reading: Sedentism and Mobility in a Social Landscape: Mesa Verde and Beyond, by Mark Varien. Varien proposes a model for understanding mobility in archaeological studies at the household level, which makes a lot of intuitive sense to me. Thinking of my Northeast Heights neighborhood as having been “continuously occupied” since its post-World War II construction would be correct, but would miss the fact that the Waldron family owned my house prior to 1993 and then we moved in. The question of why the Waldrons left and we moved in is not unimporant in understanding the nature and structure of the neighborhood. Likewise, in thinking about the effect of climate on the Anasazi, it’s worth thinking not only about the construction and abandonement of Chaco, Mesa Verde, etc., but also what was happening between those two great events. The comings and goings matter.

music: Broadway the Hard Way, the latest acquisition in my effort to acquire a whole bunch of Frank Zappa from used CD bins. It’s a marvelous romp down memory lane, with guest appearances (sort of) by Admiral Poindexter, Ollie North, and Sting:

Guest appearance by Sting on a live version of the Police B-side “Murder By Numbers” (In response to PMRC allegations that this song was written by Satan, Sting is heard to note that “I wrote the fuckin’ song!”)

shopping: Lissa had to procure a certain book Thursday night, so we went to Borders in the old Winrock Mall. The place is nearly empty, as they prepare for wrecking balls. It was weird, the central gathering point of our consumerist culture reduced to a well-tended ghost town.