Grave Reflections: May 2005

How To Draw a Franz Boas: Shadows and Shading

...And we're finished (finally)!

Pop-stain still noticable, now on to shading...

Saving Face

Most of his face is done. Notice the brown pop stain on the right from letting it sit in my car too long.

The Dead Chicken, or the Aborted Egg?

I'm keeping this one short and sweet.
Emile Durkheim claimed that the most significant beliefs arose out of the established forms of rituals. Many believe today that it was the rituals that established beliefs. One such arguments involves Neanderthal burial. Did they develope a ritual from their gradual awareness of death, or did their ritual come from not knowing originally what to do with the dead, with the systems of belief following?
My question comes from The Buried Soul, by Timothy Taylor--some of the cannibal arguments came from that book as well.
Anyone have any thoughts on this debate?

My "First Draft" of Boas

My pencil work is pretty much done, so I'll start on charcoals soon--I had to print the photo in three sizes just to compare detail and proportions.

My Own "Baby Einstein" and Thompson's Fine Dine

About two days ago, Karissa and I were playing with Isabella like usual. She got up to go to the bathroom, and made me keep Is from crawling through the doorway before closing the door. So I'm laying there playing with her, and she's got this Carebear music thing, where you push on the Carebear's tummy, and it makes music. I push the button, music plays, gets her attention. She crawls over to it, looks at it, and slowly puts her little index finger on the Carebear's belly. This may not seem like anything big to you guys, but I just watched he "comprehend" that she has to push that little button to play the music! I kept thinking of that music that plays during the Dawn of Man.
We went out to eat with Kevin's and April's families tonight. It was fun, because we ate at the Fireside Bar & Grill in Thompson, and it was actually a nice place to eat. It reminded me of Trapper's Kettle outside of Medora, only smaller and with less traps.
I'm currently in the middle of illustrating a portrait of Franz Boaz. I'm not gonna tell any of you who this guy is, you'll just have to find out for yourselves. I will post the pic when I'm finished with it, though. If I can get some ceramic samples for that Cyprus project, I'll post those illustrations too.

Website Information

I hope your comment comes up, josie, I wanted to see the website you found. In the meantime, I did read about the Donner party serving six months (in an institution or prison I assume) before being released. I found the original website where most of my info comes from. It's actually an offshoot of the Court TV website, so this isn't too bad as far as reliability. When you get to the link below, the info of cannibal law is under criminal cannibalism. Oh, and it's not a FELONY. That does not mean it is not against the law in the U.S.--I'll give you that. But in many parts of the world, it is not a crime period unless associated with murder--but all that is in there, so I won't get into detail. Read it right around dinner time and you should be good to go.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/cannibalism/

I Didn't Kill Her, I Just Had Her Over For Dinner!

I know I've asked the question about cannibalism before, but I just love to hear about it! Especially pertaining to moral and ethical standards. I recently learned that cannibalism is NOT a crime in the U.S. What is a crime is actually killing the person you're going to eat. Dahmer never got charged for "eating" any parts of his victims. It is, however, looked down upon by society. One serial killer claimed that raw human meat tasted like steak tar tar.
Women & children in Papua, New Ginuea had been dying in great numbers in the mid-twentieth century from a disease called Kuru, literally meaning "tremors." It attacked the nervous system, and the victim would die within months. They believed it had to do with sorcery. Numerous studies of the Fore culture concluded at first that it was a result of cannibalism: The men, who had acquired non-human meat, would take the choice parts for themselves and leave the women and children with the scraps, lacking the necessary nutrition. Eventually, the women prepared the bodies of the recently deceased (no killing involved) to be eaten, partially a funerary ritual, but also for nutritional reasons.
Much later it was revealed that the Kuru agent was a prion, which is smaller than a virus, and consists solely of a PROTEIN. What is human meat a rich source of? And guess what else can result from prions? Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans (best known for getting it from cows with bovine spongeform encephalopathy, or MAD COW DISEASE), scrapie (in sheep), and wasting disease (in deer).
There. I taught everyone something. That didn't hurt too much, did it? Okay, my head hurts a little.
Now that we know it's perfectly legal to roast up postmortem grandma (whose death we were NOT responsible for!) and that in some cultures it was a sign of respect (much like visiting tomb stones or keeping ashes of uncle Bob on your mantle), not to mention its symbolic prevalence in many religions like the Eucharist (though Jesus did that in opposition to human sacrifice), but that we may not be completely aware of the medical implications (does grandma contain harmful prions?), I'll ask again, and I really want you to think about it (come on, Kevin, I know you've perused my blog or at least have thought about it!):
How do you feel about the ethics of cannibalism, accompanying murder and otherwise?

This is my only color pic to date. I did it with chalk pastels last January.

Those Damned Colors!

I posted a comment on Karissa's blog that might look like I was mad when I wrote it, but I wasn't--I was just setting the record straight.
Anyway, I went to see the student films today. There were only three, so we had to watch some of last year's movies as well. They were actually pretty good for amateurs. I've seen quite a bit with that kind of quality to them.
I tried to see Dr. Leach about the Cyprus project, but she was in a meeting, so that fixed that idea but good. I was hanging out in the student lounge for a bit, then I realized I had to work today (I worked at 4pm, I realized I worked at 11:30 am, so it's not like I was late or anything).
Fred, who works the night shift at Travelodge and is quitting, talked to me last week about an investment he's getting into. Some guy he knows in Dallas bought a $100,000 printing machine to reproduce professional art prints. They're trying to invest in amateur art (that's GOOD amateur art) to trade and sell internationally. He's really excited about this because his internet business has taken off by leaps and bounds, which makes him a financially comfortable guy. He wants me to contribute something with the hopes that someone somewhere might like it and want an expensive print. Here's the catch: it has to be in color. Okay, it doesn't HAVE to be, but he doesn't know how a black-and-white would sell, so a color would be a much better bet. But this means I have to wipe off the charcoal and start trying to play nice with...colors!! I don't have much experience with colors, and blending frustrates me, so this could prove interesting.

Playing House

Today I finally had a day completely off from work AND school! It was nice. Karissa's been taking care of Is by herself quite a bit lately, so I thought while we both had the day off, I'd help out a bit. I woke up with her today and fed her myself for every meal, and tried to play with her so Karissa could relax a little. Of course, I got halfway through changing her after I woke up when Karissa came down the stairs. Apparently she doesn't know how to sleep in anymore! But she's had a rough week what with moving and Is being fussy (a diaper rash thing) and school all at once, so hopefully at least this will help. It's timed well, too, because Mother's Day is this Sunday--by the way, this is Karissa's first official Mother's Day as a mommy, so wish her Happy Mother's Day! Do it now. I'll wait. Fine, fuck you then, I'll tell her myself!
I've only got my final poster project due now for Med Anthro and I wanted to go to film showing on Monday (to see how well extremely amateur students did on their films). Other than that, I just have final "reflections" to go through, and then summer school, here I once again come!
Oh, and Is is now sleeping in her own room! She's such a big girl about it, too, she wakes up in the morning and just talks to herself and plays with her dolly for a little bit before deciding it's time to wake us up.
Don't forget, tell Karissa Happy Mother's Day!

Getting Settled...

We're probably about close to maybe nearly 1/3 of the way through with unpacking. It's hard for me, because I have no clue where to start. I completely misunderstood Midco when I talked to them, and the cable & high speed both came on the same day. Maybe the phone is supposed to come the 13th, i don't know. Anyway, we now are the proud owners of high speed internet. Also, I didn't realize that I got us digital cable, so hooray for me for fudging on the good side for once! I thought I was getting regular cable w/HBO, but I ordered the package, so I just wasn't thinking. Nonetheless, I am pleased with myself.
Most of my classes are done this week, since those classes don't have finals. However, I do still have a poster presentation to do (I'm studying the nutritional aspects of cannibalism-yum!), and I have papers due this week. Then, I think, I might be done. I have to take a History yet this summer, but I persuaded my Archeology professor to let me do a 3-credit reading study under on ceramics & pottery, including some illustration. This way, I'll have some experience going in if I get to do that Cyprus project. I have to meet with her next week to discuss the details of the project plus get some pot sherds to do sample illustrations with.

Two Rites of Passage in One Week!

Okay, I'm pretty glad I'm not Amber today...
Anyway, there are three stages to a rite of passage
1. Separation (preliminal)
2. Transition (liminal)
3. Incorporation (postliminal)
All rites require a person to be removed from a previous status in order to enter a new one. We just got moved into our new house in East Grand, and it sucked. My dad & Jas came to help, which I kind of didn't want, because they always end up arguing with me about stupid shit, and I end up not wanting to see them for like two months. Oh well, that's family around here. But all in all, they were pretty helpful, and for the most part we got along just fine. The part that sucked the worst was the actual moving. Hated that. But I've found some fun routes to take me into Grand Forks, and we live near a gas station and fast food (some things never change). The gas station has has a liquor store attached to it, so that's pretty convenient. We definitely want to do a house party, but we have to find the right time, especially one where I don't work, and we'll have to make sure it's not the same night as Kevin & April's house-warming party. But until then, enjoy the virtual tour of our home.
That was my first rite of passage. it's also significant, because it's the first time we've paid COMPLETELY for a place, deposit and all, on our own. But in packing, I gave up my own identity, and faced ritual verbal beatings from both brother and father. I was suspended between worlds for a time while moving. I lived in both places, but I lived in neither. Then, as we unpacked, I slowly gained a whole new identity.
The second rite of passage was at school. This one was less a real life lesson, and more of a symbolic send-off for seniors. It wasn't too bad. We all had to make speeches based on a "mini" statement we wrote at the beginning of the semester. Then we had to ingest "ritual" food, which consisted on fried pita bread, greek olives, and something wrapped in a leaf and soaked in something. Then we received gifts that pertained somewhat to our interests (I got a DVD with 2 horror movies and a cartoon on it), and were sent off to gain our new identities. It was a little geeky, but hey, it makes for an interesting ending to a class, right?