Taking a Breather...

Damn, life is complicated. As many of you know, I’m in the throes of a major life change. I’ve quit my job as an archaeologist, sold my beautiful little house in Cocoa, and next week I’ll head to the lush hills of Tallahassee to hunt down a place to live. I’ll also be teaching a course I’ve never taught at Florida State University, so I'm using this time off to prepare for my return to academia. Life was much simpler as an archaeologist - who knew unemployment could be so time-consuming?

With all these changes in the mix, writing a weekly post has become quite a challenge. When I was working as a public archaeologist, tucked in my cozy office in front of a computer, the blog was part of my daily routine and I would parcel off a bit of my afternoon for research and writing. My reward? Over forty-six thousand page views, to date. But now that I have no routine (as well as no office) and am pulled in numerous directions, it’s become harder to devote the time needed for thoughtful, well developed posts. So I’m taking a breather.

After posting each week for the past year and a half (seventy-eight and counting!), I’ve found that the most recent posts are not always the most read. Thanks to key words and Google searches, I have found the back posts are just as popular as more recent additions. Therefore, I’m confident The Body Blog will continue to be read, even in the absence of weekly contributions. This would be a great time for you, the reader, to delve into the blog’s archives, for we’ve covered a wide range of topics about the human body.

My background as a former firefighter-paramedic turned bioarchaeologist has provided a broad and unique perspective on the body and the myriad ways it is impacted by culture. We’ve explored such topics as capital punishment, body art, dental mutilation, and embalming. We’ve traveled back in time to explore the evolution of the bra, the condom, cremation, and the kiss. The body’s systems have provided endless fodder and we’ve investigated just about every orifice and appendage, from vaginas and penises to the heart, belly, nose, and brain. We’ve covered the realm of sex: its evolution, selection, our development, and the convoluted history of syphilis. We’ve also delved into the darker side of anatomy, from quackery and grave robbing, to autopsies and necrophilia. Whatever you can do to or with a body, we’ve touched on over the last eighteen months; even the ephemeral realms of empathy and exploitation, the shame of disfigurement, and the power of a mother’s love.

So as I take time to realign my life, I hope you'll peruse some of the older posts. I’ll still add to the blog, just not at the frenetic pace of the past year and a half, and we’ll continue to explore the fascinating entity that is the human body, together.  

Catch you later. And thank you so much for reading.