After a long and very pleasant (and needed) break, I jumped back into the regular rhythm of life.
In Introduction to North American Material Culture, I gave my lecture about the origins and material culture of Christmas, to confused and delighted students.
I continued some work and correspondence related to repatriation at the Museum.
I attened Hartwick’s Indigenous DEI commitee meeting, and came away with some action-items to work on in December and January.
Today (12-1) is my and my wife’s “non-aversary” commemorating when we officially started dating all the way back in 2003. There’s a lot that’s happened in 20 years, but every day I still feel lucky and happy to be with her.
I finalized the Museum’s work study schedule for Finals week (next week!)
If all goes well, Saturday we’ll be heading to Amherst to re-connect with some UMass grad school friends and comrades.
Alanna and I watched The Sting, which neither of us had ever seen, and which was funny, exciting and gorgeous.
We took the kiddos to see Wish, the newest disney juggernaut. It was…fine, but as my wife said, felt like it was written by committee.
We also finished watching “The Green Knight”, a gorgeous and dream-like movie that, while visually stunning and strange, doesn’t quite cash the checks it writes.
I started setting up our Museum work-study schedule for finals week.
I watched Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt me, about the legendary power-pop band. It’s a workman-like movie, focusing on the two mercurial frontmen, Chris Bell and Alex Chilton. I found myself wanting more from this doc. which covers the story of the band and the long tail of their fandom, and yet says little about the transcendent and gorgeous music they made.
I turned 44. My wife, knowing that I love Chocolate Chip Cookies, made me a chocolate chip cookie birthday cake. It was a good day all around, and I acquired some more things with which to crowd my bookshelves.
We had a friendsgiving with what is now a typical meal at our house. I made Puerco Pibil, and homemade tortillas. My wife made fresh guacamole and roasted squash.
My wife and I watched “Sneakers”, a genuinely fun film which, despite being about the dangers of technology, doesn’t feel dated despite being 30 years old.
The Museum welcomed 45 4th graders from Greater Plains elementary school for a tour and activities. Several Hartwick students helped out, and we had a great old time looking at artifacts, learning about the Indigenous people of this region, and walking around Hartwick campus.
The Museum also held it’s first ever “Murder in the Museum” program, created by students in Hartwick’s “Places of Learning” course. Students dramatically acted as characters associated with the Museum and guests had to figure out who the culprit was. Turns out, Andy Warhol did it!
Over the weekend, I took the kiddos to Cooperstown to see the movie “Wolf Walkers” as part of the Glimmerglass Film Festival. It was a great movie, full of rich Irish folklore, complicated themes, and very exciting sequences. Might’ve been a bit too much for Hazel but she powered through.
I assisted students in the Museum’s “Exhibit Prep and Design” class in setting up their final projects.
My wife and I finished watching “Welcome to Wrexham” (at least, as much of it as has been released). It’s an entirely feel-good show that just brings a smile to my face every time I see it. I’m looking forward to season 3!
I finished reading “The Infinite Blacktop”, the last Claire Dewitt novel by the always astonishing Sara Gran. It wraps up the series in a very “Claire Dewitt” way, where there is no real resolution to a mystery, because there is no way to resolve life, except death. And despite doing everything possible to race towards death, Clarie Dewitt doesn’t want to die.
I did some more collections work as part of NAGPRA consultation.
I finished reading Boneland by Jeffrey Thomas. It was fine; an homage to classic noir set in a bizarre alternate 20th century. It didn’t wow me, but it was entertaining.
We had a fun Halloween. Dominic rode on the Oneonta Halloween Parade float, and then trick or treated with friends around his school. Hazel trick or treated with Mummy and then took great delight in handing out candy to visitors to our house (of whom there were more this year).
My Lovecraft read this year turned out to be “The Thing on the Doorstep”, Lovecraft’s body-switching and witchcraft opus. The thing that struck me this time around was how much this story focused on character, something Lovecraft usually avoided in favor of more melodrama, plot and mood. The scene in the long car ride between the narrator Daniel Upton and the possessed Edward Derby was particularly unsettling.
I watched “The Bridge of Frankenstein”, a justifiable classic of the Universal Monsters era. It was sumptuously staged and shot, and there were moments that, even nearly 100 years later, took my breath away. It’s also a moving film, whose terror comes from our inability to find connection, friendship and love.
I did some more collections work to further our repatriation efforts.
Along with our DEI-Indigenous Affairs committee, I assisted in drafting a statement on how we will celebrate and make actions for Native American Heritage Month.
*I firmed up some plans for future elementary school visits to the Museum.
My wife discovered that the wracking cough she has been dealing with for a few weeks now is in fact a case of pneumonia. She’s been laid up the past week, and I’ve done my best to try and make her comfortable and keep the house from collapsing into a pile of rubble.
The Museum hosted “The Horror in the Museum”, our Halloween storytelling event. It’s on of my favorite events of our whole year, and this year did not disappoint.
I continued to do some work on collections research for NAGPRA compliance and potential repatriation.
I finished reading “The Motion Demon” by Stefan Grabinski. This is a collection of stories by “the Polish Poe” that hover around the fundamental weirdness, anxiety, and mystery of trains. The best stories in the collection play with the idea of motion as a supernatural force, and explore the impacts that it has on people caught up in it. A fun way to get into the Halloween spirit.
We went to a trunk or treat at the Oneonta Boys and Girls club.
I did some work moving things along in Hartwick’s DEI-Indigenous affairs committee.
MUST252: North American Material Culture to 1700 is finished. Students turned in their take-home exams and I submitted grades. I also spent some time compiling my thoughts about how the class went, and writing notes to myself for when I teach it next year.
I did some work on Indigenous consultation around objects that may be subject to repatriation under NAGPRA.
I wished a very happy birthday to my brother, who turned 36.
I finished watching Clifford, a movie that is, to put it mildly, polarizing. Long seen as a comedic failure (and certainly, its Rotten Tomatoes score bears this out, it has its extreme partisans who champion it as a lost classic. Watching the movie today, I can see why. The uneasy tension of the film is that the audience is left confused about whether Martin Short is a 44 year old actor playing a 10 year old boy, a 44 year old man playing a 44 year old man whom everyone in the world of the movie simply regards as a 10 year old boy, or some other bizarre mutable arrangement. Key to this is Charles Grodin’s enthusiastic performance as an alternatively lazy and violent patriarch, whose subtle emotional rises escalate the dark drama of the film. Rather than being a slightly dark “Dennis the Menace”-esque comedy, it made more sense to me as almost a horror movie or a thriller with comedic moments. I am not sure I’ll watch it again, but I definitely think it’s more interesting than it had any right to be.
My Family and I spent last weekend in Eastern Massachusetts, particularly Cape Ann. It’s a place we really love, and plan to spend more time in the coming years.
In North American Material Culture, I talked about wampum and repatriation, with a focus on the long process of the loss and return of the New York Wampum. I also handed out their final take-home exam, and finished some grading. Then we’re done!
In the Museum, I did some work on upcoming programs, especially “The Horror in the Museum”. I also hosted a class on wearable art and showcased some objects in the collection.
My wife and I re-watched “The Crow” a movie that was vitally important to me as a teenager for many of the reasons mentioned here. The film generally holds up. The stark and moody set design of a dark-mirror Detroit still looks wet and grimy and great. The acting is all pretty superb, stocked as it is with excellentcharacteractors. And the soundtrack, though variable, has some astonishing highlights, which feature in the film, including maybe the best song the Cure ever wrote, and both Nine Inch Nails and Rollins band paying energetic homage to their ancestors. The whole thing is anchored by an emotionally and physically rich performance by Brandon Lee that should have kicked off a rich and varied career and instead was tragically snuffed out. A great movie for Halloween, or for anytime.
We had some anthropology colleagues over for a Fall get-together. Everyone agreed it was nice to have a place to relax.
In North American Material Culture, we talked about African and African American material culture in North America, including minkisi bundles, Bakongo cosmograms, and the African Burial Ground in New York City.
I did some work on future Museum programs.
Lots of household repairs this week, including a furnace, a dishwasher, and some car repair.
I finished reading Kristi Demeester’s “Beneath”….meh. It had some interesting ideas that didn’t (to my eyes) get developed, and it was astonishingly violent, and all of that plus the rather one-dimensional characters meant I didn’t particularly care for it.
Late last week, I went into my kid’s daycare class and played guitar and banjo. It was a lot of fun to sing with the kiddos!
In MUST252, I taught brass projectile points and tomahawks, two objects related directly to the conquest of North America as resistance to it.
At the end of last week, the Museum hosted presentations by four of our students who talked about internships they had this summer at a wide variety of museums in the northeast. They did a great job–well done!
I picked up SUNN o))))’s album “Life Metal” which, in its droning electric waves of noise, is exactly what I needed this week.
I finished watching 
My Family and I spent last weekend in Eastern Massachusetts, particularly Cape Ann. It’s a place we really love, and plan to spend more time in the coming years.