Hello fellow Anth 392ers!

It feels a little strange introducing myself this way, but I'll see what I can do. 
So this is me....

So now you have a visual, let me give you the very abbreviated...

Story of My Life:

(otherwise known as "How I Ended-Up in Anth 392". I still haven't settled on an official title)

Well to begin with, I grew up right here in good ol' Victoria! Most of my rather large family also lives here, which means that it is unusual for me to not be related to someone in/on any given room/store/street, etc. Which is kind of nice, until someone comes into your work, knows your name, and tells you they are a relative, and you have no idea who the person is...true story, it happened to me last Saturday. 

My big family is actually a large part of how I ended up in Anthropology 392. You may think I'm joking, but I'm not! When you have a large family, it stands to reason that a decent number of them will be older individuals. When you have old people, they unfortunately tend to die. Some of my earliest memories are of attending funerals. (I know that sounds morbid, but bear with me for a second) I very quickly came to understand that it is okay to be sad when someone I love dies, but to celebrate their life and to take comfort in our collective mourning rituals (to phrase it anthropologically). 

We always gather in the kitchen and start making tiny
sandwiches and other food for the reception!
(photo courtesy of recipebridge.com)

Due to growing up with what I feel was a healthy exposure to death, I was surprised to learn that not everyone feels the same way. I mean, I knew that my family did some things differently than others (I bet not every family fights over the honour of hanging a golfball wrapped in electrician's tape on their christmas tree)but it was still a wake-up call to realize some people are quite disturbed by death. Well to make a long story short, I became somewhat fascinated with death and how people deal with it. Luckily there are books out there written by authors who share my curiosity, because otherwise I feel like I might have talked about it more and probably not had many/any friends! 

Now for some more personal disclosure: I work in an awesome used bookstore :D (I feel like it might be inappropriate to advertise their awesomeness here by blatantly saying the name, so lets just say it sounds like "Hussel Rooks") The reason I bring this up is because last Christmas (not the one we just had, but the next last christmas) I only got given one book as people assumed I would just buy my own! Shocking, I know. Anyhow, this would have been devastating (and actually kind of was) except that the one book I did get was like being given a bike that has a basket and streamers and a bell!

Wheeeeee!!!! This is how I felt
when I got the book. No joke.
(thanks jacksbikes.com)

You may be wondering what this book was, and rather than tell you I am going to post a picture (a picture is worth a thousand words as they say!)

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!! I spent the remainder of that Christmas wandering about the house with the book held in front of my face, often bumping into relatives/objects, and learning about all kinds of horrific yet amazing things! Anyone who is interested in osteology should really check this out, it is a seriously good read :) 


So you see, when I was registering for classes and I saw one that said "Anthropology 392: Dead (Wo)Men Do Tell Tales", I couldn't not sign-up for it!


I am really looking forward to everything about this class though and for getting to know all of you! I'm fairly friendly (if a little weird) so definitely say "hi" in class or online :) (Is anyone else as stoked as I am to have their own blog? I was a little trepidatious out first, but writing this intro has been a lot of fun!)