Hello to the brave and the few, the last vestiges of the anthropology club. I’m sure that most of you, like me, have needed a little time to decompress after a long hard semester. So I hope that you’re relaxing wherever you are and enjoying your time off or working towards finishing up am awesome summer semester and about to take some time off (ahem, Alex- hello!)

Anyway, I came across this blog this summer and have been reading it on and off. This post in particular made me think a lot about our (meaning the United States’) impact on the world and the far reaching impact of choices that have been made by past administrations (which of course puts one in mind of our current). I know that there are more specific political details that led up to the decision to drop nuclear bombs on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (of which I am mostly ignorant) but the glaring fact that remains is we made a clear and conscious decision to not only drop bombs of an unseen magnitude on innocent people but we also papered them with propaganda and started a chain of events that can only have left a deep mark on subsequent generations. I guess the thing that really caught my attention was that I was able to look freshly on an event that has been discussed so often that the word “Hiroshima” only brings up hazy dates but nothing concrete or even worse, any personal connection. This article gave me a little more to think about.

So, I hope that you are all doing well and you’re finding something thought provoking to do this summer, despite perhaps wanting to curl up and give your exhausted brain a well deserved break. Keep in touch.

Did anyone else leave the BodyWorlds exhibit with the vague feeling that you’d just seen Cirque du Soliel performed by Slim Jims? I’m not sure how an exhibit using actual cadavers to illustrate the workings of the human body could be unconvincing, but that’s how BodyWorlds struck me. I just couldn’t reconcile all that over-the-top acrobatic stuff with the kinda desiccated appearance of the cadavers.*
(In the interest of fairness, it’s possible that the B.W. folks have scientific proof that dead people are actually a lot more dynamic than the rest of us, in which case I’ll retract that particular criticism of the exhibit.)
Right. So this morning, I spent some time on the computo looking into the history of human anatomical models. These models have been produced in materials as diverse as ivory, terra cotta, an paper mache’, but the wax specimens made in the 17th to 19th centuries really caught my eye. None of them will knock the BodyWorlds stuff off its perch in terms of accuracy, but at least they don’t look like something you’d see in the meat-snack section of Liquor Barn.
If you’re interested, here are a couple of links:

The Wax Anatomical Models at La Specola Museum:

University of Cagliari; “Clemente Susuni’s Wax Anatomical Models”

WordPress doesn’t seem inclined to give me a second working link, so you’ll have to cut and past this:

http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/
museum_of_natural_history.html

to get to the site for Wax Anatomical Models at La Specola Museum in Florence.
Uh…enjoy!

*To be honest, I could reconcile it pretty easily if they changed the name of the exhibit from BodyWorlds to CreepyWorld, but I don’t think this is liable to happen anytime soon.

so here are a couple of links that should help with everyone’s familiarity of the current state of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma)…it’s just generic, basics-only type stuff. there are definitly human rights violations on record, but i don’t know specifically about any confirmed death camps.

**also, this is not my post for the coolest-post-ever contest, i’m just trying to help get everyone acquainted

this first one is an article from the economist magazine. i heart this magazine, and hopefully you guys will too! on the right hand side of the page they mention more sites to check out if you want to research further…

www.economist.com/world/asia/

displaystory.cfm?story_id=11011992

this second one is Country Watch – if you guys have trouble accessing it, then log into lacc library, go to the database section, select country watch and then type in ‘Myanmar’. i selected the political conditions report, but there are heaps of info in all the sections.

http://search.countrywatch.com.libpxy.

lacitycollege.edu:2048/cw_searchdocument.aspx?

DocNumParam=51

i couldn’t get the addresses to fit all as one, so just re-connect ‘em in your search bar…

(come on, you know you can figure it out)

happy learnings!

Prior to U.S. government regulation of the animal trade, there were a lot more options when it came to choosing the right animal companion. Monkeys, for example, were legal to own as pets. Ads like the one above (or at least part of which is above…I couldn’t get the whole thing to fit) appeared in comic books, tabloids, and detective magazines as recently as the mid-1960s.
The ad’s text reads:

DARLING PET MONKEY $18.95
“The Squirrel Monkey makes an adorable pet and amusing companion. Show it affection and enjoy its company. Almost human with its warm eyes, your family will love it. These YOUNG monkeys grow about 12 inches high. Eats same food as you do (even likes lollipops), simple to care for and train. FREE cage. FREE leather collar & leash, monkey toy, and instructions included. Live delivery guaranteed. Only 18.95 express collect. Mail check or money order for $18.95 to: Animal Farm, Dept. MA-25 Box 1042, Miami Beach 39, FLA.”

These monkeys were shipped from Animal Farm (or one of the other Florida monkey-mills) to their new owners via the Postal Service. They actually sent live monkeys through the mail! The Animal Farmers probably just tossed the “adorable pet” into a box* with a monkey-biscuit or two (and of course, his toy) and sent the little fellow on his way.
Note that the ad guarantees “Live delivery.” “Sane delivery” must have been rare to non-existent. Squirrel monkeys are fairly high-strung under the best of circumstances; imagine the mental state of one that’s been drop-kicked across the country by postal workers. It’s a pretty safe bet more than one owner ended up in Emergency Care after extending a lollipop-bearing hand to his or her “amusing companion” .

*Call me cynical, but I’m guessing the shipping box was the “free cage” mentioned in the ad.

For those of you who weren’t able to come to the meeting yesterday and would like to participate in the contest, here are the rules:

• you may post about anything, as long as you are able to link it somehow to anthropology
• all posting must be completed by 12 midnight on Friday, the 18th of April

We will vote at the next meeting on the winner, so make sure that you read all of the posts by then and have an idea of your favorite. If you have any problems posting or have any questions, feel free to e-mail me. Have fun; I can’t wait to hear what you guys have been thinking about!

For some reason this chapel has been popping up a lot in conversation for me lately. Thought that you guys might find it interesting also. I’m just kicking myself for not going when I had the chance though.

Okay. I can’t help myself. I’ve found a couple of other links to some similar places.

Capuchin Church of the Immaculate Conception

Capuchin mummies

and some background.

Wicked, awesome cool, huh? Sort of like french fries.

Some of you might have noticed the link for “monkeywire” that’s been added to the AnthroClub home page. For those unfamiliar with the service, here’s a quick rundown:
According to the M-wire folks themselves, Monkeywire is “the premier source of monkey and ape news for all primates.” Other than their use of the words “all primates” to describe the relatively small group of primates that actually subscribe to online news services, it’s a pretty accurate description. Monkeywire subscribers are forwarded primate-related stories that make it into the global press. A few times a week, something along the lines of “Chimps May Have A ‘Language-ready’ Brain” or ” ‘Stoner’ Teen Jailed for Stealing Monkey” will show up in your Inbox. Subscriptions are free, and if you ever decide you know more about primates than you’re comfortable with, you can always un-subscribe.

I recently saw this video of a TED talk by Jane Goodall that really impressed me. Here is a quote from their website:

“…she draws a dozen parallels between primate and human behavior, making the point that we really aren’t all that different. Our big advantage, she says, is the ability to communicate with sophisticated spoken language — yet, sadly, we are abusing this power and destroying the planet.”

I love her suggestions as to how we can combat this and responsibly live within a world that we depend on and that depends on us. I hope you enjoy it.

I’ve decided to set up this blog for the Anthropology Club at LACC for a couple of reasons: first, the weeks remaining in the semester are too few for us to be able to cover everything that we’re going to want to discuss if we only meet once a week, second is to (hopefully) create a lasting (past this semester) online community that we’re all able to contribute to and feel a part of and lastly, to provide a way for others to be a part of our club- even if they’re not able to come to the meetings. I know that we’re all busy with school and work and families and social lives, but my hope is that we will all be able to find a little bit of time (even if it’s just once a week- or once a month!) to post something here that we find fascinating or to comment on something that someone wanted to share.

We all will have the ability to submit a post, or a link or even just a picture and I hope that you guys will get as excited about the possibilities here as I am. I know that some of you may not be familiar with WordPress, but I’m sure that you’ll find it easy to use. If you’re interested, please send me an e-mail and I’ll set up a user for you! And if you’re having any trouble getting used to the system just send me an e-mail and I’ll help you out as much as I can.

I’m really excited about this semester and what our club is capable of achieving. So, welcome to the LACC Anthropology Club for Spring 2008!