This all came about because of my Research Methods class. We had an assignment where we had to find 100 sources for our topic. Topic? One topic? Uh oh! I have spent tons of time reading all sorts of journal articles on a million different subjects without narrowing it down at all. Imagine it like when you get on the internet to "just check your email" and hours later you have no idea where your time went. You just fall down one rabbit hole after another.
I read articles from on everything from mass casualty subway disasters to head trauma in toddlers caused by unsecured TVs. I might be a little more well-read than I was before, but I was still very unfocused. The professor suggested I do a literature review to see what has been done on decomp and insects. It turns out that it hasn't been done here in this particular climate and environment. Forensic entomology it is. Eww bugs! One of my classmates said "you are squeamish about bugs but not about decaying bodies?" I'm not squeamish about either one. I just didn't think this would be where I would end up. It's all good though.
In our research move along class we have been working on making goals and managing our time. I wrote out three goals last week and smashed two of them! (The third is more long term, so it's "in progress.") I usually have a huge pile of sticky notes on my desk of things to do. Writing them down as goals in a more formal way (short and long-term) with steps to complete them and then noting when I have completed them gives me a sense of accomplishment that I realized I don't get when I crumple a sticky note and toss it in the recycle bin.
MedAnth is a pretty fun class. It is held in more of a discussion forum style than as a lecture. I like hearing what my classmates think of our readings and the world around them. I have a mini ethnography to do for that class. I haven't decided on a topic for that one yet. I also have to turn in the abstract for my final paper soon. I know I want to make that paper work with my thesis topic somehow, but I haven't quite figured out how that will work yet. Ethnoecology maybe.
I am enjoying teaching and interacting with the students in the Intro to Biological Anthropology lab. This week's lab was a comparison of skulls-human and ape. I knew absolutely nothing about chimp, gorilla and orangutan osteology before. I do now! It's a 200 level class, so the actual bones/landmarks the students have to become familiar with/memorize are pretty basic, so the human stuff is a breeze for me. There will be a practicum at 8 weeks on all the bones up to that point. I get to help design the test. The professor is so knowledgeable on so many different topics. I told her she was my Google, only better.
Here's what the professor wrote on the whiteboard for lab. I love it. It's like cave art.
I spent an entire day grading lab write-ups yesterday. 80/84 students emailed me their assignment as a word doc. (I don't know what happened to the other four.) I commented pretty extensively on them in hopes that they won't make the same mistakes on future assignments. I think I am dreaming on that one.
My roommate got to hear me rant repeatedly about some of the students' answers. (Maybe I should grade in my office.) Some answers also made me laugh. Apparently the presence/absence of a trait means whether you were there or not. One student wrote liquored scale instead of Likert. If you don't know what I am talking about, it's okay. Neither do they.
I figured out how to use the school's online assignment and grading system. I thought I was going to have to email each student back their corrected paper, but I found a way to attach them to their grade! I will be teaching the professor how to use the online system too. It's so much easier than getting a bazillion emails.
Dorm life update: When you live in a dorm you have to attend mandatory stack meetings every so often. We had one on Wednesday. (My roommate got to miss it because she was at work.) This one was on social identity. I think I have figured out who I am by now, but it was interesting to hear people in their late teens and early 20s talk about how they fit into our community and society in general. In the anonymous survey we took a lot of them wrote that they were lonely and didn't feel like they fit in. That's sad. We all feel like weirdoes and outsiders sometimes. They should try being the old lady in their midst.
I will be going home next weekend to help with our little guy's wrestling tourney. I get to see my family too! Hopefully the pass cooperates.
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