Higher education


How I got my first D in graduate school 2

This weekend, the unthinkable happened. I got a 60% on an assignment in one of my historic preservation graduate seminars. I haven’t done this poorly on an assignment since 9th grade geometry. How the hell did this happen?

When it comes to historic preservation writing in Tucson, play it safe

Bringing a Slice of the Archives to the Internet: the River Street Digital History Project

As a long-time historical archaeologist working in cultural resource management, I’ve been overjoyed to see how much archival information has been brought to the internet. I do not think there will ever be a day when a visit to the archives is no longer necessary, mainly because most archival repositories […]


How to get more minorities involved in archaeology

I’m writing this blog post from the Denver International Airport, en route back to Tucson after spending a fruitful July working on archaeological excavations in Glacier National Park. This project came close on the heels of a fruitful dissertation research trip to Boise, Idaho. Needless to say, this summer has […]

Paychecks will do much to increase minorities in archaeology

Travel hacking for archaeology graduate students

How archaeologists can enjoy the fruits of travel hacking 1

I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Boise, Idaho (Java Coffee and Café to be exact) enjoying Boise’s best coffee drink— the Bowl of Soul. This coffee didn’t come easily though. I’m coming off a 3-hour-long scanning binge that has resulted in the digitization of a huge amount of archival […]


Recap of My First year of an Archaeology PhD 2

“School has become the world religion of a modernized proletariat, and makes futile promises of salvation to the poor of the technological age.” Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society (1971) I’ve decided to take some time to write a short summary of my PhD at the University of Arizona. Sometime in 2012, […]

Recap of my first year of archaeology PhD studies

is it possible to get a tenure track archaeology professor position?

Addressing the Archaeology Professor Myth: Is it Possible to Realize Tenure Track Position? 2

Sometimes you read the obvious, but it doesn’t really sink in. Sometimes the obvious sinks right in to your core. I just finished reading two blog posts this week about the travails of post-PhD life. In 2011, Roderick asked “Is your PhD Worthless?” Partially answering his own question, Roderick mentions […]


The Power of Gratitude

A few weeks ago, I received one of the best gifts I’ve been given all year. It was a simple baseball hat that was sent to me from the kind folks at Forestry Suppliers. In case you didn’t know, Forestry Suppliers has a sweet archaeology field tools catalog (BTW: That […]

sweet hat from forestrysuppliers.com

Hear about what I learned at #SAA2014

#SAA2014 Debrief, Part I: Curating and Disseminating Archaeology 2

“I don’t always go to the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) annual meetings, but when I do, I prefer them to be in a cool place with a ton of rad dive bars.” The world’s most moderately interesting archaeologist (Me). I’m currently on the flight back from #SAA2014 and happened […]


NSF Archaeology grant success and the University of Arizona

Last week, Doug Rocks-MacQueen posted an article on his blog Doug’s Archaeology titled “Top Organizations Receiving NSF Archaeology Funds.” I was surprised to see my current grad school at the top of the list by a long shot. The University of Arizona dominated the list of National Science Foundation (NSF) […]

Financial independence is the key to ending the poverty mentality in archaeology