Collie's Bestiary

Originally written in… late 1999, I think? -for an anthropology class of the same name. This is an experiment to see how well (or not) old college papers transfer to this format. Enjoy! ;) Links to associated book reviews I've written, and Amazon associate links, are in the Bibliography at the end of the paper. [...]

Spent most of yesterday in a state of carefully controlled panic. I've been desperately working on finishing my late papers for last quarter — thank goodness for being able to "pre-load" WP with my reviews and Bestiaries! So I have a desktop with Word 2007, the latest version, on it… and a nice but very [...]

Winter Solstice occurs when the earth's axial tilt is farthest away from the sun. It is often also referred to as Midwinter, since that is the shortest day and longest night of the year. From this point on until Summer's Solstice, the nights will be getting shorter, and the days will be getting longer. Traditionally [...]

There was also a curious song with four female singers titled "Sending You A Little Christmas." I say curious because it was about being far away from the one(s) you love… and it had some war footage playing on the big screens behind the singers! I think it's nice to remember our armed forces out [...]

As a child I adored the holiday season: the wonderful carol singing, the excitement and sharing and happiness that abounded all around us, the excited and carefully considered selection of gifts for friends and family, the decorating of house and tree with family, the thrill of christmas morning, the wonderful smells and tastes and gatherings [...]

The ceremony was held on the grounds of the Peralta house — a small, two room, adobe building with handcrafted furniture which was built by one of the Indian families about 20 years after the initial settlement in 1777. It ended up belonging to Peralta, who lived in it until he died, and is the [...]

(written Sunday 29 November 2009) Just got back from visiting San José's 232nd birthday party, which I found fascinating on a number of levels — but then I'm an anthropology major and working on a master's in Women's Spirituality, so what do you expect? :) There were a few small ironies or other marks of [...]

One of my housemates is in a world mythology class. I was quite interested to hear this, since I love mythology, and I thought this might be an opportunity for me to increase the number of interests we have in common. I was rather shocked, therefore, to hear some of the on-line questions and discussions [...]

Originally written in the late '90s regarding the reading list of a truly fascinating anthropology class. The papers are extremely light — basically just some quick review and discussion questions. I include them here mostly because the books were excellent and well worth reading for thoughtful perspectives on women's roles in a variety of religions. [...]

Originally written in the late '90s regarding the reading list of a truly fascinating anthropology class. The papers are extremely light — basically just some quick review and discussion questions. I include them here mostly because the books were excellent and well worth reading for thoughtful perspectives on women's roles in a variety of religions. [...]