This is relevant to my interests

Sorry to my handful of readers…I’ve been lagging a bit behind on the blog-front. I would love to say its due to getting settled in at the new job as a clerk at the JYF giftshops (which coincidentally, one of the first papers they made me sign was a statement saying I wouldn’t talk about my employment at the Foundation to/in any kind of public media, so let’s just hope they don’t read blogs—as if there would be much interesting to report from the giftshop aside from switching brands of plastic children’s compasses to sell). But honestly, I’ve been lagging behind in pretty much all aspects of life. All I want to do is sleep. I sleep in as late as I possibly can without being late to work. On days I don’t have to work I sleep until my stomach is so hungry I feel sick or I until I have to pee. When I come home from work the first thing I do is take a nap before dinner like it’s a warm-up run for the rest of the night. If I can’t sleep I do the next best thing and bury myself in a book or a tv series or a movie, just try and lose myself in someone else’s life, someone else’s story. Who wouldn’t choose running through Sherwood Forest with all your best friends high off the adrenaline of another survived-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth escapade over doing laundry? Who wouldn’t choose exchanging flirtatious spars with the smart-ass cavalier you love to hate over being written off yet again as just a friend? Or fighting off an army of revenants to save your father’s kingdom instead of standing at a cash register all day? Real life just has a hard time competing. Now I realize this is probably nowhere near healthy and so I’ve been really trying to be more social, thinking it should help. I go to movies, parties, dinners, out for coffee, out for drinks…and sometimes it helps and sometimes afterwards you feel twice as lonely as before...

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Anyways, while not much interesting has been going on in Miss Fox Pitt Rivers life, the Archaeological world has been quite another story:

First off, please tell me I’m not the only person shitting bricks about the boat that’s been discovered under the rubble of ground zero?

On July 13 a backhoe operating on the site started bringing up large curved timbers. After further examination archaeologists believe they’ve found remains of what appears to be the hull of an 18^th century ship some 20 to 30 feet below street level. Samples of the wood are being sent off to see if they can be more accurately dated via dendrochronology. I am in no way trying to gloss over the horror of what happened there 9 years ago, but what a crazy random happenstance. I am very excited to see what comes of this- if they can identify the ship, or the owner, postulate how it got there, and see how it adds to our knowledge of New York as a port-city in the 1700’s.

And then on a more local scale there is the dig going on in downtown Hampton, VA.

On the corner of Queen and Wine Streets archaeologists came across the foundations of an 18^th century building while examining the property as a future location for a bank. The excavation is now being carried out by James River Institute for Archaeology who believe the foundations are the remains of a home belonging to James Barron, a sailor distinguished in the revolutionary war for fighting against the British Navy. Artifacts being recovered promise to give further insights to colonial life and Hampton’s importance as one of the most bustling port cities in early American history. I have to give a tip of the fedora to the newspaper here for their excellent and zealous coverage of this developing journey into our community history, as it is something we should take pride and interest in. I know I'm following the story and keeping the clippings, thanks Daily Press!

ODE TO INDIANA JONES

If I have anyone to thank for introducing me to the world of archaeology, it’s my mom. I was about six old at home with the flu and completely miserable- due more to boredom than any real discomfort. Sensing this, my beloved mother realized that it was time—that her darling daughter had finally reached the maturity to move beyond Care Bears and My Little Pony videos and into the realm of the action film. With a pop of the VHS tape and the gentle whirr of the VCR, my world was changed forever. Suddenly I was transported from my projectile-vomiting shell into the Amazonian rainforests, the Himalayas, and at last to Egypt.

I fell in love. I fell in love with traveling to exotic locales. I fell in love with Harrison Ford just in time for the sultry scoundrel Han Solo in the re-release of the Star Wars series in 1997. I fell in love with the professor-by-day-swashbuckler-by-night character of Indiana Jones (and to this day Miss. Fox Pitt Rivers harbors a thing for brunettes with a little facial scruff who wear button-down shirts. She can’t help it, she’s been conditioned!). But, most of all I fell in love with the idea of digging up really really old stuff. To put it eloquently.

15 years and one anthropology degree later I realize that Indiana Jones is not the most accurate portrayal of the archaeological life. In fact I’ve noticed quite a few discrepancies between Indiana Jones and what I deign to dub “real” archaeology.

1) There is a noticeable lack of Nazis. I guess now a days they are all too busy looking for Kyle to go on a quest for some sacred relic with mysterious powers.

2) Due to said lack of Nazis the most real threats of bodily harm to archaeologists are snakes, bugs, wild dogs, and angry land owners with guns who speak no English and just want you to get off their damn property.

3) Whisking priceless artifacts of great cultural significance out from under the noses of the local people is in most places a criminal offense called SMUGGLING, even if it does eventually end up in a museum. If caught you will be arrested and really who wants to spend a night in a Peruvian prison over a golden monkey? Granted, this is a relatively new concept, Indiana Jones was just following in the footsteps of his predecessors Hienrich Schliemann and Thomas Bruce, Lord of Elgin.

4) Archaeology can be supremely boring at times. For every Golden Monkey, there are 7.5 billion pottery shards to be analyzed.

5) It is true that by excavating a site, archaeologists are in fact destroying it. This process of destruction however should be done as carefully and painstakingly documented as possible. It is never acceptable to destroy a site by knocking down walls with oversized statuary, blowing it up, or crashing a vehicle into it.

6) After all of your archaeological escapades you must publish your research. Or you will be most likely be fired by whatever institution hires you. With all his gallivanting through the wilderness when does Prof. Jones find time in his office at Marshall College to write and submit articles to the American Journal of Archaeology?

But for all that we can nit-pick on poor Prof. Jones he brought some truly admirable things to the Archaeology table. Most of all, public interest (a rare commodity in the academic world). I once attended a lecture class in which the professor asked all of the students who were interested in archaeology because of the Indiana Jones movies to raise their hands; everyone raised their hands. Indiana Jones is not just a media mogul, but a phenomenon that has sparked the fascination of countless young people in the cultures, practices, events, and remains of the past. And so I give unto you, Professor Henry Walton Jones Jr., a tip of the fedora. Josh Bernstein’s got nothing on you.

And now to sweetly reminisce upon the greatest cinematic scene ever shot...

(I have to link because I have NO idea how to embed a video)

The Job Journey So Far...

Last Friday I had my interview with the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. I thought it went as well as it could have. I know I have the experience with customer service, cash register functions, inventory, and sales software that is necessary for a gift-clerk position. I believe the main hang-up is my availability. My current job inhibits the “flexible” scheduling that is preferred, not to mention that I will (hopefully) be leaving for Boston University next August—a fact that my father tells me would have been in my best interest to gloss over, but I haven’t quite gotten into the habit of misrepresenting myself yet. In response my interviewer said, “I’d rather have one good employee for a year then deal with a bad employee for three,” which gives me some hope. And after fervent assurances that they needed this position filled immediately because of severe understaffing and that they’d let me know in two days at most…well, that was 5 days ago. I won’t be upset if they finally call and say “no,” because I understand their hesitancies toward hiring me for the aforementioned reasons; it was great to just get some more interview experience. However, I find very frustrating the attitude of employers that getting back to applicants in a timely fashion is neither important nor necessary. It is blatant rudeness that has somehow become acceptable and indeed the norm in the so-called professional world. I do not approve.

I would also like to take the time to stress the importance of the ability to network. Anyone can network in any environment. Weeks ago I assisted a customer work and we ended up engaging in a conversation on my career goals. The customer then told me he worked for the Computer Sciences Corporation and that there was a position coming available that he thought I would be great for and paid twice as much as I was earning now. He gave me his business card, took my phone number, and called a few days ago to let me know the position had come available on the CSC website. Sure, I may not get it. Sure, it may not be in my field. Sure, it may be sitting in front of a computer all day letting my muscles atrophy and my body fat percentage shoot sky-high. But if I do, it will get me that much closer to the Boston U end goal.

And Now For Something Completely Different…

I feel that for a blog on the journey to become an archaeologist this blog is distinctly lacking in archaeological content. I apologize. And so I will be making the effort to at least once a week publish a blog of archaeological content. Feel free to request topics you’d like to have expounded upon my dedicated…3 readers!

Sunny Day Musings

Mmmmm. If there is one thing I love above all else that this world has to offer, it is beautiful sunny days. As I write from under the dappled shade of Daisy’s dogwood tree, curling my toes into the cool grass, and breathing in the subtle scents of a nearby rose garden, I feel that this is way we were meant to live. And I find a deep inexpressible sadness that for some reason the human race has been unable to find truth and contentedness in this. Instead we find it more worthwhile to quarrel with our neighbors and invest in ideas of power and wealth. Or maybe I’m just upset because I know that in a few hours I will have to drive to the dark windowless world of work because following your dreams is damn expensive; a concept that just feels wrong.

This little moment of reflection is itself due to the fact that my hours at work have been cut back severely. Perhaps this should piss me off because I know it will have a detrimental effect on the Boston U fund, but I can’t help but buoyed by a recent development. I recently received a call from the Jamestown Foundation to come in next Friday for a brief interview. Now, before we all get too excited I feel it necessary to point out that this is only for a position at one of the museums’ giftshops, not one of the several archaeological positions I applied to. Nonetheless, this could be a very very good thing. Not only because it would suppleme

nt my waning wages and look excellent on a resume, but because of the possible networking opportunities it would provide. Never underestimate networking, it will get you further than an impressive resume anyday.

On a sidenote, one of my cats is ill. As I have not yet been blessed/cursed with miniature humans yet, my cats are the closest thing to and thus this amounts to a small tragedy in my eyes. So please pray/send good thoughts Leo’s way. He is a big gray fuzzy ball of adorable.

Dignity on Aisle 29

“Good morning sir, looking for anything in particular today?”

“Uhh, yeah. I’m looking for one of those electric dog fences.”

“Hm. Ah. I think…I think those might be on aisle 27. Or 28. Somewhere around there. In that general area.”

“You think they might be somewhere around there?”

“Sorry, I’m new.”

“Oh. How do you like working here?”

“ Eh, it’s not what I want to be doing for the rest of my life, but it pays. I’m saving up for graduate school.”

“Graduate school, huh? What are you studying?”

“Archaeology.”

“Archaeology? Girl what are you doing working here for? Have you looked into any jobs up there round Jamestown or Williamsburg? There’s a lot of that kind of stuff going on there.”

I’ve quickly come to hate anyone who asks, “So what are you doing working here?” As if I haven’t already looked for jobs actually IN my field. As if I haven’t applied to said jobs. As if working in an over-glorified hardware store is just fine with me. Because you know, I probably just haven’t been looking hard enough for a job. After all, how hard can it be to snag an entry-level position in archaeology? It’s not exactly a field you hear a lot about so it must not be very competitive.

People who ask, “So what are you doing working here?” have either:

1) Never been unemployed.

2) Have not been unemployed for a very long time and forgot what it’s like.

3) Have absolutely no idea what the Catal Huyuk they are talking about when it comes to archaeology.

Let’s address point 3 in a little more detail. Archaeologists are tenacious little bastards. They sit in their university or museum positions and hold on to them till they die; it is an extremely competitive field. Also, why pay people to excavate a site, when people will pay to do it for you? Archaeology enthusiasts often volunteer at excavations, offering to do backbreaking labor under the hot sun for free just for the glimpse of a lost piece of the past, and anthropology students will sell their mother on the street to pay for attending field schools (Anyone looking for a Mom in exchange for a field school in Turkey? She might not be the best cook but she's great company for a shopping spree!).

During the first month of the job hunt I took hours to painstakingly craft resumes and cover letters for every “entry-level” position I could find. I applied for positions as an Archaeological Aide, Archaeological Technician, Archaeological Assistant, Archaeological Assistant Technician, Aid to the Archaeological Assistant Technician, etc. It’s amazing how quickly your standards drop after a disturbing absence of any response, even rejections. The next month I decided it would probably be best to branch out a bit. I applied to a myriad of clerical and secretarial positions, because hey I make a mean Xerox and direct phone calls like a phenom. By month three I humbled myself and just started filling out applications for any and everywhere; local restaurants, shoe stores, book stores, coffee shops, department stores.

Eventually I lost track of all the places I had applied to (though I suspect it lies somewhere in the low thousands), not mention most of my sense of self-worth, social life, and sanity. So when I finally got that one call back from a home improvement superstore, who promised almost a dollar over minimum wage, and a schedule just minutes shy of being fulltime so they don’t have to give me any benefits…I grabbed it desperately with both hands. So don’t judge me when you come asking what aisle airfilters are on. They’re on aisle 29, right next to the remnants of my dreams and dignity.

A Brief Introduction

I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on December 19^th of 2009. I graduated Magna Cum Laude (lat. trans.: Totally Badass) with a 3.81 GPA, membership in several well-known honor societies, a B.A. in anthropology, and a minor in art history. I had worked hard and it had paid off. My entire family is college educated and walking across that questionably constructed stage in the middle of the Halton Arena in funereal robes was more than anything a coming of age rite signifying that I had at long last joined their adult ranks. It is the single proudest moment of my life thus far. I truly believed that finally, this was it, the beginning of my life! I had all that school fuss out of the way. Soon I would bravely be forging ahead in the real world to pursue my dream of becoming a world-renowned archaeologist (with her own History Channel show nonetheless).

Four months later I found myself back in swampy tidewater Virginia, sitting in a Panera Bread across from a friend, simultaneously trying to wolf down a Cuban Chicken Panini and confess my deepest heartfelt anxieties that I was already a failure. Instead of digging up projectile points of a Late Woodland Period site or studying the change in burial patterns throughout the Bronze Age of Greece—I am living at home with my parents, working 9 to 5 for the nation’s favorite hardware-store-on-steroids-and-a-penchant-for-fluorescent-orange, with nothing to do on a Friday night, longing for the friends and good times that I left 342 miles to the south.

Post-graduate life is not exactly what I had expected. I wasn’t naïve enough to assume that once I graduated I would be offered a job in the field or a graduate school scholarship on a gold platter, but neither had I expected the journey to be quite so torturous. Between applying to graduate programs, applying for jobs, being accepted and rejected from both, deciding which to choose, interviews, searching for scholarships, searching for a place to live, coming up with a budget… I’m not sure how many people realize just how hard the process can be, and how easy it is to lose heart. I’m not expecting many people to read this, mostly I am doing it for myself, as if somehow publicly chronicling the odyssey will make me more accountable for the need to achieve it rather than settling for something less. But for those who do stumble across goldenmarshalltown.blogspot.com, especially those who are about to leave the safe haven of the undergraduate world or find themselves in a similar position, I hope it will show that they’re not alone and help prepare them for the leap.