Weeknotes: 11/17/24-11/23/24

This Week:

• In FLP102, we talked about two forms of “deviant” collecting, namely hoarding and kleptomania, both of which are conditions that emerge in a world of consumer abundance, and that manifest and amplify the anxiety we have about having the right stuff.
• I was humbled and proud to welcome a delegation of tribal representatives from the Ute people. We had repatriated materials to them last year, but it took this long for us to raise the funds to bring them out to care for them. While they were here, they toured the Museum and Oneonta, met with Hartwick administration, and performed prayer and ceremony necessary to prepare them for their upcoming return trip home. Repatriation is a vital part of what I do, and I’m conscious of it as work to repair harm done to Native communities by institutions like mine.
• I turned 45.
• I wrote a bunch of rec letters for students going to grad school.