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About me...
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I'm a recycled Anthropologist. Anthropology was my first love. When it became apparent that making a living as an academic was impossible, I sold out for an obscenely high salary. I still love Anthropology but find pleasure in Information Systems too.
The glorious thing about Anthropology was that it satisfied my diverse interests. I could learn about other cultures, learn new languages, transcribe phonemes and morphemes, dig up the past, watch monkeys, re-articulate skeletal material, sleuth potsherds, construct karyotypes and much more and still stay within one discipline. While all of these activities are performed by non-Anthropologists too, what makes the anthropological perspective unique is the recognition that all of these areas are interrelated. One cannot truly understand man's culture without knowledge of his biology, evolution, history, etc. just as one cannot understand man's evolution without knowing about his culture, history, etc.
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I'm a native Southern Californian but have lived a year in Syracuse, New York, a year in San Angelo, Texas, 2 years in Crete, Greece (see photos), 1 summer on a Ford Foundation Fellowship at Tel Gezer, Israel, and 3 years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (while in graduate school). I currently reside in Southern California.
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Some of my interest areas:
Apiculture (Beekeeping).
Insects, especially Hymenoptera and bees (Apis mellifera) in particular, have been a fascination since I was age 6. My uncle was responsible for my first bee hive. I was probably about age 8 or 9 and spending the summer with my cousins in Northern California. A swarm of bees had taken up temporary residence on my uncle's wall. I scooped them into a cardboard box. My uncle then took me to a local commercial beekeeper who sold him a standard (Langstroth) hive and imparted a good deal of basic beekeeping knowledge. When my parents came to pick my up at the end of summer, they rented a trailer and we took the hive home to Southern California. I have kept bees since that time both as a backyard beekeeper and commerically with a partner. I have also taken Dr. Norman Gary's beekeeping course and hold a California State Agricultural Inspector certificate in apiculture. For a few photos, follow this link: beekeeping page .
Zymurgy (Fermentation).
I began brewing my own beer around 1982. I've tried many many different styles but prefer ales, specifically brown or other low hopped ales. For some years, I consistently brewed a light (colored) ale in two varieties, a normal alcohol (4-5%) variety and a light alcohol (about 2.5%) variety. I dubbed these Chino Hills Pale and Chino Hills Light respectively. In addition to this, I continued to try new styles and even succeeded in culturing some yeast from a Duvel (Belgian ale) bottle which resulted in a wonderful batch of Duvel look-alike.
In addition to beer, I've also made a number of Meads (fermentations of honey). Some were sweeter wine-like meads, some were dryer more like beer, some were sparkling and, around Christmas time I would brew a really nice Metheglin (spiced sparkling mead). As a beekeeper there was never a shortage of honey. I haven't brewed beer or Mead in some time now as I turned to wine instead. This brings me to the next interest area.
My attempts at fruit wine have been marginal at best. The one exception was a sweet blackberry wine which was too quickly consumed.
Subtropical Fruit.
When we bought a new home, about 25 years ago, it was unlandscaped. I determined that, if I had to plant trees and bushes, I wanted something that would produce. I joined the Calfornia Rare Fruit Growers and began reading up on Tropical and subtropical fruit. To make a long story short (I know, too late for that), currently in my back yard I have, Mangos (two varieties), Guavas (5 varieties), Kiwis, Bananas (Blue Java), Asian pears (5 varieties), Loquats (2 varieties), Cherimoyas (5 varieties), Passion Fruit (several varieties), Blood Oranges, Naval Oranges, Grapefruit, Pumelos, Kumquats, Limes, Lemons, Apples, Peaches, Nectarines (2 varieties) and Apricots. I know, these last are not tropical but variety is the spice of life. For a few photos, follow this link: Backyard Fruit page.
You can now see how all this fits together. The bees pollinate the fruit trees, and the honey and fruit can be fermented.
Thank you for listening
C6H5OH
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Music
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When I was in High School the music de jour was folk. I got very involved in folk. I spent countless hours in the dozens of coffee houses around Los Angeles. I sat and listened to Hoyt Axton at the Satyr, Terrea Lea at the Garret on Fairfax, visited McCabe's in Hollywood, made frequent trips to The Ash Grove and lounged at Neptune's on Melrose. I was at the Joan Baez concert in L.A. when she introduced Bob Dylan to the world.
My passion for folk led later to ethnic and international music. Today I listen to Ofra Haza, Sheila Chandra, Giannis Poulopoulos, Nikos Xilouris, Alex Beaton, Mary Black, Bob Marley, Anna Gabrielle and of course, the great American folk music, "country".
Today, in addition to those above, I listen to Joanna Newsom. Brazilian Girls, Angela McCluskey, Rachael Yamagata, Ray La Montagne and Shelby Lynn. Most recently I've been following Serena Ryder and Juliana Richer Daily.
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Film
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One of the best films ever made was, I believe, Zorba the Greek. Having lived in Greece (Crete) for two years I can attest that it captures the Greek soul. Beyond that, I like all kinds of Science Fiction and Science Fantasy films. I even like a good chick flick occasionally. A good dose of comedy now and then doesn't hurt either. One of my favorite new films is Avatar. I think it’s everybody else’s too.
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Television
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I Don't watch much television but , as you might guess, I do like Fringe, Bones, ”V” and Castle. When time permits I also enjoy the History Channel and shows like NOVA. I used to love Firefly but, unfortunately, it was canceled.
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Books
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I came of age reading Robert Heinlein and will read most any Science Fiction, Science Fantasy or Historical Fiction today. I'm a big fan of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, Jean Auel's Earth's Children series, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, Anne McCaffrey's Pern books and many others.
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Education
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University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PhD Candidate (ABD) in Bioanthropology, 1972-1975
Teaching Assistant (1972-1975)
Activities and Societies: Phi Kappa Phi (Honor Society)
Dissertation topic: Captive Behavior and Communication Patterns in Celebes Macaques (Macaca nigra)
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California State University-Los Angeles
M.A. in Anthropology, 1972
B.A. in Anthropology, 1970
Activities and Societies:
Research Assistant (Linguistics)
CSULA Anthropological Society (past President.)
Co-founder & Editor, California Anthropologist
Graduate Research Grants Commissioner, 1972
Thesis: Environment and Primate Social Behavior: The value of a systems approach in Anthropology.
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Syracuse University
Certificate in Russian, 1965
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