Behind the Scenes

Pet burials blur the line between human and animal rites

There are many cases of formal animal burial practices worldwide. One of the earliest sites is in Palestine, dating from about 12,000 years ago, where excavation of a stone-covered tomb revealed the remains of a woman posed with her hand resting on the neck of a puppy. In Egypt, there is evidence of the mummification […]

Behind the scenes

Poetry inspired by painting

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I wrote “Domino Players, 1943” after studying Horace Pippin’s celebrated painting, exhibited by the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This “memory painting” depicts Pippin’s childhood in Goshen, New York. A child sits at a kitchen table watching two women play dominoes while an older woman sits piecing her quilt. As I studied […]

Behind the scenes

Backstage at an American musical

My lighting-design students and I are very excited as we wait in the side alley of the PrivateBank Theatre in Chicago. Our goal for the day is to get a firsthand look at what it takes to produce a smash Broadway hit. We were lucky enough to be invited to attend a day of technical […]

Behind the scenes Students learned about the politics and other issues surrounding the national parks through an on-site course this June in the Greater Yellowstone area. One day's "sampler" hike gave students a chance to witness several examples of unwise behavior, including these tourists hanging out on the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Students learned about the politics and other issues surrounding the national parks through an on-site course this June in the Greater Yellowstone area. One day's "sampler" hike gave students a chance to witness several examples of unwise behavior, including these tourists hanging out on the edge of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Tourists behaving badly

So far this year, Yellowstone has seen a record number of visitors – and what seems to be a record number of visitors disobeying the rules. People have been charged by elk and bison while trying to get too close for a “selfie.” A Canadian father and son put a bison calf into their SUV […]

Behind the scenes U. of I. students did some experiential learning in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks this June in a course on the politics and other issues surrounding national parks. Here the class relaxes before a campfire dinner and discussion.

U. of I. students did some experiential learning in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks this June in a course on the politics and other issues surrounding national parks. Here the class relaxes before a campfire dinner and discussion.

A night in grizzly country

We spent last night in Yellowstone’s backcountry, at Grebe Lake, a lovely lake at the base of the Washburn Range, about a 3-mile hike from the road. It’s part of the “chain of lakes” region that is popular with fly fishers. For most of the students, this was their first experience backpacking: carrying a tent, […]

Behind the scenes A group of University of Illinois students spent two weeks in June in the Greater Yellowstone area, learning through on-site experience about the politics and other issues surrounding national parks. Here's the class on its first day in Grand Teton National Park.

A group of University of Illinois students spent two weeks in June in the Greater Yellowstone area, learning through on-site experience about the politics and other issues surrounding national parks. Here's the class on its first day in Grand Teton National Park.

Between wilderness, tourism and civilization

We spent yesterday in Grand Teton National Park, hiking Cascade Canyon. Today we’re in Jackson, Wyoming, just south of the park and a very different setting. My teaching assistant and I are in a Starbucks grading papers. Our students are out exploring the town. Jackson is one of a half-dozen “gateway communities” that surround Yellowstone […]

Behind the scenes

Preserving a fragile history

ALDER, MONTANA – I drive slowly over the hilly terrain in Fossil Basin and park near the remnants of an old campsite. In the 1950s and early 1960s, botanist Herman Becker camped here and collected fossil insects and plants from the Renova Formation’s paper shales. We are the first, since Becker, to explore this fossil bed. Our […]

Behind the scenes

Drawing insights from ancient plants

ALDER, MONTANA – I’m sitting near the top of our fossil excavation site in southwest Montana, my hammer and shovel ready. I have a perfect view of the mountains. A wall of fossil-laden shale lies before me, and I’m ready to dig in. This is our fourth day digging, and despite the early hour, I’m trembling with […]

Behind the scenes

The fossils of Madison County (Montana)

Standing at the foot of the mountains, I look to the east. It’s still early and I have hiked up here alone to gather my thoughts. I can see why they call this “Big Sky Country.” The tree-covered foothills of the mountains behind me give way to rolling scrubland. Stunted trees mark the edges of dry […]

Behind the scenes

Drought and pilgrimage at the Cara Blanca Pools, Belize

We confront the gusting winds and broiling heat of Belize archaeology while working in the plowed fields that expose some of the remains of this ancient Maya settlement (see previous blog post), but our field days begin much calmer – with a warm breakfast made for us by Miss Louisa, Valley of Peace Archaeology project […]

Behind the scenes

Mapping the state budget impasse and its consequences

On Twitter last week, someone called my website, the Illinois Atlas of Austerity, “beautiful and devastating.” Someone else said it was “depressing as heck.” I can’t think of higher praise. With maps and infographics, the website visually chronicles the impacts the state budget impasse has had on social services, higher education, youth programs and public […]

Behind the scenes

Salvaging the past in an ancient Maya settlement

We are working in the the cleared agricultural fields near Cara Blanca Pool 7, a pre-Columbian residential area in west central Belize. Hundreds of ancient Maya structures once housed a thriving community here. Now the area is being converted into farmland, and our job is to salvage what we can before the plows sheer off this history, layer by […]

Behind the Scenes

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