Friend in the Field #1: Backpack

Hall of Fame Inductee #1

Dear Forever-Trekkers in the Field,

Several years ago, one of our best friends gave me this Eagle Creek Travel Gear backpack, which has been a loyal Friend in the Field ever since. She wasn't using it anymore, and I really needed one after I returned to graduate school full-time and stayed in Lexington during the week and went home on the weekends. I commuted to campus by bike, so my otherwise awesome single-strap leather mailbag was just not practical and resulted in too many unfortunate mishaps.

Friends in the Field: Hall of Fame Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Dear Ethnographers, Cultural Producers, and Artifact Collectors,

I've been meaning to finish and share this post for a while, but life has been enormously all-consuming this year. One way that I work through difficult times is reminding myself to be grateful for what I have instead of dwelling on what I lack. So I thought the beginning of the fall semester would be an auspicious time to formally introduce AnthroBone's "Friends in the Field Hall of Fame" in celebration of some of the awesome resources I have access to that support me and my work.

App Report: Other Apps for Research & Writing

Dear Anthro & Other Academic Appsters,

In my first App Report,* I expounded on the wonder of OneNote as a useful all-around and academic notebook app for research and writing. Because of my extended enthusiasm about OneNote and related "powertoys" (and the resulting length of that post), I promised to follow up with additional resources that I have gradually gathered, including some useful apps that I use regularly or am starting to explore. I have previously discussed some of these briefly in my AnthroDashboard of general resources, and I also shared some lessons learned with a previous version of EndNote. I have posted questions and exploratory comments about some of these in other social media venues without much response, so I thought I would share them to invite a wider discussion about academically useful apps. This is a fairly long and detailed list, so I've also included links below to skip ahead to particular sections.

App Report: OneNote for Research & Writing

Dear Nerdy Wordy Academic App-O-Philes,

Recently a fellow PhD graduate student in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology posed an email inquiry to our grad anthro list-serve about “writing apps for dissertating,” and there was a lively email discussion among several ABD PhD Candidates from the same or similar cohorts about several go-to applications they use. Given my nerdy love for digital tools and archives, I joined the conversation and offered some of my experience and satisfaction working with OneNote.

Exploring Mountains with Multisensory Methods: Sensory Postcards of Appalachia & the Andes

Dear Human Senses and Creative Beings,

My dissertation research focuses on the cultural productions of young visual media makers in Central Appalachia and how they envision, construct, and act upon possibilities for young people in the region. For the past four summers, I conducted preliminary field research at youth media education programs in South America and Central Appalachia, and I have observed and documented numerous visual productions and performances they have produced. However, since I returned to grad school in 2011, I haven't had as much time to engage in some of my own creative interests, which include multiple modes of storytelling, such as filmmaking, community theater, music/audio, and graphic design. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to combine these interests and activities in a public presentation of "sensory postcards" derived from my preliminary fieldwork.

The University of Kentucky (UK) Graduate Appalachian Research Community (GARC) hosts an annual Appalachian Research Symposium that "is intended to foster a supportive community in which students from various fields can present their Appalachian-based research and creative work." With the exception of 2015, I have presented at the GARC Symposium every year since I started my doctoral program in 2011. This event is one that I look forward to each year because it affords a level of creativity and experimentation that graduate school doesn't always offer. 

Activating Library Mind

Dear Academically-Inclined HumanKind,

I have meant to correspond more regularly, but this past spring semester entailed a time-consuming yet rewarding milestone for my current graduate student career: I am finally a PhD candidate, AKA ABD (all but dissertation), in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology. As follow-up to this process, I promised some folks that I would share some of the tools and strategies that I found useful along my long and windy way. None of this is intended as an exhaustive list of resources or a comprehensive how-to tutorial, but nonetheless it may serve as an occasional guidepost or light for someone else's path.

Departmental T-shirt by Karen, Katie, & Lydia

Dear HumanKind (& EarthKin)

First of all, I am endlessly inspired by the depth and breadth of your curiosity, creativity, ingenuity, diversity, complexity, and your work ethic. Since I was a young kid, I've always marveled at the consciousness and experience of being alive and being human. I've also pondered the fact that a seemingly infinite line of ancestors had to successfully survive and procreate to eventually produce me at a particular time and place.