through the anthroscope
do you yelp? chronically check-in online everywhere you go? are you the virtual mayor of a building you drove by? this might be (for) you: there's been a lot of humor clips like these going around...
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on food memories
last year, as some of you might remember, i set about a personal project - a 365 day food photo project. each day i took pictures of food i encountered and, from the mix, picked one photo to...
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happy blogday!
it's been another year here in the cactus garden, which is kind of crazy when you think about it. back in 2008, the cactus garden was an awkward little blog that couldn't decide what it wanted to be...
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loss and memory
i’ve been having some difficulties finding words here, mainly because there’s something －someone－ i want to talk about, but i don’t know how. khayelitsha, the view from vicky's front door in the end...
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sometimes the best secrets aren't secrets
i have a secret that’s not a secret. it’s more like a constant, startling revelation. i have a masters degree. how awesome is that? if you’ve been around here before, you might know that in the...
View Articlewelcome to my thesis, part one
Shamrocks, Sombreros, and the Stars and Stripes: Ritual Drinking on Nationalistic Holidays and the Creation of Cultural Identity This paper examines ritual drinking practices on the nationalistic...
View Articlewelcome to my thesis, part two
this is the second post in a series of discussions examining the research i conducted and the choices i made while working on my master's thesis, "shamrocks, sombreros, and the stars and stripes:...
View Articlewelcome to my thesis, part three
this is the third post in a series of discussions examining the research i conducted and the choices i made while working on my master's thesis, "shamrocks, sombreros, and the stars and stripes: ritual...
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on accepting writer’s block
i haven’t been in the right frame-of-mind to write for a while now. both my grandmother and my mother recently tore their rotator cuffs, and for the past few months (well, since mid-january,...
View Articlewelcome to my thesis, part four
this is the fourth post in a series of discussions examining the research i conducted and the choices i made while working on my master's thesis, "shamrocks, sombreros, and the stars and stripes:...
View Articlewelcome to my thesis, part five
i've had to make the difficult decision over the past month or so to take a step back from finishing this series. this decision stemmed from both the family health issues i mentioned back in april,...
View Articlethe annotated arbor
look! over there! scurrying out of the long grasses of the croquet field to lurk in the cool, dark shadows of the arbor... it's the wild annotated bibliography! in all seriousness, though, the cactus...
View Articleacademic gluttony
the other night mr and i were hanging out and just chatting about life, the universe, and everything, when i mentioned that i had fallen down into the research black hole that morning. "you're such a...
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the writer's corner
i was catching up with my lovely friend, sc, the other day after what felt like a lifetime of missing her wonderful warmth, kindness, and insightful thoughtfulness, when we got to the conversation of...
View Articlethrough the anthroscope
i'm feeling a bit rough. my grandmother (who, because of both love and biology is also am the elder and am the younger's grandmother, too, and goodness that was an awkward way of saying that) went...
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not rapunzel's tower
Image description: A drawing of a rook from a chess set as a tower, with a woman standing at the top, and another person visible through a window. Both are dressed in graduation robes and hats....
View Articleovertures of new growths
i have, for some time now, been considering what to do. when my grandmother passed away this past september, i was understandably drained. i had lived with her as a caregiver for a couple months in...
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societal implications and issues stemming from solitary confections and the...
last month i was going through the cactus garden comments for approval, when i came across one (well, technically, two in a row, but they were the exact same comment, word-for-word and...
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divine anthropological escapism
alright kids, here's the deal. i've been "working" on an armchair ethnography for about the past year now – actually longer, i guess – and i've finally gotten to the point where i can start working...
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terry prachett
it is with immeasurable sadness that we announce that author sir terry pratchett has died.the world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds. rest in peace sir terry pratchett. quote and...
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