I leave the comfortable confines of the American School early tomorrow morning for the beginning of my field season in Cyprus. It was an exciting year to be at the American School for many reasons. First, I was able to focus heavily on my own research including my work on Cyprus on the Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project, on Early Christian epigraphy, architecture, and decoration. I was able to develop a small (but rapidly growing) project on "dream archaeology" and begin to conceptualize more formally how to approach editing the autobiography of a scholar as accomplished as Elwyn B. Robinson. I was also able to form many new professional and personal relationships. I learned more about the Archaic religion in Athens, the Peloponnesian agora, the Great Mother, Greek landscape and survey archaeology, Roman figurines and magical objects from the Athenian Agora, and the official and unofficial history of the American School.
I also had front-row seats for some of the interesting changes taking place at the School. The lecture series at Cotsen Hall was more extensive than I could remember or even imagine. The regular program included a trip to Western Macedonia and lectures on GIS and Survey Archaeology. There was a new website. Women wearing uniforms with the words "Cleaning Team" on the back introduced a new policy where all members of the school community will be required to wear uniforms clearly marking their position in the community ("Regular Members Team", "Academic Team", "Management Team", and the very important "Board of Trustees Team"). This will certainly cut down on those awkward moments when you accidentally assume that a member of the Board of Trustees is the person responsible for cleaning your office!
The Blegen, Gennadius, and neighboring British School Libraries continue to amaze me. If you think that you need a book that is not in one of these three excellent libraries, it is probably the first sign of a much deeper problem with your own research model. I might be kidding, but it is hard to say.
I also was supported by a good group of colleagues in the new director, Jack Davis, who generously gave me time off to pursue my own research, in the Mellon Professor, John Oakley, who welcomed my onto his flawlessly organized trips and encouraged my regular contributions, and the two Whitehead Professors, Kirk Ormand and Barbara Barletta. Chuck Jones at the Blegen consistently impressed me with just how much he understands about the digital media and Maria Georgopoulou at the Gennadius gave me a venue to pursue and present my research. The staff at Loring Hall made the American School a welcoming place to call home and patiently saw to the slow improvement of my Greek.
The other people that I need to thank here are all those back at the University of North Dakota who allowed me to take advantage of this year away. My colleagues in the Department of History kept me in the loop on things. More importantly, however, my wife made my stay here possible with her patient support.
I leave for Cyprus tomorrow and the beginning of the PKAP season. This will bring some exciting changes to this blog! So stay tuned even as I end one thing and begin something else...
Bon Voyage Bill! It was good to get to know you a little.
Posted by: Chuck Jones | May 13, 2008 at 08:16 AM
My daily routine will be much impoverished without Bill's blogging from Athens. I'll stay tuned on PKAP's postings. A huge thanks goes out to Bill from all of us in the US who kept in touch with the ASCSA program through his blog. Have an unbeatable field season.
Posted by: Kostis Kourelis | May 14, 2008 at 03:07 PM
I have really enjoyed reading this blog over the past academic year. Bill points out some very important aspects of spending time the ASCSA. One of them is that the people one meets there are an incredibly valuable resource. A second is that the talks given at the foreign schools in Athens frequently disseminate valuable information from ongoing archaeological projects. This results in an environment where it is possible to learn a great deal about current, often still unpublished, research. This means that those who are studying at the ASCSA (or merely take lunch, tea, and ouzo there) can learn about ongoing research in Greece to an extent that is impossible stateside. That is one reason that I think Bill’s blog is particularly valuable. He has provided those of us teaching in the US, and anywhere else in the world, an ear to the discussions at the ASCSA that I found so valuable during my time there. Cheers! Have fun in Cyprus!
Posted by: Rangar Cline | May 22, 2008 at 05:07 AM
I have really enjoyed reading this blog over the past academic year. Bill points out some very important aspects of spending time the ASCSA. One of them is that the people one meets there are an incredibly valuable resource. A second is that the talks given at the foreign schools in Athens frequently disseminate valuable information from ongoing archaeological projects. This results in an environment where it is possible to learn a great deal about current, often still unpublished, research. This means that those who are studying at the ASCSA (or merely take lunch, tea, and ouzo there) can learn about ongoing research in Greece to an extent that is impossible stateside. That is one reason that I think Bill’s blog is particularly valuable. He has provided those of us teaching in the US, and anywhere else in the world, an ear to the discussions at the ASCSA that I found so valuable during my time there. Cheers! Have fun in Cyprus!
Posted by: Rangar Cline | May 22, 2008 at 05:09 AM