Junot Diaz, the death of the American library system, and lulls in an outstanding career

Tonight my fiancee and I went to hear Junot Diaz speak at a writing awards ceremony on the Portland State University campus.  If you don't know who he is, he's the guy that wrote that book that's all been all over the place for the past year or two- with the blood splattering out of the silhouetted head (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao).  He won the Pulitzer for that book.  Then he came to PSU to read us some short stories after some students got awards for their writing. He was amazing and entertaining and witty and used a lot of bad words without offending anyone (I think).  He griped about the demise of American libraries, which was either well-timed or eerily acute, since Multnomah County (where I live) is facing a levy renewal vote to keep libraries open (read about it at http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=133358375710643300).

Watching him speak I was reminded of other events like this one.  Last year I saw/met Kate Bornstein (also at PSU-I geeked out). Two years ago I heard/met Tamora Pierce, and was geeking out pretty badly then, too. About six years ago I heard/met Sherman Alexie at U of O- it was sad because I didn't even know he would be there until the last minute, and rode with a friend, so I didn't get the chance to bring in my copy of Reservation Blues to get signed. :(  Writers are celebrities minus the attitude and plus something intelligent to say, so it's about as cool as it gets to see them. You can tell they don't see themselves as especially amazing, either.  They're just people, doing their thing.

I was also reminded of awards I've won, awards ceremonies I've been to, and why I don't see myself as amazing or particularly accomplished. I wonder if they feel the same way- Okay, this year I won the Pulitzer but every other year I've languished in obscurity...  I know that I love seeing people win awards for their creativity and talent. I love to see them love it. Recognition is lovely.  It feels great.  One of the pitfalls of recognition is that we measure ourselves and our success by it. Junot Diaz spoke of what he calls the Great Struggle to separate our individual dreams from the dreams imposed on us by society.  We will only be happy when we get to do what we want and be who we want, without mixing that up with other people's dreams.  Recognition as a measure of success is someone else's dream.  If you did something great, it would be great whether or not we all cheered. But oh, it feels good when we all cheer.

Because I now know that Junot Diaz is 43 (he looks quite a bit younger), and celebrity is ephemeral, even for very talented people, I feel empowered. It is (dare I say it) transformative knowledge (rather than informative knowledge). It puts some things into perspective, regarding success and recognition, and just being in a crowd of people who, like me, lament the state of reading in this country, wish to create because it's never too late, and would rather hear Diaz read a story off his iPhone than watch another TV show, made me feel so good and renewed and aware of my own success.

Unless you've read my CV, you probably don't know that I have done some neat stuff academically.  I have an Associate of Science in English (yes, it's also a science!) from Linn-Benton Community College, a Bachelor of Arts in English with an Emphasis on Literature and in European History from Oregon State University.  I am very close to a Master of Arts in Ancient and Medieval History from Portland State University.  I won an award in 2002 for Club/Co-Curricular Member of the Year. In 2004, I had two poems published in the literary journal The Eloquent Umbrella.  I won the Mary Joe Bailey Scholarship in English in 2007, and the Robert W. Smith Award in History in 2008 (both for writing). I qualified for Phi Alpha Theta (National Honors Society for Historians) every term of my undergraduate studies, and joined in 2010 as a graduate. I presented a paper on Roman cosmetics, perfume, and hair care in 2011 at the Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference.  Also in 2011, I presented research on Jewish, Christian, and polytheist uses of cosmetics in first-century Rome, via podcast, at the European Association of Archaeologists Annual Conference, and submitted a paper for publication through the same conference.  I have also been employed as a researcher on Aristotelian, Ovidian, and Thomistic references in a 17th-century play by Lope de Vega, and on the osteopathic profession in the state of Oregon.  I also submitted a paper on becoming a necromancer in medieval England to the Vagantes Conference, and had it rejected. I applied to PhD programs at Brown and Harvard, and was rejected (which was nice because I don't want to have to write a dissertation). I consider even being able to apply to these an achievement. 

In 2012, the academic front looks bleak. I was nearly done with my thesis (Self Presentation in Early Imperial Rome) then oral surgery, reality, and laziness got together, and now I am back to ignoring it.  I sometimes feel guilty about ignoring it- the $50,000 privilege-to-write I'll be paying for until I am old, grey and toothless. I sometimes feel bad that I am enjoying the stupid daily grind of working, paying my bills, and spending money I've earned rather than borrowed from the federal government. I fear I am deceiving myself that it will sort itself out, and that I will one day be totally enthused about finishing the last chapter (plus edits), because it has cost too much and taken too much for me to just hang loose on. But I now totally get it that this is a dry spell in an otherwise exceptional career. I get that attending readings, book signings, awards ceremonies, and conferences is super cool, and one of the things that really drives me is simply being in the presence of others who value what I value.  I love that for the first time, I am experiencing my fiancee as someone who is passionate about her writing and about writing in general. I feel closer to her now, because she too, is a part of the intellectual milieu which makes my boat float.  I have always known her to be highly intelligent and interested in world affairs, but to see her on fire about ART, well... that's a whole new level of mental intimacy.

To be in a room with others who can lament what the American education system has done to reading, and the shameful, slow, stifling of the arts, is to be swimming in comfortable waters.  Perhaps the human mind needs to feel at home, and perhaps that is why we attend pointless-seeming conferences (Oregon Women in Higher Education, 2012) to bemoan our lack of intellectual stimulation and the crushing burdens of bloated bureaucracy and achieve-or-die standards that offer no work-life balance. Perhaps stagnation is all in our heads- as in ten years I've done so much and still feel like a ho-hum student. Perhaps Rudyard Kipling was right (as blasphemous as that seems) and Triumph and Disaster are a couple of impostors.

Reconstructing Roman Hair and Deconstructing Myths about Hair

Several scholars have repeated the story that Roman women had slaves (called ornatrices, or ornatrix in the singular) who styled their hair daily. There are scores of paintings and reliefs that show wealthy women sitting in front of mirrors, with attendants working away on their hair, and satirists joke about cruel mistresses who demand perfection from their stylists.

However, many Roman women were able to style their own hair, and it is probable that then, just as now, women in the same household helped each other with their hair. Two scholars, Elizabeth Bartman and Janet Stephens, have made videos in which Roman hairstyles are recreated. In the process they have shown that the styles which looked impossibly complex to previous scholars are actually quite simple, once broken down into steps.

In this video, produced by Bartman, Faustina the Elder's hair is reconstructed:

Janet Stephens shows us how to style Faustina the Younger's hair here:

As a bonus, Stephens also shows men's hairstyles:

Janet Stephens has made several videos on Roman hair and even one on Roman earrings, which are available here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jntvstp

Tattoos and Body Modifications in Antiquity, Part II

Session Title:

Tattoos and Body Modification in Antiquity – Part II EAA Oslo, 17th Sept., morning session

Philippe Della Casa & Constanze Witt

Session Abstract: From Oetzi the Iceman to today's full-sleeved and pierced urbanite, it seems that body modification has always formed an integral part of the human animal's relationship to its body. Some adornments are temporary or purely situational, such as particular body paints, jewelry or hair treatments, while others are quite permanent and, when we are very lucky, preserved in the archaeological record. The archaeologist's arsenal in studying preserved tattoos and other body modifications has expanded in recent years. At the same time, anthropological interest in "the body" and embodiment has greatly increased theoretical interest in practices that "inscribe" upon the body. Few still see tattooing simply as a display of art; they look instead for distinctions of status, rank, age or gender, for medicinal uses, for punitive or laudatory uses, for manifestos or other propagandistic uses, as marks of belonging or exclusion, as marks of transition or transformation... As the body arts of, e.g., Oceania Asia, are better understood, the ideas have cross-pollenated with European archaeology. In fact, the serious and scientific attention accorded to body modification today contrasts starkly with earlier dismissal by Europeans of tattooed "barbarians." We feel that, in the current atmosphere of acceptance, it is time for a multidisciplinary session on the archaeology of body modification.

After the great success of the “tattoos and body modification” session at last years EAA meeting in The Hague, Netherlands, the session organizers have decided to enlarge and deepen the argument in Oslo, with a particular – but not exclusive – focus on northern Europe.

We invite papers from all relevant disciplines, but particularly welcome bioarchaeologists who work with the detection and analysis of ancient tattoos; archaeologists who work with preserved tattoos and/or modifications; and all those whose reconsiderations of ancient tattooing practices promise to expand our field and contribute to richer understanding of the ancient body and mind.

Please contact: Philippe Della Casa UZH – phildc@access.uzh.chPhilippe Della Casa1 & Constanze Witt2

1 Dept. of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Zurich, Switzerland 2 Makawao, USA

Tattoos and Body Modification in Antiquity: Agency, Identity, Structure, and Performance - an Introduction to the Session.

Aspects of embodiment such as tattoos, scarification, burning, and other body modifications or intentional mutilations, as well as temporary changes of bodily appearance using colors or cosmetics, have played and still play an important role in the construction, expression, perception, and transformation of individual and group identities throughout the world. However, identity is a very complex socio-psychological construct that relates to a great variety of individual and communal aspects. When dealing with these, issues of body and self, power and gender, agency and symbol, norm and deviance, construction, performance, and reproduction arise.

The care, consideration, and long process that goes into every form of body modification reminds us that there is nothing «pre-rational» - as often claimed - or automatic about it. It is never silent, seldom solitary, and always transformative. We are fully justified in treating body modifications of all kinds with our full arsenal of analytical tools, whether art historical, anthropological, archaeological, historical, or any other.

Philippe Dallais

Museum of Ethnography, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Tattoo and Other Body Modifications in Prehistoric Japan: Ethnography, Evidences and Speculations

Going back in time from the early 20th century Ainu people from Northern Japan to the Jomon period, I propose to review the available information on tattoo and other body modifications in prehistoric Japan. From this investigation, I would like to analyze how far the Ainu female traditional facial and arm tattoo can be related to the different interventions the Jomon are believed to have made on their bodies, as the Jomon terracotta figurines bearing intriguing marks on their faces and bodies can suggest.

Aaron Deter-Wolf

Division of Archaeology, State of Tennessee, United States

Bundles and Burials: The Archaeological Context of Ancient Tattoo Implements

There are certain important classes of material culture within the archaeological record which are not widely recognized, either because of their ephemeral nature or as a result of cultural bias. Ancient tattoo traditions have been identified throughout the entire world, and recent scholarship has acknowledged the social, civil, and ceremonial importance with which these traditions were imbued. Following more than a century of scientific archaeology and the propensity of archaeologists to pigeonhole all manner of tools into descriptive categories, one might expect the existence of a corpus of positively identified tattoo implements in archaeological collections.

However, relatively few of these identifications exist and very little is known about the material culture of ancient tattooing outside of Southeast Asia and Oceania. This presentation builds on research I presented at the 2010 EAA session Aspects of Embodiment: Tattoos and Body Modification in Antiquity, in which I used experimental archaeology to recreate and test the utility of ancient tattoo implements identified from the

ethnohistorical record of eastern North America. That research showed that neither the effectiveness of a tool for tattooing in a modern setting nor the application of use-wear analysis permits conclusive identification of tattoo implements from the archaeological record. At the present time there is not a sufficient library of use-wear data with which to distinguish wear patterns left from tattooing human skin and those created by processing other soft hides. Instead, use-wear data must be supplemented by techniques such as protein residue analysis and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in order to present a convincing case for identification of an ancient tattoo tool. Unfortunately such examinations are outside the budget and scope of technology for many archaeological investigations. In the absence of these analyses, archaeological identification of possible tattoo implements instead requires an examination of their context.

Ancient tattoo needles did not travel as individual items, but instead likely functioned as part of a larger toolkits associated with both the functional and symbolic aspects of the tattooing process. This research uses comparative ethnographic data and ethnohistorical accounts to identify the basic components of a tattoo toolkit as it would appear in the archaeological record. Based on this assemblage, I propose that to identify a tattoo needle in an archaeological context requires the convincing association of that artifact with pigment remains and an assortment of supporting materials such as tools for pigment processing and application, artifacts for tool repair and maintenance, and varied ceremonial accoutrements. This approach is applicable to both reexamination of existing collections and future archaeological fieldwork.

Teresa Ingalls

Department of Anthropology, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Honolulu, Hawaii

The Use of Bird Bone Picks in Hawaiian Tattooing

Bird bone picks are found in archaeological contexts throughout the Pacific Islands yet very little is knownabout their use or how their function varied from region to region. The common assumptions are that they were used for picking the meat out of small shellfish or as needles for sewing barkcloth. At the Nu‘alolo kai rockshelter site on Kaua‘i, in the Hawaiian Islands, over 500 bird bone picks were recovered during excavations in the 1950s. A reanalysis of these picks has identified a small number that were modified to serve as tattooing combs. In addition, manufacturing marks on the distal end may point to the picks being hafted. This opens up the possibility that these objects were used for tattooing in prehistoric Hawai‘i.

Rhiannon Y Orizaga

History Dept., Portland State University, Oregon, United States

Roman Cosmetics Revisited: facial modification and identity management

In ancient Rome, the use of cosmetics, including the splenium (temporary face tattoo), was a method of facial modification by which users made statements about their identities. In this paper it is demonstrated that cosmetics could be employed to express gender, social, religious, and economic identity, as well as to challenge or uphold the status quo. While for some groups facial modification was a means of fitting in, for others it was a means of creating a new space for gendered expression. Likewise, wherever cosmetics were normative, the opportunity to make a statement by ceasing to use them existed. Where moderation was promoted, excess was a means of expressing power and nonconformity. Finally, when cosmetics were seen as a prerogative of the wealthy, their usage by the poorer classes was a physical enactment of a higher status. It is my intention to show that the role played by cosmetics is worthy of closer scholarly attention, and that temporary facial modification was a deeply significant aspect of identity and life in the Roman Empire.

Heather Gill-Frerking, Anna-Maria Begerock, Wilfried Rosendahl

Reiss-Engelhorn Museums, Mannheim, Germany

Interpreting the tattoos on a 700-year-old mummy from South America

Three mummies exist within the collection of the Lippisches Landesmuseum in Detmold, Germany: one from Egypt and two from South America. Within the framework of the German Mummy Project, all three of the mummies were examined, using minimally-destructive methods and medical imaging. Small tattoos were visible on the one of the mummies, an adult woman identified as belonging to the Chiu-Chiu culture of South America. As part of the evidence-based examination of the mummy, the tattoos were recorded and interpretation attempted, within the bio-archaeological and cultural context of the mummy. The specific meaning of the simple tattoos on this particular woman has not yet been determined and multiple interpretations must be considered. Tattoos on various, mummies have previously been interpreted as aesthetic adornment, indicators of social status, ceremonial or religious symbols and possible indicators of therapeutic treatment. This paper will describe the tattoos found on a 700-year-old mummy from South America, and explore the potential interpretations of these tattoos.

Sergey Yatsenko

Faculty of History of Art, Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow, Russia

Tattoo System in the Ancient Iranian World

A series of 6 mummies with tattoo was discovered in the barrows dated by the late stage of Pazyryk culture (the 4th-3rd cc. BCE). Their subjects besides few exceptions are animals usually depicted in dynamic poses. There are differences of three social groups – the high aristocracy (Pazyryk), the nobles of lower ranks (Ak-Alakha 3) and common people (Verkh- Kaldjin 2). On the bodies of less important personages the tattoo concentrated on the both hands or on the shoulder only (which was not coved by clothes in summer). On aristocrats’ bodies the tattoos covered the zones which were not usually open. The most popular personage of tattoo is a monster – a wild goat with an eagle’ beak, with a tail of panther and with a row of gryphon heads along the edges of horns; another popular image was a realistic wild ram. The monster similar to panther with very long spiral tail was known by Chinese and located in the “northern barbarians’ lands” (Shanhaijing / 山海經 / Classic of mountains and seas. 3.4a). We see the real influence of the images of early Chinese zoomorphic goods: a winged tiger – one of 12 gods which drives out the demons (Ibid. 12.2) and a tiger with deer horns – the master of mountain forests. There were gender preferences in types of torment’ scenes and species of tormented animals; the depictions on a legs and heraldic compositions were absent from female bodies. Other nomadic Iranian groups used tattoo from early childhood (Sext. Empir. Pyrrhon. 3.202) and sometimes even made them on the bodies of dependent tribes’ women (Clearchus of Soli. Biograph. 4., fr. 8) but the bodies (except the faces) were usually covered with clothes. On the images of male gods tattoos were presented only on the cheeks –three horizontal lines (Siberian Collection, Issyk, Balakleya), on goddesses images – on one left / ‘female’ cheek (Tolstaya Mogila). Very seldom the faces of the dead are covered with special ‘burial’ cosmetics of one-two colors but we don’t know the reasons of such decoration.

Karina Iwe

Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany

Tattoos from Siberian Burials of the Iron Age

One of the most significant traits of prehistoric cultural complexes located in the Eurasian steppes and foreststeppes during the Iron Age is the Animal Style. This iconography, with zoomorphic motifs in certain poses and with different signs and symbols on it, contains multivalent information such as value systems, clan identification, religious beliefs etc. Particularly remarkable are the preserved tattoos on the bodies of ice mummies from South Siberia (e.g. Pazyryk, Ak-Alakha) due to specific climatic conditions. Within these images we can recognize several motifs. Animals of the surrounding environment are its basic elements. In addition we can identify also fantasy creatures which consist of certain elements of different animals. Beside single motifs we can see also multifigured scenes. All these motifs are not connected to a certain social rank or gender. These tattoos of nomadic horse-riders of the Iron Age marking another fascinating group of a medium through which are images perpetuated – the human body. What kind of belief and meaning is connected to these images? Who are these people who are attached to the tattoos? What kind of information can we get from the range of motifs? Within my presentation I will discuss not only the motifs but also the graves they are connected with. I will also talk about the new images which appeared through new investigations a few years ago (Barkova/Pankova 2005).

Svetlana Pankova

The State Hermitage, Department of Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia, Saint- Petersburg, Russia

Not Only Pazyrykians: One More Culture with Ancient Tattoo Tradition in Siberia (Tattoos from the Middle Yenisei Basin of III-IV Centuries A.D.)

In 2004-2005 a new series of tattoos was discovered on four mummies from Southern Siberia stored in the State Hermitage. Three of them derive from the famous Pazyryk burial mound of IV-III centuries BC whereas the last belongs to another region and period. This is a male mummy from Oglakhty burial ground in the Middle Yenisei basin, the Republic of Khakasia. Tattoos on this mummy are quite different from the Pazyryk ones. They include 13 figures located symmetrically on the shoulders, chest, arms, blades and the back of the neck base. The images on the chest and arms take the form of small commas and rosettes. On the innermost side of the elbow there is a tattooed bow with an arrow. On the shoulders and blades there are large figures with several tentacle-like shoots whose meaning is not clear. This is the first and the only case of tattooing ever found in this part of Siberia, however the existence of tattooing among its population was long assumed because of a number of painted burial masks. The analogies for the most expressive and mysterious tattooed figures are represented in the pattern of wool fabrics from the cemetery of Shanpula (Hotan district, Xinxiang, China) ascending in its turn to the taote masks of China. Through these parallels as well as some other evidences among the artifacts of Oglakhty burials one can assume the Oglakhty population to be descendants of some Xinxiang group.

a fresh start

I previously deleted all my blog posts because what was intended to be a chronicle of my higher education and the daily misadventures of a Master's student evolved into something I wasn't sure I wanted the world to see (not that so many people are looking). For me, the personal is political, but I also have a moral dilemma on my hands when my political life overlaps with someone else's personal life. Out of respect for others, then, I canned the many blogs of which I was and am still proud. I don't regret that decision.

What can I say? I started this blog because I believe in celebrating triumphs and mourning setbacks, and I believe in transparency about the lived experience- especially about the graduate school experience. Through the journey of grad school, I discovered Imposter Syndrome-- and also found out that several of my peers felt the exact same way.

I also realized that the hoops you jump through, are kind of generic guidelines to get you to the right place. For instance, learning Latin is a hoop. Most PhD programs expect 3 years, and I've had 2, but I can translate a passage with a dictionary, which is what I really need to be able to do. The hoop is a hoop, and I need to (emotionally) get over it as I get through it.

Academic conferences are a great way to get yourself out there and feel like a real scholar. So is buying a suit, and wearing it at the conference. Jessica Simpson heels are optional; I think some design school has to give her an honorary degree, like, yesterday.

Politics- some teachers have them, some teachers hide them, but I have come to the conclusion that American academics need to step up to the plate. Especially historians. It's okay to have a perspective, and it's okay to take a stand! My involvement with the QRC has neither hindered nor affected my academic career, but it has allowed me to have more honest relationships with a couple of professors and a lot of colleagues. Your passions are an asset wherever you go, I am telling myself now.

I am in a great and exciting place right now. An excess of nostalgia for the lost soul I was last year has prompted this post. Feel free to disregard it. But if by chance, you are embarking on an academic career, pay close attention to your advenchies, for they are the stuff of life. And now I'm off to do brilliant things in Norway and elsewhere!