Fall in the non-profit world

This season it's not just the leaves that are dropping rapidly around Chicago; it seems that the sizes of the professional staffs at local cultural institutions are as well. Just today I got word of a special meeting called by the president of The Field Museum addressing new measures to fix the same broken budget that cost me my own job. This time there is a call for 50 positions to be vacated as soon as possible, preferably voluntarily by early retirement and general atrophy. For those facing the 'choice' of early retirement, apparently a statement was made to the effect that if they chose to stay on and refuse the 'early out,' their jobs wouldn't be guaranteed to be there in January. Lovely.

This seems to be a silent crisis going on in tandem with the much louder calamities occurring in the larger industrial sectors of the nation; non-profits freezing positions that have emptied, not renewing term positions that are about to end, and generally sucking the lifeblood out of all the work that they are trying to accomplish by depleting their staff of ground soldiers. What's left? Anyone with a PhD or a six-figure salary; how messed up is that? It will be interesting to see what kind of work gets done once these folks have to jump down from their pedestals and do all the leg work they formerly assigned to their minions. How much money will these museums be bringing in when the staff that help to physically create (not just the intellectual parts that curators come up with get it done) exhibits and events are gone and the work grinds to a halt?

Yes, I understand that times are hard and the money is short, but how about turning the gaze on some of the non-productive members of the staff at higher levels? It's not my place to name names, but there were no secrets about what curators were virtually dead weight at The Field Museum, yet they remain safe as this all goes down. Yes, this is an angry post, but this news has made me very angry. People, USEFUL people, friends who have given their lives to The Field Museum are being forced out like they're nothing - as though decades of service, and years more of viability mean nothing because it's harder to let go of someone with extra degrees and a mistaken assumption of tenure. There is no tenure track at The Field Museum, and therefore no good reason why curatorial staff couldn't be laid off as well. Plain and simple. But it's always the grunts that get cut in the end.

Cougar part 2

So today, at happy hour, I got to go see the cougar in the next stage of its processing. This time it was in the beetle room, where colonies of beetles eat all the leftover flesh off the corpses of the dead animals that the museum acquires so that they can prep the skeletons for study and display. Let me tell you, there's nothing that can turn a pretty solid stomach like the smell of rotten meat, bug shit, and other organic materials. I managed to hold it down, but I'll tell you that it was a bit of a challenge to be in there after a couple dollar beers. Again, the joys of working at a natural history museum: death, knowledge, and beer.

Friday

Today I have to man the reference desk in my boss's absence, which means that hopefully I will be catching up on some work that has been needing attention for quite some time; it also means that my day will be almost mind-numbingly dull. Meanwhile, down below in the public realm, things are getting pretty interesting. In Stanley Field Hall right now there is an extremely talented High School orchestra which, I believe, is playing movie scored; my friend Karen desperately wanted them to break out into the Jurassic Park theme music, but it just didn't arrive before our coffee and baked goods exited the scene.
In the downstairs area things are a bit more ominous. I'm beginning to wonder how I am going to get my grant consultants upstairs because the area around the entire West entrance is on lock down because Boeing has rented some of our space for a huge meeting. Apparently the entire day is going to be filled with security checks and men with ear pieces until they leave, which makes me wonder if they think some nutter is going to come blow us up before I get to leave for my trip to Denver.
As for Denver, and the American Association of Museums' Annual Meeting, I'm pretty excited to be on my way; I think it's going to be a great time. I'm also pretty stoaked that I was able to score a ticket to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Avalanche and the Red Wings. Contrary to all reason, I think I will have to cheer for Detroit because I need to represent the Midwest.

On the job perks and wild encounters

Some people take coffee breaks, others take smoke breaks, while here at The Field Museum, we take 'dead cougar gawking' breaks. That's right, we have the carcass for the now semi-controversial North Side Cougar. For those of you not from the area, people have been debating the actions of the Chicago police officers who shot the animal when responding to an emergency call about its presence in a North Side neighborhood.
I'll just say one thing about this whole matter and leave it at that: even partially skinned on a lab table, that thing was massive. I can definitely see how anyone encountering it unawares in a city alley would be terrified (including cops who, despite being very well trained, just aren't trained to deal with large predators in back alleys). This animal was by a school, and far, far, far away from it's natural habitat, and therefore unpredictable. I would have preferred to have had animal control tranquilize and remove the animal, but sadly they weren't on hand at the time of need. Hindsight may be 20/20, but those officers do have a duty to do what they feel is in the best interests of the safety of the citizens of this city. Come to your own conclusions.

Field Museum anthropologists solve the mystery of Maya blue

For all you anthro dorks out there, or anyone who finds other cultures interesting, a groups of anthropologists from The Field Museum and associated Illinois institutions believe they have unlocked the secrets of Maya blue - a pigment used by that culture that miraculously retains it's vivid color for centuries. Check out the full story here. Sorry for reposting all these news stories of late; it seems like things going on in the outside world are much more interesting than those occurring in my own, run-of-the-mill life.

Back on track again

All fatigue from last week is now, thankfully gone. Today's run went really well; I needed it after the bacchanalian weekend I had for Dan's birthday. One thing I find really funny is, no matter how good or bad I feel while doing my actual run, nothing compares to how inadequate I feel when I have to climb the 10 flights of stairs back up to my office. There's a special something about stair climbing that just plain stinks. I made the decision a while back to start doubling up on stairs (step on every other one to make it more of a workout), so I feel like I'm getting something out of it other than being winded. My wonderful, giant of a husband's comment when I told him of that tactic was to ask what the big deal was because he took them two at a time already. Well, for those of us who aren't the Jolly Green Giant, it's a bit more of a challenge!

Anyway, today's hike up wasn't nearly as bad, which I see as a big positive. I was even able to run the first 5 (doubling up) before I had to go back to a walking pace. For those of you envisioning me doing an awkward run up the grand staircase in Stanley Field Hall, never fear - I choose to keep my personal humiliations as private as possible by choosing to use out-of-the-way stairwells.

Scavanger's breakfast

You've got to love the day after the president's address. This morning I feasted on a toasted whole wheat bagel, lite veggie cream cheese, and orange juice, all pilfered from the snack leftovers (normally it's just a bowl of muesli, which is still yummy, and water). I felt a little funny walking back to my office through the public spaces with a stack of bagels balancing on a small tub of cream cheese, a large jug of orange juice clutched in the other hand, and an orange stuffed in each of my back pockets, but I guess I didn't look nearly as desperate as my friend Andrew who walked away with a massive box of bagels cradled in his arms. I guess that's what happens in an non-profit institution filled with underpaid worker bees; we never grow out of the starving college student phase where you can't pass up a free meal (or three)!

ITunes Fascination

For those of you who work in large office environments with very liberal computer/network/internet usage policies, you may be aware that there is the option to look at and listen to the music libraries of other ITunes users on your network. For those of you who aren't aware of this option, it's awesome; the only downside is that you can listen but can't transfer anyone else's music to your own library or ipod. Regardless of these restrictions, I've had a great time the past month or so (since I learned about this neat feature) exploring the musical tastes of the denizens of this massive museum, trying to figure out which user name corresponds with which researcher or gift shop clerk by their choice in title and, of course, taste in tunes. With names like Diplopodophile, cosmicopus, chasing tornadoes, and tangy gnat, you know you're dealing with natural history museum folk! So far, I've only been able to guess about 1 out of 20, probably because there are so many people here, and I know so few of them.

In this time, I have managed to develop a clear favorite, MG, who is apparently my ITunes soul mate. This user has just about every album I own, and what I haven't heard before, I immediately like and have (in one instance) actually bought. Hooray for finding new music from unlikely sources after a couple years of stagnation. Granted the things I find myself liking are still from the same mid-to-late-90s niche, at least I'm moving to new artists. As someone who has been passionate about music as long as I can remember, this long period of musical hibernation has been kind of getting me down. To MG, because there regrettably is no messaging function in ITunes and I can't really tell you this, thanks in spirit. I hope some of the folks checking out my tunes (well, all DJ mixes because that's all I have access to at work) manage to pick up something new as well.

NYE retrospective

I'm sure there won't be time tomorrow for a year-end wrap-up in my shortened work day, so I might as well get to it while I'm bored at home. 2007 wasn't the most eventful year of my life, but that isn't to say it was by any means a bad one. The year kicked off with me finishing up work on the new permanent exhibit at The Field Museum called The Ancient Americas; this job, probably my last in the Anthropology department for near future, was probably the biggest, most (hopefully) enduring thing I've ever taken part of. Hopefully The Ancient Americas will be around for many years to come, and will continue to educate the public about the latest research that has been conducted concerning the various amazing cultures that existed in the Americas before the coming of the Europeans.

After the installation of The Ancient Americas concluded, I was offered a job in the library at The Field Museum, which I accepted on the condition that I could delay my start date by a month because I was about to leave for Peru. During the month of May, I traveled through Peru with my best friend, Claudia; a fairly thorough account of my travels is contained in the first few posts in this blog, and also can be seen in these photo galleries of mine on Flickr:
Lima
Arequipa
Santa Catalina Monastery
Cañon de Colca
Lake Titicaca
Cuzco and the Sacred Valley
Machu Pichu

After returning to Chicago, I soon started my new job in The Field Museum's library, and my masters in library and information sciences through the LEEP program out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This primarily-online program has allowed me to do the majority of my coursework from home or work without having to move elsewhere to attend a top school; on the other side of the coin, the on-campus visits have given me a nice, bite-sized taste of what it must be like to actually attend a big-ten university without having to stay there long enough for the novelty to wear off. Despite all this, it has become pretty obvious that library work isn't in my soul, so I have spent my time focusing on archival work, preservation, public policy and programs; I hope to get involved with the community informatics track within the gslis program, which focuses on targeting information needs in under-served communities and working with those same communities to make them self-sufficient. It was either focus on this, or drop out all together to go back for a masters in anthropology at UIC, which I might still do, but I felt that riding this out and finishing while making some connections and getting experience was the right thing to do.

This September marked Dan and my one-year anniversary. and things are going quite well. To celebrate, Dan and I did what any other overly-romantic young married couple, deeply in love, would do, and went to Detroit for the Paxahau 9 year anniversary - featuring Hardfloor, the act that first got me into the wonderful world of dance/rave music. For those of you who don't know Dan and I well, Detroit was where we initially got together (or at least realized we wanted to) during a trip to DEMF in 2004 and a healthy weekend of urban exploration, binge drinking, and techno. That's love...

The final stretch of 2007 included the Sadie Hawkins Day Race/Ride, which was a pant-load of fun. Again, big big props to Julie, Kisha, and everyone else who made this event a reality; a great time was had by all. I hope we all can look forward to a year 3 in 2008. Other notable events that happened in the final gasps of 2007 included a victorious weekend in lovely Green Bay, WI with my women's Nat. C hockey team, Team Glacier; our game against Michigan Tech was a particular treat - I think it's been about 10 years since I punched anyone in the face, so that was a real highlight. We'll be playing Tech again pretty soon here in Chicago, and I strongly urge any of you locals to come watch if you want some free entertainment.

That brings us up to the last few posts I've made here in Let's Rock, so I don't really think I need to recap. As for looking forward, here are a couple big things I'm hoping for in 2008:

• First and foremost, good health to all my friends and family (hell, anyone good enough to have read this far deserves it as well)
• Selling our condo and buying the house we've fallen in love with over in Bridgeport
• Maybe getting a new job in the anthro department or the archives at the museum
• Kicking some ass in the Fat Race
• Kicking some ass at the Nationals with my hockey team in PA
  
• There is a slim chance I may finish my degree by this time next year - getting my special collections certification would be an added bonus
• Thinking of taking the GREs - maybe I'll get it over with this coming year
• Add to that last one applying for a grad program in anthro at UIC as a possibility

Thanks to all my readers in 2007 - I will see you on the other side of a champagne countdown, and a mean hangover I'm sure. Be safe and smart tonight!

Nothing much to say this morning...

except that the security guard told me I could ride my bike in the museum to get from the door to the elevator (it's sort of a long way). I thought she was joking, so I asked 'are you sure?' to make sure it was really OK. She said 'yeah, as long as you don't hit anyone.'

Awesome. I always wanted to do that, but never thought I could get away with it!

Austounding feats of animal strength and cunning

In the last 48 hours, my place of employment has gone from quiet library to amateur hour for Wild Kingdom; I guess that's not all that surprising, considering that one of my closest work friends blows up snakes (literally) and scrutinizes jars of pickled reptiles for genitalia for a living.

Yesterday it was The Great Escape, starring one very large and determined millipede from the entomology collections department. At about 1pm, during a lull, my boss noticed what she believed to be a fat pen cap begin to move of its own power on the floor of the library reading room; upon closer analysis, she determined that the possessed writing accessory was actually a medium-sized brown diplopod creeping its way across the burgundy carpet. The AWOL millipede was quickly scooped up, not by me, and taken back to his lair about three halls over. Three halls may not sound like a long way to anyone else, but in a massive building like The Field Museum, to a small critter, it's probably a full day's journey. That's a lot of determination shown on the part of one little bug; undoubtedly he was drawn to the library by the smell of my fear.

Today it is The Field Museum Library's adaptation of The Birds, featuring one very cunning sparrow that is currently hiding out in the main stacks. The threat of the intruder has been minimized, and pest control has been called, but it remains to be seen whether or not the bird will be camping out here over the Thanksgiving holiday break. While all of this initially struck me as being pretty funny, the novelty quickly wore off when the icy reality hit me that as the circulations grunt, the task would fall to me to clean all the bird shit off the books after all is said and done. God's speed, Sergio the pest guy.