I'm so used to Average Joes (Dougs?) getting lots of things wrong about my field that it felt like nitpicking. I mean, my students would get a crap grade for being that off, but just a dude on the internet? He did a not terrible job of writing up the article, but you can't just throw shit in without fact-checking.

Yaaaaay! *handshake*

I think we're just talking around each other, because I do agree with you. I'm not saying that it *cannot* be harmful. I just think that we need to acknowledge that some things are. seriously. off-limits. End of discussion. But then...some things don't necessarily fall into that "definitely for sure don't make kachina…

I think it IS worth thinking about and considering, because I think that "sexy war-chief" stuff is pushing it. However, I grew up in the Southwest where everyone wears Navajo and Hopi jewelry because it's beautiful. Hell, I've been given jewelry by friends and boyfriends. Cultural appropriation is a thing, but it…

Legal definition of cultural object/artifact, yo. See the NAGPRA legislation. I'm not saying that it's not a part of culture, I just think that using one habitation-based architectural form for habitation is not necessarily cultural appropriation. Tents are tents, and some are cooler than others.

It's also disingenuous to act as if "natives" are one group. There are plenty of tribes who use different forms for different purposes, so where non-native use of a teepee may be problematic to one tribe, it may not be in another group who traditionally used the form for something else. What to do, then? I'm the last…

Architecture doesn't count as cultural artifact unless it's religious or funerary in nature. Even then, it has to be employed frivolously and completely out of context. Teepees are traditionally for habitation, therefore there's nothing wrong with borrowing the concept for habitation of other people. Even then...you…

I'm just going to further nitpick a bit: 200 CE/AD was not exaaaaaactly the latter days of the Roman Empire (which only starts with Augustus in 23 BCE), especially in the east; everything falls apart a lot sooner in the west, but that wasn't even quite happening at 200. Also, Christianity did NOT have a very strong…

I feel like coral is even more bold than red, don't you? Or do you mean the spring version of coral instead of the summer version?

That shit is ROUGH. I personally like the show. However...I grew up along the I-40 corridor a couple of hours away from Albuquerque, and I knew a lot of people in my hometown who got into trouble with crystal meth. It's hard for me to watch it because of that. It is super depressing.

Also, any interview tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks to everyone who helped me out last week with turning my CV into a resume to apply for that academic advising position. Apparently I did a good job, since I had a phone interview and now I have an in-person interview at 8am on Monday! Zomgggggggggggggggg!

ALL THE VINEGARS!!!!! Seriously, though, I'm headed out of the country for three months, and I don't want to imagine what it's going to smell like after sitting in the midwestern summer sun :( It always ends with me just dropping a match into it and being done with it.

Jolie (and any other Jezzies who might know), I have a vinegar question for you. It's my fave, and I especially use it to get out balsamic spots from my clothes. I might have (definitely) spilled an entire bottle of balsamic in the backseat of my car. The stain bothers me less than the smell. If I just pour white…

Wow! Jezzies in real life! Very cool!

Ann Arbor :) Obviously not hit by the recession in the same way as the rest of the state, but the rent made up for it at the time (for us). We had been living in Hungary and paid in a very weak currency, so we blew most of our savings on our tickets home.

Oh god, you're telling me. My parents are really fucking cool and I've had an amazing relationship with them for most of my life; therefore, they're happy to help if they can, no strings or interest attached. Their philosophy is that they're doing fine, and part of the reason that my dad worked a well-paying but kind…

If you go to a chiropractor, make sure you find one whose website or literature specifies "gentle chiropractic", like, not just as an adjective, but as a method. My chiropractor in my home town is amazing, and incorporated a lot of physical therapy exercises into his treatment plans. However...my guy is a PT now and…

It got so bad that when we were in college on bitchin' private-foundation scholarships, his mother would borrow money from him without his dad's knowledge. Sometime this would take the form of "before you come home, can you pick up a PS3 for your sister's birthday present" and sometimes it was flat out borrowing cash.…

Yes! Mr. Dforce and I avoided explicitly talking about money for YEARS because we were on the same scholarships and then taught at the same school with the same income. Big difference, though: I have historically been a lot better at stashing money in savings accounts, and he's never had one ever (we're 27 for fuck's…