I ran 20 km along the banks of this river this morning. As usual, when I run long distances my mind turns to how effective persistence hunting may have been in the distant past. I also often think of how running can be used as a metaphor for working in academia, in so many ways.

With youngest daughter, waiting for Vancouver Canucks to clinch division title.

Join Bob Muckle at Lynn Valley Library on April 17 for a free lecture about the Seymour Valley Archaeology Project as part of the Capilano Universe lecture series! Learn more: ow.ly/PKc650QX0hh

Today I ran a 10 Km race, partly to keep healthy and to generate ideas I want to incorporate into a story on the intersection of running and archaeology.

'The recent change to our course-management system has meant that I need to re-upload every document and assignment and reassign every homework. I will be attending three two-hour training sessions to help me do this.'
mcsweeneys.net/articles/class…

First fire of the year in the yard. Hot dogs and scotch. It’s tradition.

I have six kids. None of them pursued a career as an archaeologist. None of them pursued a career in academia either. But they also all acknowledge they have never met anyone who enjoys their work as much as I do.

It’s interesting how one can now reasonably foresee researchers submitting AI-generated manuscripts to journals that then use AI to evaluate the work resulting in academic publishing becoming exponentially more expedient, consistent, profitable, and useless.

Since the 1800s, Neanderthal depictions have evolved not only with changing science but also due to social views. An archaeologist explains why visualizations of our evolutionary cousins matter. loom.ly/aTdbqiQ

2 nights ago I gave a public presentation on my archaeology work to c. 60 people. An audience member told me they were a student of mine from about 20 yrs ago and it changed their life. They didn’t go into archaeology but they learned to think and recognize bias. Very rewarding.

Do all my fellow writing teachers have a teaching position they fantasize about that doesn't involve papers?

I dream of teaching BIO 101 someday... I sat by that instructor at Christmas brunch and asked questions like a fangirl.

Tracy Chapman has an anthropology degree. Other well-known musicians with anthropology degrees include Yo Yo Ma and Johnny Clegg. Clegg actually taught anthropology for a while.

An open letter to David Eby - it's time for Minister Selina Robinson to remove themselves from cabinet.

open.substack.com/pub/menziesubc…

Archaeologists and cake.

My Intro to Arch class got away from me. It turned into a series of stories about my fieldwork exploits. I never recall so much laughter from students. I've done a lot of dumb things. My final words were 'Your don't have to be smart to be an archaeologist.'

Ahh, decades of outreach not quite hitting home

I’ve been barely able to sleep the past 3 nights and I couldn’t figure out why. Turns out I was unknowing drinking energy drinks. I thought it was just lightly flavoured water. I’ve been laughing about it for hours.

‘The fantasy of Heritage Tourism’ -via those recreational DNA testing companies.

11 years ago today I made a Snow-Neandethal. They are yet to return. Note: feathered Neanderthals we're all the rage back then

I am writing on smells and tactile touches of archaeology. For me the first smells that come to mind include bears, sagebrush, and cedar after rain. For tactile touches, wooden handle of trowel, coarse grained basalt, dirt, and bottle glass. Examples from others are welcome.