August 18, 2012

My apologies for taking nearly half a year to update you on how life is treating me. Be assured, I have not been idle. The spring and summer have been full of meeting up with old friends and family. In fact, as I write this note, I am on my way to Toronto where I will get to see all of the friends we left behind last summer. But let me back up a bit and give you some chronological accounts of what I have been up to. In April, I attended the annual meeting for the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Portland, Oregon. I had a blast. This city has it all - lots of good beer, beautiful volcanoes, and excellent public transportation. In addition to catching up with a number of colleagues, I got to see Alissa and Tammie, two very dear friends who I lived with in Australia back in 2000. Seeing these people was almost too good to be true. We only had a few hours together, which wasn’t nearly long enough. I savored every moment. We spent the evening at a place called “Departure”, which is one of the most unique venues I have even encountered. It’s angular halls, mirrors, and lighting system led me to believe that I had entered a space station. All too soon I had to bid my friends adieu. We had barely scratched the surface of what we have done for the past 11 years. I sure hope that we can meet again before 2032.

Back in Cincinnati, Mom joined us for mother’s day and we had a wonderful weekend. We got to see a little bit more of the city, including a nice afternoon walking around downtown. Then friends from Pennsylvania visited for Memorial Day. This weekend heralded the first heat wave of the summer, so we didn’t get to spend quite as much time exploring as we had planned. Nevertheless, we had a great time. It turns out, we can comfortably house a substantial number of people in our home. So come visit us! We will not disappoint you.

In June, I finished teaching an introductory class that I created about humans and our history of interacting with the natural world. I breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was incredible to have the freedom to develop and teach a course topic of my choosing, it was also exhausting. By creating my own class, I had no set curriculum to follow, no recommended readings or activities to guide me. I had to work from scratch. I would call the class a success. When I teach it next spring, I will aim to make it a smashing success.

10 minutes after administering the final for my course, Matt and I departed for New York, where we attended my 10-year reunion at Vassar College. The college has not changed much. It’s still as lovely as ever. However, the people have definitely changed. Prior to reunion, I had only seen one classmate since graduating. A substantial number of my classmates attended the event. Some were very easy to recognize, others more difficult. Despite the small size of my college, I am pretty sure I had not previously met all of the classmates who were in attendance. It was wonderful to get a chance to catch up a bit. Matt and I also got to spend a some time with my guitar teacher, Terry Champlain. I am so glad that they got to meet. Terry was a very special person in my life when I was at Vassar. After Vassar, we returned to New York City for an evening. We wandered about China Town, Soho, Greenwich Village and Harlem, checking out Columbia’s campus and North Central Park. A highlight of this very brief visit was drinking a couple of excellent beers at the “Rabbit Club”, which is a dark cellar full of candles and bunny paraphernalia in Greenwich Village. I also enjoyed a zinger of a ginger sazerac at “Little Branch” jazz club. Matt and I had a toast in honor of our friend Graham who used to live in New York City. He would have loved this place.

I briefly returned to Cincinnati and then headed off to Williamsburg Virginia where I attended a very useful workshop. I spent five days learning all about how to be a successful and well-balanced scientist. The leaders imparted wonderful tips on teaching, dealing with difficult colleagues, publishing, obtaining funding and having a life. I am so grateful that I was given this opportunity to meet with other early career scientists and learn that the struggles I had in my first year are not unique. The conference ended with a visit to the National Science Foundation Headquarters. What an opportunity! This trip significantly demystified the funding process for me and made me feel much more comfortable with approaching the funding agency in the future.

I returned to Cincinnati and had a day to do laundry and recuperate a bit. Then dad came for his first visit to Cincinnati. We very much enjoyed showing him Cincinnati, particularly the zoo and Crowley’s Irish Pub. July proved relatively relaxing. I visited mom briefly in Michigan. We swam in Lake Michigan, ate some very tasty food in downtown Kalamazoo and spent an afternoon chatting with Aylene. The trip was short but quite pleasant. It’s great that Cincinnati is so central to both mom and Matt’s parents.

Matt and I also hosted our first neighborhood party. I believe I have mentioned our neighborhood events before, but in case I didn’t, here’s a brief description: Every Friday evening various folks from the neighborhood get together for wine tasting at our local wine store, and then they retire to someone’s home for a potluck dinner. We decided that it was high time to host one of these events. The party was a resounding success. I believe that we wound up having around 35 guests. Lucky for us, the evening was beautiful and not stifling hot. We had neighbors pouring out the doors onto the deck and into the front yard. We had a mountain of food (and tasty leftovers). And we had a great time. Hopefully we will be able to make dinner at our house an annual event.

I took advantage of staying put in Cincinnati for a couple of weeks. I created websites for my lab and my upcoming course, I worked on manuscripts, and I started several new research projects. I felt very good about this use of my time. Catching up on annoying tasks and checking them off of my to do list is a great feeling. We also got to spend a day with our friend Megs, who attended graduate school with us in Santa Cruz. Megs and her fiancé, Dan, were passing through Cincinnati to attend a wedding. Megs is lots of fun and I have missed her. We weren’t able to spend much time together, but it was great nonetheless.

The end of July heralded my second workshop of the summer. This was a brief but illuminating meeting on teaching sustainability in Minnesota. Participants ranged from new professors, like myself, to seasoned veterans who have been teaching for 40 years or more. Everyone had a world of experience to share and I took copious notes. I will incorporate some of these ideas into my introductory course next spring (this will be part of my plan to make it a smashing success). I was pleasantly surprised to learn that two of my professors from Vassar were also in attendance. I enjoyed catching up with them. It is very exciting to transform from the role of student to colleague.

After Minnesota, Matt and I traveled up to Pennsylvania, where we collected a large carload of items from Matt’s parents’ home in Murrysville. These included some plants, art, and Matt’s baseball cards. We also gained a beautiful wooden file cabinet. In keeping with the rest of the summer, our trip was brief but we managed to pack in plenty of excitement. We visited friends Kristy and Jeff and their new baby Shea, we went on a lovely hike with Matt’s parents near their home, and Matt and I finally got to spend an evening at Kennywood, Pittsburgh’s amusement park. Matt has told me all about Kennywood for the past 10 years. Finally getting to go there was such a thrill. The park did not disappoint. We enjoyed two dozen rides ranging from the intense “Phantom’s Revenge” coaster to the 100-year old “Whip”. In the midst of an impending storm, many rides shut down. We took this opportunity to visit “Noah’s Ark”, which is a deteriorating funhouse of mechanized creatures rocking back and forth in a boat. Quite memorable. Although the storm passed without producing rain, it succeeded in clearing out the park. We, therefore, got to spend our final hour jumping from ride to ride without lines.

Back in Cincinnati for a day, Matt and I unpacked our rental SUV and I rented a new car to take me and my graduate student, Bevin, to the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. This was an exciting trip for both of us. I got to make some new contacts, learn some new lab techniques, and generate some pilot data for some new research projects. Bevin got to see mass spectrometers in action and obtained some important data for her masters thesis. Everyone was extremely nice in Illinois. We worked with two different labs – one to obtain strontium isotope data from water and tooth enamel samples, and one to obtain carbon and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel samples. Both labs were incredibly accommodating and patient with us. The fact that we were able to coordinate working in two different labs AND we were able to generate data while we were there was almost too good to be true. My favorite part of the lab work was my introduction to the multi collector inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer, which produced our strontium isotope data. This machine uses Argon plasma (that’s right, plasma, as in the fourth state of matter) to ionize material before it goes through the mass spec. I have never before seen plasma. I was entranced. During our visit, I got to spend an evening with Cris Hughes, a good friend from grad school. It was great to catch up with her. I’m so pleased to finally be able to see some of the friends that are scattered around the country. Hopefully this is a theme that will continue.

When I haven’t been traveling, I have been working on organizing my life. This involves fixing up the house, trying to finish up some research projects, and preparing for the upcoming fall, which will involve teaching a new class and mentoring a full lab of students. The housework is my favorite part. If I had to say what my current hobbies are, fixing up my house would be high on the list. I really enjoy working with my hands. Unfortunately, we can’t do everything myself, and what Matt and I have tried to tackle has proved extremely time intensive (but rewarding nonetheless). Just like science, things that seem like they shouldn’t be major, are, and everything takes longer than anticipated. So it goes. I’m proud to say that we refinished our slate shower and our deck. The work on the shower is not obvious but the deck looks fantastic. The rest of the projects have required help from others. This includes trimming trees, fixing the stucco exterior, redoing the gutters, weatherproofing and insulating, etc. Good thing we have jobs! We are currently working on transforming the mud pit behind our house into a beautiful grassy glen surrounded by trees. This falls under the category of “not doing it ourselves”. Step one was tearing out the prolific honeysuckle that had taken over the yard. Step two is demolishing the remnants of a retaining wall/ carriage house, which requires some major machinery. Step three is bringing in several tons of dirt and building a new wall. Step four will be planting things and beautifying. Hopefully step two will happen while we’re in Toronto. Before the intense heat wave this summer, Matt and I enjoyed spending time on our deck. Our marvelous catalpa tree keeps it shaded and relatively cool and the height of the deck makes it feel like a tree house. I eagerly await the day when we can look down from the deck to a pretty wooded yard.

So there you have it. Clearly things have been exciting. All in all, I’m proud of what I have managed to squeeze into a short summer. Now it’s time for me to seriously prepare for the fall. I anticipate that things are going to be busy. My lab has quickly blossomed from me and a few undergraduate assistants to me keeping track of six graduate and undergraduate advisees who are conducting their own research projects in my lab. My hope is to use my time in Toronto to get some final preparations taken care of (i.e. preparing lectures for the beginning of the year, finishing up some reviews, preparing talks for invited seminars this fall, organizing meetings with my students, etc.). It’s hard for me to believe that it a full year has passed since I traveled to India last September. At the same time, I have trouble convincing myself that it hasn’t been 10 years. I’ll endeavor to write again before 2012 is over. Until then, I wish you a lovely end of the summer.

Brooke