Conferences and Katrina

Hello Fremont Fellows:
I hope everybody's classes are going well. I am being crushed with readings in my "Culture core" class and have a class on political dynamics taught by a Mesoamericanist. They are pretty interesting, but it has been a while since I've been in class and since these classes are 3 hours a piece, back to back, that makes for 6 hours on Monday nights of keeping my eyelids open and a long run-on sentence. But, I've met a number of southwest students all doing interesting research and have spent a beautiful evening in the house of Paul Minnis and Pat Gilman recently. They have a dog named Kidder.
Chris, are you planning to go to any of the SW conferences that are coming up? (Safford or Southwest Conference in Las Cruces NM) They seem to be pretty standard, although the SW conference is an invited-only conference and only occurs every 2 years. Let me know if you plan to go.
Katrina, why did you do that to so many people. That was so wrong.
Just a note to all those still in Utah, take a look at the mountains for me, take a sip of the Provo river, and give Clark a hug today. Be thankful you are there. Peace in the Midwest!

Mr. Yoder is alive but not so well.....109!

Of course I vist the site...well I haven't up until today. But that was because I haven't even been on the internet until the last day or two. It's freaking HOT MAN! Todays forecast: 109! Do you understand?! 109! I'm not cut out for this stuff. I walk around campus and I'm sweating like a mule in a Mexican police office while a a guy named Juan puts on a big white rubber glove. Yeah, its that hot.

We got all moved in in the last week and I've checked out campus a bit. Besides it being hot, I have an office in a brand new building, which is nice. And the campus in general has a lot of goodies for graduate students, lounges, computer labs, discounts, etc. So that's cool. I met with my professors this week to see what responsibilities I'll have. I'm the GA for two professors. One's a soco but the other is Karen Harry (apparently a minor ceramic goddess or something). You know those ceramists. Next semester I get switched over to being a GA for my advisor, Barbra Roth.

So my thesis defense is schedualed for Sept 19th at 11:00am if anyone is interested. It should be fun to watch me get crucified by Clark. Who knows. So Chris, what did your committee have to say to you? Going to be going to the publishers soon? Ya done good by the way. Well, I'm way to dry, need to get back outside so I can work up a sweat again. Oh, did you guys hear about the dates for the pithouse at North Creek? 9000BP! Sweet. I hear a dissertation calling.....

Back to school

Today is the day--BYU has officially opened for business.

Our class selection was sort of limited and Holly totally copied my schedule.
We are taking 501 (Clark's death march), 502 (stats), and 512 (CRM).

Cady is TA-ing for Glenna, I am TA-ing/teaching for Clark, and Holly is TA-ing for Johnson (I think)(If I'm wrong Hol, let me know).

Sherri is working for Geo-Marine Inc. and getting married, Scott is doing stuff for OPA/Dr.J, and has a baby on the way.

Chris is working for Rio Salado and Dave Abbot, Mike is working with Minnis, and Emily is at the U of U.

So, that leaves Mr. Yoder, Sean (and that Holje girl), and Craig...what are you doing?

Let us know(If you even visit this site anymore).

A Backstreet Boys video recommended for Craig

Here, then click "Just Want You to Know".

Introduction to the Hohokam

So I dug three burials today. Imagine that... I'd post some pictures but the local tribes don't allow photographs. I've been working at Los Canopas, a long term platform mound Hohokam community. There are about 20 people working at the site, and I'm apparently assistant project director. I'll be directing the dig Monday, as the director is going to be out of town.

The city of Phoenix and the state of Arizona have an antiquities law that requires the mitigation of ALL human remains on both private and public land. If you find a cluster of Hohokam pithouses, you've also found a cemetery, making for a ton of contract work.

We're trying to get all of the human remains out of the site, so we're monitoring backhoes until they hit a grave, where we stop them and start digging. There are about 20 exposed burials, maybe 40 more that have already been dug, and a lot of trenches yet to dig. Most of the burials are cremations, pretty much just pots full of ash and bone. The inhumations are nutty, it's like freakin' CSI in there the bones are so preserved.

We went on a survey the other day and I was getting mocked for finding groundstone and lithics. ME, finding groundstone and lithics in a world of ceramics?! I guess you can take the boy out of the basin, but not the basin out of the boy...

Haiku for Holly

Sweet Nabatean...

Irishman and red sweater

You're gay? What the crap?

A Haiku for Chris

Proletariat
Fighting hard for the Fremont

I miss the finger

Minnis is Mindful of the Fremont

Well, I had a great meeting with Paul Minnis yesterday about possible dissertation topics. It was fruitful and comforting. At one point he mentioned how working at Casas Grandes can be difficult because many Southwest archaeologists tend to not pay attention to what goes on in this region. Wow, seems very similar to our Fremont predicament. Well, there is something about periphery studies that warrants attention and we're not the only ones who think so. Just thought I'd add my two cents and say that Minnis commiserates. Take care, all.

Roaches held the key to our happiness

Well, the trip to Oklahoma was an experience. After breaking down twice in the mountains of Colorado, we finally arrived at the house we were going to rent at 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday night. It was a great little brick home with hardwood floors. Amie was really excited to get inside and set up our air mattresses so we could get to sleep, but we were greeted with hundreds of roaches who had a plan to keep us from moving in. This place was filthy and we were forced to sleep at the Norman Holiday Inn. The next day, we had an exterminator come out to assess and treat the house before we moved everything in. To our surprise, the exterminator said that the place was totally infested and that it would take up to 3 months to control the situation. That same night, after we moved into a different apartment, I went to take pictures of the madness so we could hold the landlady liable for paying back our deposit and first month's rent. A rat ran between my legs on this visit and the roaches were having the party of their lives. We also discovered a rotten rodent lying in one of the cupboards in the kitchen. Needless to say, I was disturbed by this first experience, but not turned off to the area. I will start working with an artifact collection from a site in Eastern Oklahoma in August and I am frantically looking for a second job that will supplement our income. Everything is going quite well now and after 2 visits to Texas already, it's like being home again. I am excited to see you all at some conference in the near future. Aaron, you and I have an abstract to write and hopefully we can all save some money to go to the SAA's in Puerto Rico. It may be a long shot for most of us, but what the hey. At least I can count on you guys being in Austin, Texas in 2007. Ok. Take care all and thanks for the support with the OPA video.

Officially Off the Market

Hi everyone! I just thought I'd share some good news. Russ proposed to me Thursday night!! I was returning from a business trip and he and Morgan suprised me at the airport with a bright yellow hummer limo, rose petals, a dozen roses, etc... Cady has all the details or you can email me. I have a picture of the ring as well. The official date is Oct. 8!!! Yeah!!

A Fond Farewell

After completing the masterful film, OPA: Episode One, Mr. Mike Searcy has left us for the Sooner State. We wish you well in your academic pursuits, and hope that you didn't leave with a bad taste in your mouth due to some ignorant and inaccurate reviews of your film.

Paquime awaits!

Homosexual Marriage

I've written a brief archaeological argument against homosexual marriage. Please take a look and tell me what you think.

Hello all. Brad, Eric, Dr. J., and myself are now officially back from good ole North Creek Shelter. Here are my thoughts in Haiku.

Cliff wall cold early
Cliff wall hot in afternoon
Flys and gnats constant

Oh North Creek Shelter
What old items do you hold
Ahh yes, Bovine dung

Actually it was pretty cool. Found a nice Fremont fire ring up high, an archaic pithouse, and a core and a tool down in the old school levels (10,000 yrs +). Come on down to my office and have a look at the tools if your interested. Good to be back.

David

New Department Chair

Any guesses?

On the way to Blanding, Jim Allison told me that we have a new Department Chair (he said that he was unaware of any "gag order" on the announcement so I'm posting it).

Dandy Don? no.

"little red riding sweater? no.

the Hawk? sadly, no.

Juan Clark? If only....

According to Jim, it is none other than David P. Crandall.

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, then suddenly were silenced. I fear something terrible has happened" Obi-Wan

Okay, so it's not that extreme, but it is worrisome. Hopefully, the transistion will be smooth and college support for archaeology/OPA will not fade any further than it already has.

From the mouth of JCJ...

By now, most of you at OPA have heard the story but I feel that it needs to be immortalized on this blog.

This past week, Mike and I were down at North Creek inhaling the desicated fecal matter of many an animal. On Tuesday evening, Mike was talking about Chris' idea concerning the Northern Periphery Papers. I don't have direct quotes for most of the conversation, but it went something like this (Mike, feel free to revise):

Mike: Dr.J, Chris and I have been talking and we think that it would be a good idea to write some papers on the...(looks at Aaron) what's it called?

Aaron: The Northern Periphery

Mike: Right, The Northern Periphery

Dr. J: Well, (direct quote) "That's a good name for it-I think Kidder and those guys may have had it right"

Stunned silence (if there had been crickets present they would have been chirping)

Dr.J: Actually, when National Geographic interviewed me, they asked me about that idea...

(he never really told us what he told NG)(but he mentioned something about various professors at U of U who don't buy into it)

So there you have it, despite the broken nature of this conversation and my report of it...(it was sketchy enough when we had it, let alone 3 days later...I think that a significant bridge has been crossed. As Cal would say...."Whoa-o-o-o-o- boy!"

Chapter 1 - Introduction June 16, 2005

I've posted Chapter 1 as well as the references if anyone is interested.

Werebaby T-shirts are here!

The wait is over. Olmec Werebaby t-shirts have arrived thanks to the diligence and coordination of our very own beloved Emily Wise. Thanks Emily. Just e-mail me if you are wanting to buy. Supplies are limited, so act NOW! Peace in the Middle West. My e-mail address is mikesearcy@gmail.com.

Fremont defined

The chapter isn't ready yet, but I just finished my definition of the Fremont. It's over on the thesis blog. What does everyone think?

http://fremontthesis.blogspot.com

A new blog

Rather than clog up our beloved Fremontfarmers with overly long thesis chapters, I've created a new blog that will contain only thesis stuff. I'll add a new post here when it's updated, and we can comment on it in that post if you like.

http://fremontthesis.blogspot.com/

Britany Noble and Range Creek

Got a phone call for B. Noble yesterday. She was quite excited, mentioning that she is going to the U of U's field school at Range Creek. Hopefully she can come out of this behavioral ecology experience with some sense intact.