Anthropology as a College Major

My son has been toying with the notion of majoring in Anthropology. Since that concentration wasn't available when I went to college. I decided to do a bit of reading on the subject, and what a broad subject it is, covering biological, cultural, linguistic and archaeological perspectives on human origins and behaviour. While exploring this exciting inter-disciplinary field, I visited the American Anthropological Association and came across this video on race.




I plan to find time to visit the tour exhibit on RACE which explores the complex story of race. It's a trevelling exhibit which goes until 5/2013.

If my son wants to pursue this discipline (it seems like disciplines really) I'll encourage him. Since his interests are wide-ranging, it seems ideal for him and with so many different aspects maybe he won't be likely to fall into that common trap of switching majors. Further he will develop sharper skills at observing, analyzing, recording and thinking.

Of Guns and Tea

Last week was a loong week, especially since most of it was spent inside, what with gun battles raging in the city as cronies of Christopher Coke sought to engage the state in a mini war designed to retaliate for agreeing to proceed with his extradition.Anyway things are somewhat back to normal (fingers crossed)

Meanwhile as gunshots barked I found solace in a new discovery: tea. I never enjoyed tea until now. For years coffee of all sorts was my hot beverage of choice. Blue Mountain Peak was my favorite and on a trip to Costa Rica I fell in love with their Cafe Britt, but recently after enduring some aches and pains I discovered Taheebo tea and I am hooked.

Another name for it is Pau d' Arco . It is made from the inner bark of the Red Lapacho Tree found in South America. What is amazing about this tree is that while it grows in the hot, red, forests it appears to repel fungus. While the other trees may be covered with the stuff, you won't find a spot on the Red Lapacho.

It's reputed to have a host of health benefits and is an amazing source of anti-oxidants. I'm not a doctor but I can attest to the fact that my aches and pains have gone and I have gotten quite accustomed to the taste, which is mildly bitter and very soothing. Oh and where did I discover it? My aunt is a 20 year cancer survivor and she lives on the stuff. I scored 3 boxes from her.

I'm going to do some more research as I think this is the same tree we grew up calling the Poui tree. We used to mark the times for studying for exams according to the flowering periods. We had yellow Poui and the pink Poui. It would be interesting if those very trees are the source of this amazing tea.  Just goes to show we produce the positive in abundance but our island is unfortunately marred by the negative depiction of a nation in the arms of criminals.