Gourd Art Class

                

                               Some of the gourds Gloria left with us on consignment

Today was a crazy busy (but fun) day, with not one but two events going on at the museum.  We had a class led by local artist Gloria Crane on making gourd art that 18 people came to check out. Gloria gave a talk about different ways to decorate gourds and then things got busy. Gourds were painted and everyone learned how to stitch designs and ornaments into their gourds.  Everyone seemed to have a really great time.

Greg with gourds before they became art

Gourds after they became art!

 I didn't get to participate in the art class because I was working the other event.  At the same time, we had 6 members of Girl Scout Troop 7949 come to work on earning their bronze badges by helping us curate for 2 hours.  I have no idea what the bronze badge is, not having been a Girl Scout, but I assume it has something to do with community service.  They worked on putting labels on artifacts other volunteers had already curated and got through around 20 boxes in the two hours they were here.  Some of our archaeologist volunteers came in to help with the girls and were able to provide more of an archaeologist's point of view and explanation behind some of the artifacts.  They found some cool things and Jessica and I were happy that they found some 19th century glass ink pots and a 19th century hairbrush that we will be putting in our new exhibit (more on that in another blog!).

Scouts with glass ink pots

Scouts with stone knife

Girl Scout Troop 7949 with volunteers and ollas

Mica Road Waterfall

Mica Road wash

Just when we were debating whether to stay late at the museum and work more or not, we got a call from our friend Bill.  Bill’s a hike leader and for the last few months he and his hikes have been searching for a waterfall that he remembered seeing when he was a kid and was determined to find again.  During their last hike, they found it.  So Bill wanted to know if we wanted to go on a quick hike out before sunset and see the now famous (or infamous) waterfall.

Sample of the cool rock formations we saw

It was a pretty easy hike.  My only problem was the amount of blooming flowers and grasses, which make for very pretty scenery but my allergies have decided to rebel against them.  So there were times where I was basically unable to breathe.  Thank you pollen.  That does make it a little tougher.  I’d like to go back once I’ve found an allergy medicine that works or it’s not spring anymore so I don’t have to fight with all the plants.  Beyond the usual flowering Ocotillo and brittlebush we saw desert holly, what I guess would be a desert primrose of some kind, and a cute little purple plant that Bill said is called Lupin.  There was also a great deal of Cat’s Claw, which is about as pleasant to get caught by as it’s name suggests.

Yes Harry Potter fans, this is (bad picture) Lupin

Cat's Claw and Creosote

Desert flower, maybe some kind of primrose

Bird's nest in canyon wall

 The waterfall area itself is a beautiful little canyon or gorge area, with enormous walls (at least 2 stories is my guess)  that have seen enough wind and water erosion to have amazing patterns in them.  The waterfall itself is a smoothed out chute that is easy to imagine after a rain with water pouring down it.  We saw evidence of birds- nests and owl pellets (bringing back found memories of Care Cadets and pellets), as well as some swallow-type birds towards sunset.  Bill, Jessica, and Melanie decided to be brave and climb up the rock wall to see what was past the top of the waterfall.  Alison and I were fine staying below.  I spent the time experimenting with different angles and settings on my little camera.  It’s a perfect place for that kind of experimentation and looks very different as the light changes.  I’d love to go back there earlier in the day and try similar pictures with different lighting, just to see what I could get the camera to do.  I’d also like the go back after a rain and see if the waterfall actually is still a waterfall.  Perfect place for a picnic lunch or just to relax for a few hours. After hearing about it for so long, I think it lived up to the hype!

Mica Road Waterfall

Close up of Waterfall Chute

Far view including me, to give you scale

More cool pictures will get posted on my FaceBook page- check them out!

Field Trip February

Field Trip!

I am now officially able to say that we lived through Field Trip February.  Some of you may have noticed field trips mentioned a few times on my FaceBook page, or on the museum’s page if you follow the Museum.  Now that the chaos is over I can take a minute and reflect on an interesting program.

One of the problems with Imperial County is that there aren’t many places for schools to take kids on field trips.  In January, a teacher from McCabe Elementary in El Centro talked to Jessica about bringing all of McCabe’s 4^th graders out to the museum for a field trip.  There was no way we were going to be able to handle all the kids at once so we worked out a plan where each class of 30 kids would come out to the museum on a different Wednesday in February instead.  Then of course, we had to figure out what we were going to do with the kids.  None of us are education experts, especially when it comes to younger kids.  We don’t know what they are learning in school, what is ‘age-appropriate’, etc.  So we were going with what we thought the kids would be interested in seeing and doing while at the same time hoping they might learn something from us, even if it was just that the museum was cool and they should make their parents bring them back on a Saturday.  I think the end result has been better than any of us were expecting.  I've had three kids so far tell me they want to work here when they grow up.

We start the kids off with a short talk about Imperial Valley and its’ history.  How there used to be an ocean here, then there was Lake Cahuilla, then climate change dried up Lake Cahuilla and left us with the Salton Sea instead.  How climate change effected the people who lived here, and how you knew the kinds of animals that were hunted here because of the change in the tools and projectile points we find in our collections here.  They lose interest in this before we do, but then they perk up when we bring out the toolbox.  First they get to see shell fossils and pass those around, as proof that there really was an ocean here.  Then Neal opens one drawer of the tool box and pulls out a hammer, asks the kids what it is (they all get that one) and where they think it is from.  The answer is Home Depot because Neal loves Home Depot, and the next question of course is, where did people get hammers thousands of years ago when there was no Home Depot?  The answer is: the land all around them was the original Home Depot.  Neal pulls out of the second drawer a hammerstone and asks the kids what it is. The answer, inevitabley, is: “a rock”. True, but it’s also a 6,000 year old hammer. They get to pass that around and get a feel for how it fits into their hands.  This process is repeated with a knife.  Our cool obsidian knife acts as the original knife and the kids are always ssuitabley impressed with it.  Neal shows them a giant chunk of obsidian we have and gives them a rundown on how the Native Americans might have made the chunk of obsidian into the knife they see, courtesy of a hammer and antler to help chip the point to its’ desired shape and point.  Then the same thing with a screwdriver.

Modern tools, from Home Depot

Ancient tools, from the desert

           

We give them a brief tour of the museum and divide them into 3 groups.  We debated a lot about what to do with them and finally settled on three activities.  The first one, for us, is a no-brainer.  Coiled clay.  It’s something we’re really good at, becoming known for, and kids love clay.  The second activity we decided on is to have some boxes of rocks, both polished and not, for them to look at, try to match the rock to pictures in books, look at sand and rocks under a microscope, etc.  They also get to see some of our collection of projectile points (arrowheads to the lay person).  Jessica always jokes that this is the filler station between the two cool activities, although kids love rocks so I don’t know about that. 

Projectile points, newly discovered

The third station is my station: hiking in the desert.  We usually walk up to the ridge behind the museum and go to the geoglyph on our land, although if the wind’s too high or we get short on time I just walk them around in the wash.  I show them Ocotillo cactus, brittle bush, and creosote, and talk a little about what it is and what it does.  The creosote is always a big hit because I pour a little water from my water bottle on it and let the kids smell it.  Creosote smells great after the rain and they think it is cool to be able to water the creosote and get the same effect.  At least one kid always asks if they can pour water on the creosote and try it themselves, like I’ve got a trick water bottle and they need to double check me.  I have them look for quartz, hold it up to the sun and explain how quartz is the only rock that sunlight can shine through and moss will grow underneath it.  Usually at least one of the kids can find a piece with moss on the other side so they know I’m not making it up.  I have them pick up rocks and look for ones tham would make good tools, and they get into it.  Usually the geoglyph itself is kind of anticlimactic when they’ve been playing with rocks the whole way.  I think it’s kind of funny how they always feel they have to show me every rock they find, and I have to approve of the rocks.  Sometimes just because it’s pretty, but sometimes they do ask if it would make a good tool and what it would do.  I think it’s kind of cool how much they enjoy it, and the hike makes them want to get outside more and explore their area, hike more, or learn more about rocks and plants.  It always blows their minds when I tell them that I’m from New Orleans, a place where there are no rocks!  Hard to imagine when they’re surrounded by them!

Outside picnic

The field trips have been pilot programs and we’re trying to hire someone with an education background who actually knows school curriculum and can adjust the programs to fit different grades.  But I think we’ve done pretty well on our own to start.  It’s made me remember when I was doing Care Cadets at the LA/SPCA every summer, teaching kids only a little older than these about volunteering at the shelter, working with animals, training dogs.  I always loved that and thought that was the kind of thing I would want to do as a career.  I could totally seen myself as the education co-ordinator for the LA/SPCA when I went off to school.  I loved working with the kids, even when they were being exasperating. I loved talking to people of all ages about how to take care of animals, spaying and neutering their pets, and all sorts of things.  It’s funny, because I always think of myself as not being very good with people and not liking kids.  But then I get in these situations and it’s great.  Maybe I don’t know myself as well as I think, or I’m now remembering parts of myself and what I used to enjoy.  Either way, as crazy as the field trips have made February, I’m really glad to have been a part of it. 

Oyster Shell Beds

Wind and water patterns left in rock

Saturday afternoon a new person joined our team: Neal and Jessica’s friend Melanie came out to work with us for a few weeks to kickstart our olla collection program.  So on Sunday we all piled into the Jeep and headed out into the Yuha to go off-roading and show her some of the awesome sites.  Neal wanted to drive out and find the oyster shell beds that he’d heard about but never seen.

That’s right readers, oyster shell beds.  What are oysters doing in the desert you ask? Well as we’ve been telling the kids in all the field trips we’ve done this month, this entire area used to be ocean.  That’s why you can find shark’s teeth, shells, and oysters fossilized out here in the desert today.  You can also find areas of fossilized ocean floor.  Amazing what stays over time isn’t it?

Fossilized muscle

When we first got out at the location the map claimed were the oyster beds some of us weren’t that impressed.  Neal and Jessica had been hoping to find large fossils like we have in the museum.  Mel and I were pretty happy with it.  We were seeing amazing ground formations from the water currents or shores, Mel started finding little fossilized mussels, and I found pieces of purple glass. Before about 1929 clear glass had something in it (I think it was magnesium but my science friends can tell me if I’m wrong) that over time and exposure to the sun turned the glass purple.  We have a great lantern slide image with dozens of pieces of purple glass.

Piece of purple glass

Mel and Jessica decided to climb up a tempting hill and Neal and I decided to drive the Jeep around to the other side of the hill and pick them up.  That turned out to be a really great decision because not only did we see a hawk carrying off a large lizard (or maybe a snake, it was a little far away to be sure) but on the other side of the hill we found some great oyster beds where there were still whole fossilized oysters. There were enough to satisfy even Neal and Jessica’s expectations. 

Fossilized Oysters

Fossilized Oyster

We did a little exploring and off-roading, saw some great parts of the Yuha Desert and some mountains that Neal said were actually part of the San Andreas fault. On the way back into town we found an area called the Crucifiction thorn reserve, which was roped off as one of the only 2 or 3 places in the country where Crucifiction thorn grows naturally.  It’s surrounded by barbed wire, which we all found a little ironic.  All in all, I think this may have been my favorite trip out so far.

Crucifiction Thorn

Desert Field School

Coyote Mountains 

Monday we spent the day exploring the Yuha Desert with Steve Lucas, an archaeologist and member of the Kumeyaay (the local Native American tribe).  He was showing us some of the geoglyphs that can be found in the Yuha and explaining some of their significance to the Kumeyaay.  It was a beautiful day, we learned a lot and had a great time.

Off roading in our Jeep we found some of the ancient trails made by the Kumeyaay over time (perhaps centuries), as they traveled from place to place depending on the changing seasons.  While there were plenty of other off road wheel tracks from vehicles, there were a few places where we could find the wider tracks made by tanks during World War II.  This area was where Patton and his troops trained for the deserts of North Africa and we’ve found several artifacts in our collection but this was the first time we’d seen tank tracks.

Off-roading and World War II tank tracks

Geoglyphs are earthen art made by Native Americans by tamping down the earth in a particular pattern.  Here, most of those geoglyphs illustrate Kumeyaay legends: the creation of the world, good and evil coming to mankind, etc.  Cairns and other rock formations are joined with the geoglyphs to recreate star patterns or mountain ranges or act as spirit breaks.  One pattern we saw shows the Milky Way and Pleiades constellation.  I was very interested in this idea since most of what I know about cairns and earthen/stone formations and spirit breaks comes from the Celtic tradition, which focuses on myths and crossing worlds, but does not try to recreate the land or stars.  There’s probably a thesis topic in that thought somewhere, but I’ll leave that to someone else to try.

The geoglyphs we looked at were all fenced off as the government’s way of managing and protecting them.  Only one had a sign to tell you what you were looking at, and that sign was more focused on explaining that geoglyphs are damaged by motorcycles and off-roaders and so are fenced off.  It left us wondering: is that the best way to protect the sacred geoglyphs?  Should they be kept secret as the best way to preserve them or talked about, maybe even used by the Kumeyaay again?  Is there a point in saving them if they are no longer in use? After all, isn’t the point of something being sacred that it is used/visited and continues to connect people to their ancestors and religion?  If you fence them off, should you put up more signs to educate the people who see them as a way of helping to promote respect and knowledge of the local peoples? 

Square geoglyph, possibly showing boundary lines

At the Yuha geoglyph another question came up: the question of erosion.  The earth is taking back the land the geoglyph was formed on, and eventually between wind wiping away the patterns and erosion crumbling the earth itself, the geoglyph will be gone.  What do you do about that?  Anything?  Nothing?  Who decides?  The land is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the federal government.  Do they decide?  Do the Kumeyaay? 

Fossilized clay from the ancient ocean bed, today the Yuha Desert

One of the interesting things about the Yuha is that you can pass huge areas of ancient clay beds that remind you the whole area used to be an ocean.  It’s hard to imagine as you look around today how different the area looked millions of years ago.  I learn different things about the land, the plants, and the rocks every time I’m out in the desert with someone.  Hopefully some of it sticks so that the next time I’m out I can read the story of the desert a little bit more.  As someone who grew up in New Orleans, a land of no rocks, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for them.  While I can’t read them as well as Jessica and most of the other people here, I hope I’m developing an eye for the rocks and the trails and the stories they have to tell me.  There’s no telling what I’ll learn next.  And that’s a great part of the adventure.

Yuha Desert on the other side of the Yuha Geoglyph

Stargazing Fun

Dennis Mammana & Steve Benton show guests the moon

In 2012 the first IVDM Stargazing party was the event that showed our community’s interest in the museum and launched the museum we’ve been working so hard to produce.  This Saturday was going to be another major Stargazing party.  Having heard about last year’s party since I got here, I was really glad I was going to have the chance to be at this one.  We were going to have Dennis Mammana, a professional night sky photographer, come and do a talk on the moon (Saturday was the first night of the full Cold Moon or Wolf Moon for those of you keeping score), people were bringing their telescopes out, and the event was advertized far and wide.  The museum is in a great place for stargazing as there is very little light pollution around us.  The windmills glowing red night lights make things a little weird, but now that the Texaco behind us has closed down we don’t have to deal with its’ bright sign and we get a really great view of the stars in three directions. 

Starting Tuesday Jessica, Jacob, and I began cleaning the museum from top to bottom and watching the sky.  Ocotillo’s weather is usually very predictable: sunny and warm, alternating sunny and windy.  In winter there are a few weeks of sunny but cold.  Since we were having an outdoor event Murphy’s Law kicked in this week and we had heavy clouds the entire week.  Normally not a problem, and at times even a nice change of pace.   But the closer we got to Saturday, the more worried we became.  Thursday made things worse by being the first time since I’ve moved here that it rained. All.  Day.  Long.  People called and asked if we were still planning on holding the event and we said yes.  After all, the lecture was indoors, and people could at least come out to hear a talk, eat some cookies, and check out the museum.  We cleaned like crazy and tried to keep thinking positively: it WOULD clear up for Saturday!  All day Saturday was cloudy but by the time people started arriving at 6pm things were looking up.  By 6:30 we had the first beautifully clear night sky we’d seen in a week!

The event was great.  Over 80 people attended, lots of them kids.  Many people were seeing the museum for the first time, others hadn’t been back since the party last year and were amazed at how different the building looked!  The talk was great, and accompanied by some gorgeous pictures of the moon that Dennis has taken over the years- the sorts of pictures I try for with my little Nikon point and shoot and will never, ever match.  Three large telescopes came out and everyone got the chance to see the moon up close, as well as a few of our favorite constellations.  I got to see Jupiter and 4 of his moons through our treasurer Steve Benton’s impressive set up.

Steve Benton sets up his telescope as the sky clears and the moon rises

To give the kids other options we had arts and crafts in the library and Neal Hitch and I did our coiled clay set up in the future archives lab.  I lost count of the number of kids that came to play with clay but it felt like at least 20 of all ages.  Several of them got into the spirit of making pots and competing with Neal to see whose pot would be best.  Others just wanted to play and made clay dragons, dice, little hearts with “joy” or “love” carved into them, and generally just had a blast.  I have no idea if they learned anything about coiled clay pots from the evening, but they did learn one thing that we say here every day: we are the most fun museum ever.

Clay dragon fun

A Little Something Different

I was trying to come up with something profound, or at least, thoughtful, to describe coming back out to Ocotillo, CA after having been home with my family for almost a month.  The sadness of leaving my family, the excitement of coming back to work and an environment I have come to love (even if it is far too cold at the moment).  But then something major hit the news and I decided instead to follow my friend Kyle Eichenberger's example and bring up current events in my blog. Don't worry, it probably won't happen often.

What current topic could I possibly have to weigh in on, you ask?  Perhaps you will remember last week when the results of tests and an autopsy were released in regards to the brain of former football player Junior Seau, who committed suicide in May.  Scientists were shocked to discover that Seau had a condition they call CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy "likely brought on by two decades of blows to the head as a football player, the report said."  Roughly translated for the non-scienctists: swelling of the brain from multiple concussions.

Who would have thought that repeated blows to the head would be a problem?  Apparently not NFL players, many of whom are now who are suing the NFL for keeping the risks of playing football to themselves.  The study suggests soldiers, who often receive concussions from blasts, may also have this problem.  Since the NHL isn't mentioned I'm assuming another study will be paid for to discover that NHL players are also at high risk of this "brain disease".  

CTE is not something that can be diagnosed until after doing an autopsy on a person's brain.  However TBI, or Traumatic Brain Injury, is both real and something that can be diagnosed while a person is still alive.  The symptoms are largely the same: mood swings, memory loss, depression, etc. are all symptoms of this injury.  However, I can speak from personal experience that the majority of 'mainstream' doctors like neurologists do not recognize this injury as something real.  If they can't see it with their own eyes, measure it exactly, then they believe it can't be real.  In my case, my neurologist is happy to prescribe medicine while actually believing I am nothing more than an hysterical female making things up.  After all, my concussion was years ago and I never lost consciousness.  I couldn't have a problem.

I have TBI.  It is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. And at this stage in my life, I probably only have a moderate case of TBI.  I am able to go to and graduate from grad school,  hold down a job, have a full conversation with people and even though I can remember very few things from  my life before the accident, I can now remember things from after the accident.  Why?  Because I have a doctor who thinks outside the box.  "Real" doctors like my neurologist were unable or unwilling to recognize a problem that my family, friends, and myself all saw. My chiropractor however, looks at the whole picture, reads everything he can get his hands on, and can quote in detail the heartbreaking number of our soldiers coming back with TBI who are not getting the help they need.  He has joined the small rank of doctors who have discovered a way to help sufferers of TBI.  HyperBaric Oxygen Therapy.  It helps.  Probably nothing can completely repair the damage done to a concussed brain, especially one who receives as many concussions as a professional athlete or soldier. The brain is a delicate and mysterious organ we will probably never really fully understand. But if 'mainstream' doctors will get their heads out of their tiny boxes and look at a larger picture, the whole body, and now the common sense studies backing up the idea that brain injuries cause severe physical and psychological problems in individuals, maybe something more can be done.  CTE may be an "invisible disease" only found after death, but that doesn't mean that a sufferer can't be helped while they are alive.  Maybe never completely, but any quality of life improvement is something to be thankful for.  Whether it will help enough to reduce the number of suicides in the injury sufferers (can you tell I don't like the term 'disease' applied to this?) is of course, impossible to tell.  But any help at all is better than they had before, and in some cases it might be enough.

If you get nothing else out of this semi-rant, remember this: your doctor doesn't necessarily have all the answers.  Even though he wants you to believe he does.  Listen to your body and what it tells you over what a test says.  You are more likely to know yourself.