3 RPA Laura" listing everything from my silly facial expressions to my tendency to distract them from their work (and yes, the one time when I blurted "we can make squirrels!"). It was a fun program - touring (as a chaperon) historic sites all over Virginia, teaching the students to do a bit of archaeology, and getting to know some really awesome people.

Third floor RPAs - Jen, Amelia, Nichole and me - wearing our t-shirts

I had about three days at home - just enough time to stuff myself with Mom's amazing cooking, do laundry, bake pie and eat it with friends, and catch up on my TiVo before the trip out west. But alas, I have an early breakfast call and a midden that needs to be dug tomorrow morning - so it'll have to wait.

Getting Caught Up

2010-06-30T15:34:00.009-04:00

Over a year has passed since I returned from Guatemala - and quite a year it has been! I was excited to finish my undergraduate degree in Anthropology and History from William and Mary (hit "refresh" a couple times) this May, and have slowly but surely been making plans for the next year and beyond. I wanted to revive this blog to keep everyone updated on my adventures.

Right after graduation, I volunteered with Alexandria Archaeology and George Washington University's field school - on "Shuter's Hill" by Alexandria's Masonic Monument - helping the instructors and guiding the students on archaeological method. I am currently in Williamsburg, serving as a Resident Program Assistant with a Pre-Collegiate program in American History. I'm essentially a mentor to the students, making sure they have the best experience possible.

When the program ends in mid-July, I will have a few days to do laundry and pack for the next stage of my summer journey, an internship with Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado. I will be a field research intern, working at Goodman Point, at a tenth through thirteenth century Pueblo Indian site. After that? We'll see what opportunities life decides to send my way.

Autumn

2009-08-31T21:00:00.001-04:00

It seems silly to update this now, when I intended to do so the day I returned from Guatemala. Something is pushing me, though. I'm finally ready to write that reflection.

So much has changed in my life since I left for Guatemala. Sparing you the details, I'll just say it's been an adventure, though probably the most difficult time of my life thus far. Time has passed so quickly, and now I find myself back at William and Mary, settled into an apartment with my two lovely roomies and best friends here. We have the windows open to the cool air, so uncharacteristic for the last day of August, and I am, per usual, procrastinating my reading just a little longer.

There was something about today - it was so peaceful. I babysat Oliver for the first time this afternoon and am so excited to watch him grow up over the next year. By spring he will be toddling around, rather than napping on my chest as I watch the history channel. As I tried my best to feed him something that once was sweet potatoes, I thought about the work I would be doing were I not there taking care of him. I think so often of what I want to do with my life, because as certain as I was in February, my summer internship reminded me how much I love archaeology: excavation, research, mapping, you name it. I sit in my archaeology of cities seminar and feel completely at home. I love too many things.

I'm home. Just a few months older and a little more confused. I guess that's life.

Trade in these wings on some wheels

2009-05-16T17:48:00.000-04:00

So it's my last day here in Antigua. I am just about out of quetzales and time, so it sounds like it's time to go home. We finished classes on Thursday (which involved a lot of papers and a lot of partying) and I've just been trying to wrap everything up before I head out...I leave for the airport tomorrow at 3am. Somehow I don't think I'll be sleeping much tonight.

I will try and update you a little more, and put up more photos once I'm home. I can't wait to see you all! Thank you all so much for reading this blog and keeping in touch while I've been gone. It's been a hard but incredible four months, and I'm looking forward to an exciting summer. It will so good to be home.

Lasts

2009-05-10T19:20:00.000-04:00

Hi all! It's hard to believe that a week from not I will be arriving into Dulles Airport. These four months have gone by so fast! (Though I must admit sometimes time seemed to drag by) Now begin the "lasts" of my time Antigua, as I think of what I need to get done before I go.

I sent in my history final essay today - "Maya, Marxists, and the Military: The Role of Indigenous Guatemalans in the Armed Conflict" - and am set to turn in my anthropology essay Tuesday (I have yet to write it...) No worries, it will get done. I have two Spanish exams this coming week as well, but that's not really a reason to stress out, either. I must say it will be nice to be back to the rigor of W&M classes in the fall, though I'm sure I'll complain plenty about it.

This past week we did a couple fun things. Wednesday, Tamara and I attended the Antigua Cooking School and learned how to make tamales (there are three different kinds), guicoyitos rellenos (stuffed round zucchini - in the picture), arroz en leche (rice pudding), corn tortillas, black beans in several ways, and Guatemalan guacamole. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything. It was a lot of fun - I can't wait to make Guatemalan food for some daring taste-testers.

We took a field trip on Friday to Iximche, a post-classic Maya site. We were supposed to have our own Maya ceremony but our sacerdote's car broke down. However, we got to watch amother ceremony...including a chicken sacrifice. It's really not as dramatic as you would think. We learned the meaning of our month and day of birth in the Maya ceremonial calendar. I am a Kawoq, which means (among other things), that I will make a good teacher and spiritual leader and I generally end up guilty of doing things. Hm.

I'll make a post before I head out next weekend. Can't wait to see you all! It has been too long.

Days Go By

2009-05-02T13:36:00.000-04:00

My little boyfriend, José, one of the boys I tutor at the Semillero de Mi Angél Guardián. A bunch of us went to the pool a coulple Wednesdays back.

Well, it’s my next-to-last full weekend here in Antigua – hard to believe! I have now been here a full fifteen weeks and only have two more before I head home to Virginia. How the time has flown! I must say I am beginning to feel ready to go home. Things are winding down here: we have done course, program, and homestay evaluations and I am only a few more classes, two papers, and two Spanish exams (and a trip to the Maya site of Iximche) away from heading home. It will be so hard to leave Antigua. I have come to love the city we well as my host family and everyone at CIRMA so much!

I know it’s been a while since I posted. I have had a lot of papers, projects, and exams lately – it seems the semester is finally catching up with me. The transition to new leaders for next year at W&M has taken place as well, so I’ve been busy trying to keep up with events and planning at home. All the same, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to have more adventures here.

Mom and Dad came to visit last weekend. I met them at the airport Thursday – I can’t tell you all how good it was to see familiar faces!! We made our way to Antigua and got lunch (Dad enjoyed Gallo, Guatemala’s beer), then Mom and Dad rested while I went to classes, a colloquium speaker, and a CCM board meeting by skype. We checked out the Meson Panza Verde (Green Belly Inn) for dinner and turned in relatively early. On Friday I showed Mom and Dad around Antigua. They must have brought the Virginia rain with them, because we had our first shower of the rainy season! I finally got to visit the Antigua Vineria (wine shop), which I had been eyeing up for about three months.

We took a bus to Panajachel at Lake Atitlan on Saturday. Mom and Dad learned what an adventure it is to travel by minibus in Guatemala. We took a boat tour and visited a few towns on the lake, where people tried (and succeeded) to sell us things, then got lunch and drinks, followed by walking around the town. We got stranded by a rainstorm and so we were driven do get more drinks. We all enjoyed dinner at a French restaurant called Chez Alex, where the waiter spoke English and I didn’t have to order for Mom and Dad. Or rather, I ordered for Dad, and then the water asked in English how he would like his steak done. (Way to steal my job!!) The next morning was a little clearer so we got a good view of the lake before heading back to Antigua on another exciting journey. I was sad to see Mom and Dad leave on Monday – but it helps to know I’ll be home soon.

Santo Hermano Pedro (Saint Brother Peter) procession on Sunday

Mostly I’ve been catching up on e-mails, phone calls, and homework this week – and my goal for the weekend is to get my history paper done – then I’ll be a third done with classes! Things I have yet to experience: hiking up the Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross) to get a great view of Antigua, attending a cooking school so I can cook for some more adventurous eaters like Mom, Beth, and Derrick, and learn what my birth date and time really means, according to the Maya.

I forgot to mention this before – thank you to those of you who sent me Easter cards, and mail in general – it brightens my day to hear from you!! I have learned that the Guatemalan postal service is more than a little unreliable. Take care and I can’t wait to see you all soon. I should be posting at least one more time before I head home.

Home Again...four weeks and counting

2009-04-19T17:47:00.001-04:00

I'm back in Antigua again after a fun weekend in Honduras! I got to visit my fifth Maya archaeological site (Chichen Itza, Tullum, Kaminaljuyu, Tikal, Copan) and once more see so many of those temples and artifacts we talked about in class. Copan is known for its sculpture, which is very intricate and well-preserved. Most famous is the heiroglyphic staircase, which is the longest of it's kind in the Americas. When it was constructed, every step was carved with glyphs. Intense!!

At Copan's famous Heiroglyphic Staircase

My roomie and I took an exceptionally early shuttle (4am) on Friday to Copan Ruinas, which incidentally is the city a kilometer outside of the ruins. I guess people like to be confusing when naming things. The city is very beautiful, with cobblestone streets like Antigua, and plenty of restaurants, hotels, and souvenir shops. Neither of us had slept much, so we just explored the city and went to the Archaeology museum for the afternoon, then got pizza and drinks and crashed early. A note on Honduran beer: very similar to Guatemalan beer. I tried four kinds - Port Royal, Imperial, Barena, and 'Salvavida', which struck me as kind of funny, as the purified water in Guatemala is 'Salvavidas'. 'Salvavida' means 'lifesaver' or 'saves lives', by the way.

From left to right: K'ak Chan (Smoke Serpent), K'ak' Nab-Kauil (Smoke Jaguar), U'ba K'auil (18 Rabbit), and K'ak Yip Yahchan K'auil (Smoke Shell) - the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fifteeth rulers of Copan.

On Saturday we made an early start - got breakfast and took a tuk-tuk (it's like a taxi, but more like a motor bike with room for passengers in the back) to the ruins. We spent about five hours exploring just the main area of the ruins, which was pretty awesome. Highlights: Seeing tons of awesome Stelae and Altars (especially the unfinished Altar L), the second largest Maya ball court, the heiroglyphic staircase, and the view from the top of the temple of the inscriptions. We got to explore some of the excavation tunnels as well.

Do you remember the tiger of sand from Aladdin? This reminded me of that so I had to have a picture. I'm supposed to be considering sneaking in. The museum at the ruins had a really awesome layout - I was impressed.

We got lunch and then headed to the sculpture museum in the afternoon. A lot of the sculpture from the site is now housed in the musum so that it will be preserved. We finally got to see the real Altar Q (showing all the rulers 1-16). The museum was set up in a way that really goes in like with Maya worldview and conception of life and the underworld. You enter through the mouth of the earth monster and go through a tunnel (which is supposed to resemble the excavation tunnels) to the lower floor - exhibits on the underworld. There is also a lifesize version of the Rosalila Temple in the center of the museum. The upstairs exhibit deals with non-underworld material. A lot of the stelae were set up as they would have been in relation to the temple. Kudos to whomever designed that museum.

I snuck a kiss with Yax K'uk' Mo', the founder of Copan's dynasty. (Don't worry, he's been dead for 1600 years).

We headed back to the city in the evening and got dinner and drinks with our classmate Sarah and her friend Noel. Caught the 6am shuttle back this morning - I've gotten used to traveling in the wee hours of the morning. Mom and Dad come to visit this Thursday and I'm really excited - it should be so much fun :)

Early morning sun from the van on the way back to Antigua.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

Well, it's another Monday and I'm beginning to realize that I have a lot of work to get done before the semester is over. We have four more weeks of normal classes, then one of finals. It's hard to believe things are starting to wind down.

The second half of Semana Santa was pretty incredible. I got a chance to help make an alfombra (the key: patience, water, and a good sense of humor) on Holy Thursday, and then watched the procession destroy it. It's quite a sacrifice when you think of how much time pepople put into these works of art...hours and hours. I took advantage of the abundance of vendors to eat plenty of tostadas mixtas (see previous entry) and empanadas - sort of like apple turnovers, just not as gooey and buttery. A note on Guatemalan food: after a while it seems like everything is sweet, from coffee and tea to fruit (they eat a lot of fruit here) to bread to sodas. I can go days without having actual dessert and still feel like I have OD'd on sugar. So I guess that's why I drink beer, to balance things out ;)

I really enjoyed going to Masses and Laudes (Morning Prayer) this week. When you spend a couple hours at church every day, you begin to feel like you know everyone there, even if you never talk. It makes me feel a little at home. While Mass on Holy Thursday and the Good Friday service were packed, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday Masses were not nearly as full. It's like our professors tell us - in Latin America, there's much more emphasis on the sorrow of Christ's suffering and death than the joy of His resurrection. However, there was plenty of celebration in the carnival atmosphere of the processions throughout the week.

The Easter Vigil Mass was beautiful - as everywhere, it begins in the darkness (tinieblas), and then they light a small fire outside the church, light the Easter candle, and then we all light our candles from it. There was a cantor accompanied by guitar at the beginning of the Mass, as we stood, our candles illuminating the dark church. I have no words to express how...incredible this was. The weekend was fully of so many joyful moments. I could tell you about them but somehow it would not be the same. I miss home but am learning and growing so much here, it's worth it.

Yes, we went out for a "special" easter dinner - two of the other students and I - to an Italian restaurant. I indulged in tortellini in a cream sauce with bacon, and a glass of the house wine. Yes, it was amazing. Can't eat like that every day but it's a nice treat.

Midweek Update

2009-04-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

Hello All! Somehow time passes all too quickly, and I find myself wondering, where did it all go? Life is difficult, but beautiful (as usual). Thank you to everyone who has sent me e-mails, messages, or who I've been able to talk/skype with lately. It really does help me so much.

I think I missed the "two thirds" mark, but now I'm into the last third of the program. It is strange to think of everything wrapping up. Mom and Dad are coming to visit in just over two weeks - I'm so excited!! Perhaps you all know the feeling of being excited to show other people the places you have come to know and love. Coming to Guatemala has completely removed me from life in the States and the familiar people, places, culture, and language. It will be fun for them to see my life here for themselves rather than through my eyes. How strange it will be to go home!

We are in the midst of Holy Week, and all of Antigua is going crazy making alfombras (carpets of colored sawdust or pine needles and flowers) over which the processions cross. Each church has its own processions, so I can hear the solemn music about every night from my house. Tomorrow begins the Easter Triduum, the three days of Holy Thursday (Jueves Santo), Good Friday (Viernes Santo) and Holy Saturday (Sabado Santo). The Mass of the Lord's Supper is on Thursday night and the Easter Vigil on Saturday night. This is a very special time of prayer and I'm excited to see all the celebrations in the city. From what I hear, there will be plenty of drinking going on in the city as people make the alfombras. I think some of the students and I are going to Easter dinner at a place called the Earth Lodge outside of Antigua. There's supposed to be ham, pumpkin pie, and so much more - American style :)

Yesterday we made an expedition to the City to get our tourist visas renewed, and somehow I got everyone to come with me to the Museo Nacional de Arqueologia y Etnologia (National Archaeology and Ethnology Museum). It was pretty much a dream come true (I'm not even joking!). Got to see so many artifacts, stelae and altars that we studied in Mesoamerican Archaeology last semester. I was told I was acting like a kid on Christmas morning (that's pretty much how I felt). So cool. The above picture is me with Stela 10 from Kaminaljuyu, dating from around 50 BC - AD 50 (though some archaeologists will give it a later date). I wrote a paper about this last semester, and the long hours paid off, just being able to see it. Other cool pieces: the ball court marcador from Tikal (to commemorate Spearthrower Owl!), jade inlaid or otherwise modified teeth, jade masks, incensarios, stelae and altars from Piedras Negras...you name it. Incredible. (End nerd rant).

I'm off for now - hope you all have a beautiful Easter. I miss you all so much! I'll let you know about the Easter celebrations next week.

Peace

2009-04-04T20:15:00.000-04:00

Hello all! It's been a nice, lazy Saturday for me here in Antigua. We have the entirety of Holy Week (Semana Santa) off from classes, so after catching up on internship hours yesterday, I decided to relax today. I went out walking before breakfast (about 6:30am) and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Watched a bit of a movie, caught up on e-mails, and started to browse through some of the shops. I think we're going to go out dancing tonight, which should be fun. I don't intend on being this much of a bum all week!

I owe you all a bit more information on last weekend's excurisons. We headed out of Antigua around 4am Friday morning and arrived in Sayaxche in Peten around mid afternoon. Peten is the northernmost department in Guatemala (the big pink one), and Antigua is due west of Guatemala City. It was a long trip. We had an incredibly refreshing lancha (speedboat) ride to Aguateca, a terminal classic Maya site in the jungle, known for its defensive crack - which we got to hike through! We took the boat to our hotel (by this time it was dark and the stars were out, so we tried to pick out constellations since it was so clear), which seemed pretty luxurious to those of us used to paying for $5 beds in hostels when we travel.

The next morning we had another lancha trip back to Sayache, then took the van to Tikal. After lunch we spent about five hours exploring the site, and saw a bunch, though not nearly everything. It was so cool to pick out architectural details and understand a bit of their significance as it was to climb the pyramids and enjoy the view. We were pretty wiped and dehydrated for the trip to our lodging for the night. We stayed at a cooperative set up after the Peace Accords were signed, but I can't tell you much more than that, because I was sick and missed the presentation. I'm still alive, though, and mostly just relaxed during the long van ride home Sunday. I was even feeling well enough to eat Wendy's when we stopped for dinner that evening.

Looks like I'm out of time. Take care all, I miss you very much. I'll keep you updated with my religious revels this week :)

Love from Peten!

2009-03-31T10:28:00.000-04:00

Hey all! I'm back from Peten and had a blast. Friday we visited Aguateca, a terminal classic site to the South of Tikal (near Dos Pilas, for my Mayaphile friends). Saturday we explored Tikal. There was a lot of time spent on the road and in the water (by boat), and a lot of time sweating in the humitidy. It was like being back home in Virginia! I'll give you some more details in a later post. Here's some photos.

The boat ride to Aguateca. Left to right: Our program director Claudia, my housmate Tamara, me, our guide Juan Pablo

In front of the palacio at Aguateca after hiking through the defensive crack and through the jungle!

Sending love from Templo I. Anna and Kelsey, this is especially for you. Jasaw Chan Kawil loves you!

Our group from Templo II (Jasaw's wife's pyramid), with Templo I in the background. Left to right: Taylor, Jenny (from CIRMA), Jordan, Sarah, Aaron, Tamara. Second row: Juan Pablo (guide), Claudia (program director), Stephanie, me!

From the top of Templo IV, with Templos I and III in the background. For Star Wars buffs: does this not remind you of a certain scene when they are landing on a special forest moon with those cute/ridiculous furry creatures? It is! They used this view to film the rebel base on Endor!! That made my day.

Cuaresma

2009-03-23T11:18:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday, everyone. It's another sunny morning here in Antigua and though I'm tired, Lipton Yellow Label Tea and I are good friends. The weekend was really relaxing. I got a little work done, but mostly read, slept, ate, and wandered around Antigua. Like I've said before, Sundays during Lent are huge celebrations in Antigua. Processions, vendors, and a whole lot of people. I took some pictures yesterday and thought you all might enjoy them.

The procession moved all the way from Santa Ana, just outside Antigua (this is where I work with the after-school program), by Escuela de Cristo (the church near my park - see the photo March 10), then down to the cathedral in the Parque Central. If you were wondering, they are cleaning the church in preparation for Easter.

We head to Peten this Friday - I'm pretty excited. We're visiting Tikal, Aguateca, and Quirigua. I'll try and update you early next week once we're back.

Sweet Water

2009-03-20T18:03:00.000-04:00

Actually a decent picture

Pirate Face

Wench Pose

Hm...

No swimming...really?

Hello All! I know it’s been incredibly long since I’ve posted. Things have been going well and now I am officially halfway through the semester. After a project as well as written and oral exam in Spanish class, I think we’re going to get “midterm” grades. We only have six or seven weeks of classes left, come to think of it.

Through all my travels on weekends, I have remembered that what I love best is just to be at home. Whether that’s home in Clifton or Williamsburg, or home-away-from-home here in Antigua, that’s where I am happiest and most comfortable. So while there are a lot of places I’d like to visit, I’m going to keep the weekend trips to a minimum from now on. (It might also help to mention that I generally get sick when I travel…) That said, next weekend we are making the much anticipated trip to Petén. Yes, that means Tikal, and a few other sites as well. I’m pretty darn excited. Kelsey and Anna, I’ll say hello to the spirits of Spearthrower Owl and Yax Nuun Aiin (or however you spell it) for you.

Last weekend Tamara and I ventured to Rio Dulce and Livingston. A quick note on the name ‘Rio Dulce’: the noun ‘dulce’ can mean a sweet, cake, or pastry. The adjective can mean sweet, fresh, or tender. It probably translates to ‘Fresh River’ as this is where the river meets the sea (ten points if you’re thinking of the John Denver and the Muppets song). And unlike the popularized term of the same spelling, ‘Dulce de Leche,’ it is pronounced [d-oo-l-se] – not [d-oo-l-che]. Dang Argentineans (just kidding).

We spent Friday traveling: a van to Guatemala City, where we caught a bus to Rio Dulce. I sat next to a French guy and realized how badly I speak French now that Spanish has taken over. It was 5:30pm by the time we got there, so we got a luxurious hotel room – private shower in the room and everything! However, I feel obligated to add that there was no door separating the shower from the room… We got dinner at a place by the water and watched the evening light fade on all the boats harbored there, enjoying the smell of not-quite-the-ocean-yet.

Saturday after breakfast we headed out to the Castillo de San Felipe, a fort built in the sixteenth century to keep the dastardly pirates away. At one point I tried to make a pirate face, but realized how miserably I fail at it. After way too many bad pirate jokes and silly pictures, we headed back to Rio Dulce (the town). We got lunch at a hippy joint and took a scenic boat ride up the Rio Dulce (the river) to Livingston. It was beautiful –and there is nothing like that feel of the wind on your face as you speed through the water. I wasn’t feeling too well by the time we got to Livingston, so we got a couple beds at a hostel and I passed out. I wasn’t too up to dinner that night, but enjoyed watching Tamara eat her tapado: seafood stew that contained (literally) a whole fish and a couple cut up crabs and shrimp with plantains. She kept saying that the fish was staring at her. I would be inclined to agree.

We wanted to check out the music scene, but as ten o’clock rolled around and places still weren’t open, we dug in for the night. I’m a little sad I didn’t get to see more of the Garifuna culture in Livingston, but hey – I don’t have dengue or malaria, so I’m not complaining. We spent Sunday traveling home: boat to Puerto Barrios, taxi, double-decker bus to Guatemala City, taxi, and chicken bus back to Antigua. Somehow, that turned out to be a pretty efficient trip: 6:30am-2:30pm.

It was a pretty fun trip, although I’m sad I didn’t get the chance to drink rum in Livingston. ¡Que lastima! (what a shame!) I made up for it by going drinking and dancing, Guatemalan style, on St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t worry, I didn’t drink that much. I have to have my wits about me to beat off the men with sticks. Just kidding! Well, sort of ;)

There and back again...and again...

2009-03-10T11:43:00.000-04:00

So begins another week here in Guate. I wrote this post for yesterday but didn’t get to post it. Exciting news: we had a 5.3 earthquake Sunday night (though technically this does not qualify as an earthquake since it didn’t hit 6.0). In reality, earthquakes can be pretty disastrous, but it was neat to experience one all the same.

My favorite park - it is very peaceful in the evening and a good place to think

This week should be good – hopefully I will (finally) get caught up on all my internship hours at CIRMA. So far the books have been interesting – a lot of history, ethnohistory, and archaeology of Mexico – that somehow found its way into French. It looks like this coming weekend a few of us are going to travel to Rio Dulce and Livingston, the former to the northeast, the latter on the Caribbean coast. The whole group is going to Tikal the last week in March as well – I must admit that my archaeology-loving heart is pretty excited.

La Iglesia de San Fancisco - the church I frequent most often (decked out for Lent)

Now that we’re going on two weeks into Lent (wow, time flies!) I figure I’ll tell you a little about religion here in Guatemala. One of the most fascinating things about being in Guatemala has been experiencing God and the Church through a different culture and language. I go to Mass on Sundays at 6:30pm with my host family at the Cathedral, right by the Parque Central. I also attend daily Mass a few times a week at La Iglesia (the church) de San Francisco, which is about a ten minute walk to the southeast. I have started to learn prayers in Spanish and can generally follow the Mass pretty well. I know I have told some of you how different it is to have spirituality in another language. Most of the time I still think in English, since this is the language I use to communicate with the other students and those of you at home. However, Spanish works its way in more often through prayer. As Javier said – we all find a different way to get into the culture. For some, it is through bars or girlfriends/boyfriends or volunteering. I guess it's church for me. Not that I don’t enjoy a couple drinks and dancing every now and again…

The facade of San Francisco

One of the first things I noticed upon coming here is just how many people you see at daily Mass, which is especially remarkable when you remember that each church has several daily Masses. Antigua is 95% Catholic and is especially well known as a religious center, which is particularly evident during Cuaresma (Lent) and Semana Santa (Holy Week). There are also a lot of statues of saints – called imágenes – that are used during processions on Sundays during Lent and during Semana Santa. They are, I admit, a little creepy. Walking into a church is a bit like bring in a waxworks at first, but I have gotten used to it. There is also a strong emphasis on offerings: little carts sell candles by churches, and they are lit in front of imágenes or the Blessed Sacrament. There are always beautiful arrangements of flowers as well. At San Francisco, since Ash Wednesday, there has been an offering of fruits and vegetables (everything from watermelons to carrots) in front of a statue of Jesus carrying the cross. I have also started to see the alfombras – carpets of pine needles and flower petals – in several places.

They take Lent seriously here. A lot of the shops and houses have purple banners. On Fridays there is a Vía de la Cruz (I’m not sure whether this is Stations of the Cross or something different, it translates literally to “Way of the Cross”). Sundays are days of celebration: processions of some of the most respected imágenes through the streets, popcorn, cotton candy, balloons, toys, little dolls dressed in purple robes, candles, you name it. Last week there were even fireworks – which continued to go off during Mass. One of the biggest differences between American Catholicism and Guatemalan Catholicism is that the latter is interwoven with the culture. Celebrations and rites of passage like the 15th birthday, weddings, birthdays, and funerals are all usually celebrated with a Mass and festivities to follow. I must say I really love this – life, Wedding at Cana style.

My classes continue to go well. They are nothing like W&M, since the real lessons are to be learned though experiencing life here. Yet I am learning a lot of Spanish and we have some really interesting discussions during history and anthropology classes. I am even starting to understand the gist of 20th Century Central America (i.e. not pretty). My volunteer work/internship at El Semillero Mi Ángel Guardián is great as well. While the kids love Tamara best (for good reason, she’s wonderful with them), I help in my own quiet way. Usually I tutor seven- to ten-year-old boys in basic math, and they make me smile and laugh a lot. Last week one of the boys (I think it was José) gave me a big kiss on the cheek as a greeting. I have never spent much time with little boys (more with toddlers), so it’s good learning experience.

Graffiti at the former home of the President in the City. As far as I can translate it says "While the blood of the people flows there will be struggle and revolution"

I went to the City (aka Guatemala City, about 45 minutes away by Chicken Bus or camioneta) twice this past week. On Wednesday, four of us from Spanish class took a trip to Landivar University and different zones in the city to get different perspectives on living conditions. You can find everything ranging from extreme poverty – living in shacks without electricity or plumbing – to incredible luxury in malls that at least as ridiculous as Tysons and other such places in the states. The university was interesting as well. We sat in on a TV/audiovisual class, where they practiced by filming a scene about (no joke) a woman telling her lesbian lover she was leaving her for a man. Yeah. It was strange to be back on a college campus, where people pay attention to fashion trends and all the girls straighten their hair and dress up for class. To be honest, I am not looking forward to going back to that. I much prefer my curly hair, Dockers, Gap or Bean shirts, and grey sketchers or flip-flops from Kohl’s.

KJ! If you look closely, Mesoamerican archaeology aficionados, you can see the talud-tablero architecture behind the main stairway. So cool!

Saturday I ventured to the city again, to visit Kaminaljuyu, a Preclassic and classic period Maya archaeological site. It was really neat to walk around and visualize how magnificent the site must have been – covering zones 7, 11, and 13 in the city (i.e. big). I’ll save you most of the details, but it was interesting to see Maya burning offerings at various areas of the park. The security guard also let me into the excavated area to look around. I got to take a look at some of the stratigraphy and admire the talud-tablero architecture. It makes me all the more excited to visit more sites soon. [End nerdy moment]

Just next to the excavated area of the acropolis - this is the general area of the Jugo de Pelota - ball court!

That’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll be able to write early next week about the trip up to the Caribbean coast. I should probably get back to my homework…

Adventures

2009-03-06T17:50:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s Friday again. I have now been here for seven weeks (wow!) and am continuing to have fun and learn from so many experiences. While I have plenty more to tell you about this week, I’ll stick to covering last weekend’s adventures in this entry.

After taking a weekend off to rest, I was ready to get out of town again. After all – when else in my life will I have three day weekends and no responsibilities to hold me back? “A brief interlude of sensational experience,” indeed. My housemate Tamara and I both wanted to head north to Cobán and a couple places nearby, so we booked a 4am van for Friday. The driver took us to the city (meaning Guatemala City) to catch a 6am bus to Cobán. It was refreshing not to be surrounded by tourists for once, since we used more typical Guatemalan transport (buses, vans, and pickups). The bus ride was about five hours through the mountains and countryside. Tamara is from Colorado, and we both remarked how much it felt like being out west – winding roads along mountains, pine trees, little farms and fields on hillsides, and open space.

We arrived in Cobán a little before eleven and after getting pretty turned around (don’t trust the Lonely Planet guide’s map of Cobán) we found a travel agency, and made friends Victor, who walked us to the bus stop for Lanquín, a town to the northeast. We knew it would be an exciting ride when someone handed a (live) chicken in a plastic bag to the woman seated next to Tamara. It got even more exciting as we squeezed a whole lot of chavos (guys) into the van on the last leg of the journey. Upon arriving in Lanquín, we took a pickup to Semuc Champey, which is made up of a couple rustic hostels, houses and farms (corn, bananas, etc), and a national monument –

beautiful natural pools and waterfalls that enter underground caves. After getting a room at one of the hostels, we dumped our bags, put on bathing suits and hiking gear, and walked a bit to the park entrance. We took a pretty intense half-hour (I think it was supposed to be an hour) hike up to the Mirador (viewpoint) and saw the pools. We then proceeded to hike down, and since it was a hot day, we decided to take a dip in the pools. Amazing. How often do you get to relax in natural turquoise-colored water while enjoying the late afternoon sun? After a while we decided to head back and shower before dinner. Neither of us lasted much past nine that night.

On Saturday we again got up early for a 5:15am shuttle back to Cobán. The shuttle came at five and the electricity wasn’t on yet so we scramble to gather up our belongings and head out. About fifteen minutes into the trek back up the mountain (the roads to Lanquín and Semuc Champey were even more mountainous than the road from Guate to Cobán), our van broke down. We got to enjoy a few hours by the side of the road as a new van came. After an exhausting ride (they really pack people into those vans!!) we got back to Cobán by late morning, grabbed some tacos for lunch, and caught a van for Chisec – another town farther north. From Chisec, we took another van to the Cuevas de Candelaria. Tamara and I, already pretty exhausted from traveling, donned our bathing suits to go tubing through the underground caves with our guide Sebastian. The area is incredibly beautiful – it was easy to imagine this as the setting for an adventure movie, especially as we arrived at the mouth of the cave. Perhaps my favorite moment was floating by a rock outcropping in the caves, where light from outdoors shone in to penetrate the darkness. I almost expected to see some treasure displayed where the beam of sunlight hit the rock (think Isla de Muerta in Pirates of the Caribbean). After tubing, we toured the Cúpula de Murcielago (Dome of Bats) with Sebastian. By various means of transport (that either involved sharing space with a mountain of coconuts or of guatemaltecos) we made it back to Cobán by early evening, got a room at a hostel, grabbed some dinner (I opted for some wonderful tex-mex fajitas), and passed out early again.

Sunday we slept in until 6:45am (I know!) and headed out to see the Templo El Calvario and a couple other churches. The temple was fascinating: according to legend, an indigenous man saw two jaguars at the spot one day, but did not kill them. He went back again and saw a vision of Jesus in their place, so they built a church on the spot. It is at the top of a long staircase (120 steps or so). Since it was Sunday, the church was full of people. It struck me just how different the atmosphere was. Maya women in their cortas (skirts) and güipiles (shirts), lighting candles as offerings. One of the statues of Mary was on a carpet of pine needles and flowers (you will read more about such carpets during Semana Santa). The whole place smelled of wax and the dark, shadowy building had an air of, perhaps, holy mystery.

On the way back to the center of town, we got caught in a rainstorm (this is typical for Cobán) and ducked into another church. Tamara had a poncho but I waited out the rain a bit before enjoying a traditional breakfast (scrambled eggs, black beans, a little tomato sauce, served with corn tortillas and coffee). Probably sounds gross to many of you, but huevos y frijoles is one of my new favorite foods. Before heading out, I picked up a few “souvenirs”. Don’t worry, Smiths and Buchanans, I made sure to bargain. I’m getting better at it. It was a long ride back, mostly in the rain, before arriving back to sunny Antigua around 5pm. The whole city was crazy, because there are celebrations every Sunday during Cuaresma (Lent). Think: Fourth of July plus Homecoming parade (floats and all), only the floats are of the Holy Family and other saints and angels. I never thought Jesus and cotton candy would go together. Life is full of surprises.

Tomorrow I am headed to the ciudad (again) to my first Guatemalan archaeological site, Kaminaljuyu (fondly known as ‘KJ’ to the alumnos of Dr. Liebmann’s Mesoamerican Arch. class). It’s a Preclassic Maya site, but also flourished for a period that shows the influence of Teotihuacán (talud-tablero architecture!). I might head over to the anthropology museum as well. In a few days I’ll write about the beginning of Lenten celebrations, our trip to the city and Landivar University on Wednesday, as well as my adventures this weekend.

Forty Days

2009-02-25T17:12:00.000-05:00

As difficult as it is to believe, I am now a third of the way through my semester in Guatemala. In some ways, it feels like I just arrived; in others, it is as if I have always been here. Life continues to be very difficult, but beautiful and joyful all the same.

I enjoyed a pretty lazy weekend: relaxed, bought some bootleg DVDs, did a little homework, and caught up with a few of you at home. (Skype truly is wonderful.) I’d like to share a few stories from the past few days…

Sunday afternoon I went searching for some lunch and ended up at a Middle Eastern restaurant that had caught my eye a few days before – thanks to Nate and Stacey and Matt, I’m hooked on this stuff. It was pretty tiny inside – just two small tables. I ordered my food (don’t remember what it was called – sort of like hush puppies with veggies and hummus in a pita, with a nice side of heartburn) and sat down in an empty seat across from another customer. He turned out to be a retired commercial airline pilot from Florida who is in Antigua learning Spanish so he can travel more around South America. We had some interesting conversation about Spanish, traveling, Obama, and the financial crisis. While I am still shy of strangers, it’s cool to meet and talk to different people – just like the Irish guy we met at the partido de fútbol and then ran into again in Monterrico last weekend. Chris, you were right about meeting interesting people when traveling!

I’ve found that if I’m going to attend daily Mass, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning, since I’m generally otherwise occupied with classes, internships, meals, and hours of internet access at CIRMA (the security man usually comes to close up the building between 6:30 and 6:45pm and I have to drag myself away from skype conversations). Regardless, I try to go once or twice a week to 6:30am Mass at la Iglesia de San Francisco, about ten minutes walk away from my house. The sky is always so beautiful in the early morning, and I love following the nuns-across-the-street (though they are technically ‘sisters’, right?) to and from Mass. There are plenty of nuns, monks, and joyful old people there, and by the time I arrive back at the house for 7:30am breakfast I am awake and ready for the day. Today is Miércoles de Ceniza (take a guess) so half the people in the city are walking around with ashes. I ended up with a pretty gigantic one. It’s interesting already to see the difference in Lent here: there was an offering of apples in front of a statue of Jesus in church this morning.

Yesterday we decided to skip Spanish class (don’t worry, this was organized by our program director) in favor of a trip to Guatemala City to attend the Informe de la Comisión para el esclarecimiento histórico contra el olvido. Basically, this was a conference celebrating the tenth anniversary of the formation of an organization promoting the historical memory of Guatemala. Even though the peace accords after the civil war were signed thirteen years ago, the government has still not accepted responsibility for the military’s actions (see my last post). There were hopes that President Colom would ceremonially accept the truth reports, but this didn’t end up happening. After discussing this with U of A’s study abroad faculty advisor/professor Liz Oglesby, who is here to visit for a few days, we figure it probably had to do with the speakers’ adamant assertions that genocide occurred during the armed conflict. This is a controversial claim because of the intentions that are implied in the term ‘genocide’.

So life continues here in Antigua. A few of us are planning on a trip to tour the Cuevas de Candelaria this weekend. There’s supposed to be some pretty cool Maya art that you access through boat tours. So the adventures continue…maybe I’ll even get to fight some Nazis.

NUNCA MAS

2009-02-20T15:34:00.000-05:00

It’s been another good week here in Antigua. I’ve been here five weeks so far and each day passes more quickly than the last. I opted to stay here this weekend to rest and get caught up on some work so that I will be ready to travel the next few weekends. Hopefully this will include trips to Copán, a Classic period Maya archaeological site just over the eastern border into Honduras, Livingston, a town known for garífuna (Caribbean black) culture, and maybe some hiking around Coban and tour of the Cuevas de Candelabria in the eastern part of the country. Our program is taking a trip to Tikal in the Petén region farther north in about a month.

Yesterday we went out to a German restaurant to celebrate our program director Javier’s 25^th birthday. I decided to fully embrace my German heritage and order sausages with sauerkraut (don’t worry Mom and Grandma, your sauerkraut is much better). Come the New Year 2010, I think I will eat more than a pittance of this wonderful food. I also got a break from Gallo (I’ve been told it’s similar to Coors light) and had some Moza “cerveza oscura” – dark beer. I enjoyed it, but (surprisingly) miss the beer at home. I never thought I’d say this, but perhaps I will make the men in my life proud and appreciate good beer someday.

As we drove through Guatemala city a month ago, there were a lot of messages painted on the city's walls. Here, "Libertad" and spray-painted on another wall, "¿DONDE ESTAN 45,000 DESAPARECIDOS?" - Where are the 45,000 disappeared?

We had our first colloquium lecturer yesterday. Daniel Hernandez is a photojournalist and artist who works to raise awareness about the genocide that happened here in Guatemala during the civil war from the 1960s-1990s. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was pretty ignorant about Latin American history and politics until I came here. In my four semesters of Spanish, we talked a little about the Madres de Plaza Mayo protesting the desaparecidos – disappeared people – in Argentina. Now my eyes are opening so many similar situations that have happened throughout Latin America. It’s hard to take it in, especially recognizing the impact of United States intervention in Central America beginning in the fifties (’54 here in Guatemala). I am not saying we should hate our country because we’ve messed up – only that we, and our children, should never forget this, especially as we face tough issues like illegal immigration and everything in the Middle East.

Names of victims, civilians as well, from the civil war on the walls surrounding the national cathedral in Guatemala City, placed there by the Church in the late 1990s. To learn more, look up "Monsignor Juan Gerardi". The Church has done a lot of crappy things, but we should never forget people who died serving God's people.

Throughout their education, students complain constantly about learning history. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked “why?” Until now, I didn’t have an answer. Now, as I learn about the history of conflict in Guatemala, I begin to understand. The military and the government still do not recognize and commemorate the 200,000 deaths that occurred during the civil war, the vast majority of whom were indigenous civilians at the hands of the army. The truth reports are kept from public schools, despite groups’ efforts to make them available. If Guatemalans cannot teach their children about what happened, then historical memory will die. The war, the genocide, will be forgotten. As a generation passes away, who will remember? Who will solve this country’s problems? Who will make sure the same violence does not repeat itself?

Why do we learn history? We are not so different. Our children, too, deserve to know the truth about our country, the victory and bravery along with the mistakes and the stories of those who have been silenced. Because they can. I finally realized yesterday that I’m not going to leave this job to someone else so that I can pursue a PhD and a career in academia. At least, not for now.

"Nunca Mas" - Never again

Our history is our memory. Our history is our identity. If we forget it, we forget ourselves.

And as the sun sets over the Pacific...

2009-02-16T18:25:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I'm back from Monterrico after a weekend of laziness. It was a fun way to spend Valentine's day.

We (I went with two other CIRMA students, Tamara and Stephanie) arrived late morning after taking a van for about two-and-a-half hours from Antigua. Monterrico is basically a collection of cheap hotels, seafood restaurants, and bars on the southern (Pacific) coast of Guatemala. There's not a whole lot to do, other than tour the mangrove swamps (we opted to sleep in), release baby sea turtles to the ocean, drink, eat shrimp, and relax in a hammock or on the sand. I got some reading in, worked on my tan (and my burn) and danced the night away.

The waves are pretty huge, so we only played in the surf a little. They still managed to kick our butts and knock us down plenty. I got to go for a long walk on the beach at sunset on Friday, and my baby sea turtle got second place in the race...he was quite a little bugger. We also made friends with all sorts of interesting people: some Guatemalans, Germans, and one Irish guy. Chris is right, you do meet really interesting people at hostels. All in all, it was a fun weekend, though I am somehow more exhausted now than I was on Friday...

Dang you Moctezuma...

As the sun sets behind the volcanoes...

2009-02-11T17:33:00.000-05:00

It's early evening here in Antigua and I am sitting by an open window, enjoying the breeze and the fading sunlight. There are probably a lot of things I should be doing. Oh well.

I have been here nearly four weeks, though in a way it feels as if I have always been here. My Spanish is improving to the point that I am finally getting a little better at eavesdropping on conversations, speaking spontaneously, and skimming ridiculous anthropology readings (in Spanish...and French). Thanks to my Spanish teacher, I now realize that those men on the street haven't been saying "good afternoon" but rather calling me attractive. That's the difference between ¡buenas! and ¡buena! I think I'll pretend I'm still ignorant.

The past week and a half since I last wrote has been pretty calm. Mostly I get up, eat food (amazing, amazing food), go to classes, e-mail and skype, write, go to Mass, and do a little studying and reading. Classes are going well, and continue to be very relaxed. Spanish is probably my favorite. We do a little reading and a little writing, but mostly just talk, learn new vocab, and review grammar. Since there are only five students, there's plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Out Latin American Studies class, well, I'll let you know. We have mostly discussed theory behind theory in philosophy and anthropology (think: worse than Levi-Strauss). As a result, I think I'm more confused than I was when the class began. Hopefully that will change. History class is an intense three hours every Monday afternoon. As I wrote before, the professor is an ex-guerrilla from El Salvador. As such, we're learning about the various stages of human social and economic development, from Primitive Communism to Capitalism to Socialism in addition to things like the Social Relations of Production, Productive Forces, ideology, and social explosion. Yes, we're learning Marxist theory, like it's fact. Don't worry. I've been told I'm not allowed to come back wearing a beret. In that case I'd just stay here...

My internships are also going well. I am working through my second book catalog entry for the CIRMA Social Sciences library. Switching between French, Spanish, and English is not nearly as difficult as I thought. Sometimes I find myself halfway through a paragraph before I register which language I'm reading. It's a pretty cool feeling. I am also volunteering at an after school program for younger kids called El Semillero de Mi Angel Guardian. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, I help a group of second grade boys with their sumas, restas, multiplicaciones, y divisiones. It can be a little hard when each one wants your attention and help, but I'm learning a lot (and brushing up on my math skills).

This weekend a few of us are going to Monterrico, a beach town on the Pacific coast. I'm looking forward to chilling out (not that I don't do plenty of that here), eating seafood, and reading on the beach. Miss you all a lot. I'll make another update after returning from Monterrico. Have a happy valentine's day!

"Closer to Heaven above"

2009-02-01T16:52:00.000-05:00

Yep. We climbed a volcano. We roasted marshmellows on lava and made s'mores. I am fairly certain my new hiking boots saved me from injuring myself horribly. In short, it was pretty amazing. At the top (about 8000 feet) we were above many of the clouds...so very beautiful. I'll leave the rest to the pictures.

De todo un poco

2009-01-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

As we learned this Monday, there are two seasons in Guatemala. The rainy season goes from May to November, the dry season from November to April. Since it is the end of January, it is naturally pouring outside. I am using this as an excuse to write a little bit about some of the fun things we’ve done over the past week.

Classes have been going on for a week and a half now. Already I’ve done about as much work as I do in a single day at William and Mary. I am only taking three classes, and a lot of my extra time will be spent doing internships. Spanish class meets four days a week for about an hour in the morning, and I need to start spending more time studying grammar and vocabulary. The class is focused on conversation, so we have been listening to and discussing music. In addition, we are reading the Popol Vuh, the Q’iche Maya origin story. It is an interesting selection, since oral tradition is written in such a different style (think Homer). We’ll also be reading it in English for our Latin American Studies class.

Friday, our whole group took a field trip to Guatemala City. Our program director, Javier, showed us the national palace and cathedral along the Plaza Central. The cathedral was beautiful. The statues of saints and Jesus (they care called imágenes) don’t make me feel like I’m in a waxworks as do many here in Antigua. I much prefer the realism of Renaissance art, it’s not so creepy. Javier showed us the mercado (market) , which is pretty gigantic. My favorite part was the raw meat section and the fruit piled high everywhere. We went to a nice restaurant for a traditional Maya lunch. Ka’kik is a turkey and rice soup flavored with chiles, served with tamales (a sort of bread made of cornmeal, cooked inside corn husks or leaves). Instead of salt and pepper in packets on the table, there was chile pepper and salt. Since being down here I have discovered the wonders of fresh-made limeade, with plenty of sugar, and sometimes some soda water. My host mom flavors a lot of food with lime – especially soup and broccoli. I think I will follow suit when I head home.

For the afternoon, we went to the Popol Vuh museum on the campus of Francisco Marroquín University. We worked our way through Preclassic to Postclassic artifacts, recovered from construction sites and private collections. There was some pretty cool stuff, and I especially enjoyed being able to pick out stylistic differences in the pottery. Javier is a student at the university so he took us on a mini-tour and we all got coffee (though I don’t think anyone actually got coffee) before heading back to Antigua. The drive there and back was fun as well – our driver Josué had a varied of dated music that got us singing everything from Spice Girls to Queen.

After our excursion to the macadamia nut finca, we went with Josué to the nearby town of Dueñas for a local fútbol (soccer) match. We all wore green and white, Antigua’s colors, and had a great time cheering and expanding our vocabularies with the kind of good, wholesome words that you can only learn at sports games. Antigua won, 3-0. There are plans in the works to go again, and this time get jerseys for Antigua, drink some Gallo, and continue to benefit from the language immersion.

Monday was our first history class of the semester. Our professor is one of a kind: an ex-guerrilla from El Salvador with a PhD in international relations. He’s a blunt man with a great sense of humor. One of the students in our group is a military analyst studying international narcotics. When he explained this to our professor, the prof asked, “Do you smoke weed?” Jordan responded no, to which José Antonio asked, “How can you study drugs if you don’t do them?”

The class took a tour of Antigua, to get an idea of the city’s past. Starting at the Parque Central, we visited and discussed the municipal building, the Catedral de Santiago (Saint James is the patron of Antigua, and his feast on July 25 is a huge celebration), the Palacio, and the fountain. A few cool notes: most of the old churches in Antigua face west, which relates to sunlight entering the church. Cardinal directions are really important to the native worldview as well. The fountain in the Plaza Central has associations with fertility tied to a myth of Spanish women who would not breast feed their children (you'll understand after seeing the fountain).

We visited the Posada de Don Rodrigo, a snazzy hotel in the design of a traditional Spanish house with a beautiful view from the roof. We walked through the Merced, the yellow church pictured in an earlier entry, with a lot of the most celebrated imágenes used in the Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions. I learned a new thing about St. Anthony of Padua: he is not only the patron saint of lost things, but also of single women. It is a tradition for girls at age 13 and over to gather 13 coins from their friends and light a candle in front of St. Anthony's image as an offering so that they might find a man. One of the students from our group, Taylor, then responded, “So this is where I come to find single girls!”

Our tour guide took us into a nice restaurant, where there is a room (almost like a cave) with a table for two and lots of candles, ¡que romántico! It is used for engagements – we mused that if a guy wanted to play a good joke oh his girlfriend, he could take her there and not propose. I can imagine several of you guys doing this as a practical joke on a girl with a good sense of humor (you could always propose at the very end). Our final stop was El Convento de las Capuchinas, a neat, beautiful old convent. There was an “eighteenth century recording studio” (as one of my compañeras put it) in the basement – the resonance was awesome.

That’s all for now. I started my internship with CIRMA today – reading social science books in French (yes, you read that right) and writing catalog entries in Spanish. My first book is on the Yaqui du Mexique. I’ll keep you updated on how this goes. Tomorrow we’re set to climb an active volcano – I’ll eat a s’more for you all.

Desiderata

2009-01-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

Some of the other students from CIRMA really wanted to visit a Macadamia nut farm just outside the Ciudad Viejo. I thought, ok, this is better than doing homework, I’ll go. We took a taxi from the catedral – I think we were all a little afraid that we wouldn’t survive the ride in such a beat-up car, in a city with no clear (at least to us) right of way. We made it there – at the entrance to the driveway there was a sign – “Valhalla” with a little Viking hat. You know, the kind the ‘fat lady’ wears when she sings.

Our driver dropped us off and then led us into the main area, by a sign which read, “Welcome to Valhalla – Where every day is Earth day/Aquí cada día es día de la tierra.” I thought to myself, wow, these are real hippies. We met the wife of the ex-pat who owns the finca. She told us all about the farm – three hundred unique (not grafted) trees, completely organic with no pesticides – and showed us around, offering us samples of nuts and the products they make with them. They use every part of the nut and shell for products, mulch, and fertilizer. They also donate new trees to indigenous communities to help them to be sustainable eat healthily. It was an eye-opener to see real sustainable agriculture in progress, by such good-hearted people.

We met her husband inside – an older man with a fire company hat from the states, wearing a striped sweater and khakis. He introduced himself with a “you are home,” accompanied by a barrage of the most lewd jokes I have ever heard, one after the other. We finally went out (i.e. to me, escaped) to the “restaurant” – a couple tables under the trees – to eat some Macadamia nut pancakes and drink some rosa de jamaica (a popular drink made with hibiscus flowers). The ex-pat joined us with his breakfast (it was noon) and jokes (that I’m sure made me blush beet red), and sat with us for about two hours. Over these two hours, we heard much of his life’s story – how a seventy-year old man from Frisco ended up growing macadamia nuts in Guatemala.

You know Jack Kerouac? Lorenzo’s narrative reminded me of reading On the Road, with stories about “Susan” (don’t ask), growing weed (don’t ask), lots of sex (please don’t ask), working as a firefighter, living in nature, God and farting, the future, and love. While I fully intend to forget quite a few – many of this man’s stories will follow me wherever I go. He faced death so many times. Lorenzo figured the “Old Man” wanted him to be alive to do something. As his wife told us, “Some people, in their old age, sit around and watch TV. We wanted to give back.” They are quite a couple. They fit, they complete each other. Lorenzo described himself as mal creado, “badly raised”, but said his wife still thinks he’s a good guy. I think I can understand, more now than ever.

Despite Lorenzo’s advice that we should all just buy land in Cobán and grow blueberries, accompanied by his predictions of apocalypse and survival that freaked me out as badly as history channel shows on Nostradamus when I was ten, I still look forward to going home when my semester is over. He left the US because it is so messed up. I will go back and remain there, because it is so messed up. And, you know, if the end of the world comes – that’s cool. There’s this guy and his dad I’d really like to meet.

On the wall of one of the buildings was a plaque with the Desiderata, one of my favorite prayers. Seeing it there somehow made things click for me. I respect and admire Lorenzo and his wife for all they are doing. They are good people.

We left with a hug goodbye, and an invitation to return anytime to Valhalla. Valhalla: the heaven of the Vikings – not just St. Peter, the pearly gates, and people with harps – but one full of girls, drinking, and partying. You know, I think he’s got it half right.

“Las grandes decisiones te siguen a donde vayas”

2009-01-21T16:13:00.000-05:00

As the plane landed in La Aurora Airport in Guatemala City last Friday, I was incredibly excited to be somewhere new and have the opportunity to stretch my legs (metaphorically and physically). It became immediately apparent as I saw the city from the air and from the streets that this is a different world. By Fairfax County (or Williamsburg) standards, everything seems dirty – and it was a shock to see men with very large guns on the street (and by this I do not mean they have enormous muscles). They stand at the entrance to many shops and restaurants – one must remember that it is good that security measures are taken so that we might be safe. All the same, I was enchanted by everything so new, and beautiful in its own way.

Five of the seven students studying in our group met up at the airport and we bonded on the drive to Antigua. We were all pretty beat down from lack of sleep but it was a fun drive all the same. Antigua is gorgeous, with cobblestone streets, adobe buildings painted in bright blues, reds, yellows, and whites, among the ruins of the old colonial city and a few dozen churches. The city is nestled between three volcanoes – Agua (Water) or Hunapú (the Maya maize god), Fuego (Fire), and Acatenango (I’ll get back to you on this one). The latter two are active, and I hear you can often see smoke coming from Fuego.

Another student (Tamara) and I are staying with the Rodríguez family, who live in the southern part of the city, the whole of which is only about a square kilometer. Our host family is wonderful and nuestra (our) mamá is an amazing cook – we have had everything from sopa de asparragos (asparagus soup) to Chinese noodle dishes to frijoles (beans) and guacamole on tacos (fried tortillas) to plátanos fritos (fried plantains) as well as fresh fruit with just about every meal. The house is very small, with an open courtyard (el jardín) inside – you can feel the fresh, cool air throughout the house. It’s the dry season and we’re in the middle of the coldest months here, meaning it has only been in the 70s. Horrible, I know.

Saturday morning, Tamara and I wandered around the city. I am very glad she has a good sense of

direction to counterbalance my dismal ability. We visited various sites – I think my favorite was the mercado (market), especially crowded and bustling since it was Saturday. You can buy just about anything there – fresh fruit, raw meat, clothing, toys, towels, school supplies, power drills, you name it. Many of you will be proud to hear that I bargained down the price of a bath towel. Over the past few days I have visited some of the bigger churches – they are very different from the American/European variety, and I look forward to devoting more time to discussing them in a further entry.

Saturday night our whole study abroad group met up for the first time. We are quite a bunch! The director of CIRMA (the Center for Mesoamerican Research), Ricardo, and the program director, Javier, are a blast. Ricardo treated us to pizza and beer and then Javier showed us the good bars in Antigua. I think it’s going to be a good semester.

That’s all for now. I’ll try and update you this weekend again with stories of our upcoming adventure to Guatemala City, and then tell you about classes, my internships, churches, and all the other fun things we do. I know you will, but please don’t worry too much about me. Ricardo, Javier, and our host families make sure that we are all very safe. I miss you and am keeping everyone at home in my prayers. ¡Hasta luego!

Je suis arrivée...wait...

2009-01-19T18:21:00.000-05:00

Hey all! I wanted to let all of you who are checking this know that I arrived safely on Friday (around 4pm our time) and have settled in quite well to life in La Antigua Guatemala. I absolutely love it here - from my host family, to the food, to the people (especially my study abroad group and the people at CIRMA), the buildings, the weather, the plants, the volcanoes...I think I could go on forever. Antigua is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It is hard to be away from everyone and running on an entirely different schedule, but I am adjusting.

I will try and update later this week with more details about Antigua, classes, CIRMA, people and fun stories. I already have a few. Take care and I miss you all so much. Hasta luego!

Wings

2009-01-11T18:26:00.000-05:00

It hit me, as we were singing the Gloria during Mass this morning - a week from today, I will be attending Mass in Guatemala. It is a beautiful and frightening thought: I am finally about to embark on the next leg of life's journey. I am striving to be ready, with an open heart and mind.

Thank you all for your efforts to keep in touch and get together over break - I can't tell you how much it means to me. The past three weeks have been some of the happiest and hardest I can remember.

For those of you not familiar with the blog title, comes from (the film) Little Women. I have thought often of Jo's character over the past month. While she had so much love for her family and home, she felt the need to leave everything comfortable and familiar; if you will, she answered God's call, and went to New York as a governess. As she explained it to Marmee (the book):

"I want something new; I feel restless, and anxious to be seeing, doing, and learning more than I am. I brood too much over my own small affairs, and need stirring up, so, as I can be spared this winter, I'd like to hop a little way, and try my wings."

Keep your splendid, silent sun; Keep your woods, O Nature, and the quiet places by the woods; Keep your fields of clover and timothy, and your corn-fields and orchards; Keep the blossoming buckwheat fields, where the Ninth-month bees hum; Give me faces and streets! give me these phantoms incessant and endless along the trottoirs! Give me interminable eyes! give me women! give me comrades and lovers by the thousand! Let me see new ones every day! let me hold new ones by the hand every day Give me such shows! give me the streets of Manhattan! -"Give me the Splendid, Silent Sun," Walt Whitman