Why is it that after publicly sharing my grief at the loss of a family pet I feel compelled to further explain? Readers may recall that recently my family’s twelve-year-old pooch named Buddy passed away after a very brief illness. I previously shared my perspective on end-of-life-issues, pain, suffering, and grief. The gamut of thoughts… Read more »
Margaret Mead (1901-1978), a world-renowned anthropologist, was born in Philadelphia to a Quaker family. She studied anthropology at Barnard University and received her degree in 1923. She continued her studies, receiving her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1929. At 23 years of age, Margaret went to Samoa in the South Pacific where she studied the… Read more »
We humans are fascinated by the visual. We like to preserve the oddest things — even things we shouldn’t. We capture candid moments, stages of a person’s life, the unimaginable and unbelievable, the poignant, and much more. We seem to use photographs, at times, to prevent the ravages of loss of memory, the wages of… Read more »
All memory is convulsed in an upheaval of violence. There is a fire burning over the Earth, taking with it plants and animals, cultures, languages, ancient skills and visionary wisdom. Quelling this flame and reinventing the poetry of diversity is the most important challenge of our time. (Wade Davis, 1999, p. 279) When I woke… Read more »
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AUSU Course Evaluations Would you like to know what your fellow students have thought of an AU course? If so, you are not alone. Many students find the input of their peers invaluable when selecting courses or a program of study. AU students may not have cafeterias and hallways in which to share this knowledge,… Read more »
Readers, this is a follow up to last week’s question from Jeremy. Dear Barb, my girlfriend and I are avid campers and have been camping for years. However, in the past few years we have been hearing a lot about Lyme disease and West Nile Virus. What precautions can we take to prevent exposure? If… Read more »
Summertime has perennially been the season of road trip vacations for me. When I was a young girl, this meant sitting sardined in the back of the station wagon with my brothers and sisters, all of us tormenting each other as soon as we became bored with playing license plate bingo and seeing who could… Read more »
The Missing Articles You might be wondering where Fed-Watch has been the last couple of weeks. Here at home, my computer finally gave up after six years of hard service. Along with stricter deadlines being imposed by our editor (I’m always notoriously late with these things) this means that I simply haven’t been able to… Read more »
It’s the power of the smallest candle in the darkness of a cave. It’s the power of recognizing a lie for what it is, no matter how many people repeat it, or how often, or how loudly. It’s the power of whistling in the graveyard, of laughter when you’re lost in the woods, of singing… Read more »