Where's Indiana Jones?

This semester, I'm taking a class called "Native Peoples of North America." It's actually an anthropology class, but also within the "American Indian and Native Studies" (AINS) program. They offer both undergraduate and graduate certificates in "Native American Studies" which are earned concurrently with your degree (so I'll earn the graduate certificate along with an English Master's degree).

This class is divided into a "lecture class" (Tuesdays and Thursdays), which meets in an auditorium-like room in the English-Philosophy Building (my home away from home, while I get my English degree), and a "discussion" class meeting on Mondays.

The lecture class is just that - the instructor lectures us on important info based on the readings she's assigned.

And the discussion class? It's lead by the T.A. (teaching assistant), where she leads us in discussion on what we've learned/will learn in our lecture classes.

The discussion class is in the anthropology building, MacBride Hall.

MacBride Hall

Doesn't it totally look like an anthropology building?

Well, let me tell you - inside, it is very much like an anthropology building. You walk in and there are marble columns, tile floors, ornate metal railings, and an immediately noticeable old, dusty, musty, "old building" smell to it. There are even those old, steamy radiators, sizzling as they overheat the classrooms. Plus, there's a museum of natural sciences in there - my first thought was, "Whoa, taxidermy central!" There are some stuffed animals in there (for instance, I saw some sort of leopard . . . and by stuffed, I obviously don't mean kids' toy stuffed animals) and replicas of horseshoe crabs and other things. I didn't get a chance to look around because I'd gotten there just about 5-10 minutes before class started. One day, I'll have to get there early enough to look around in the museum and, if possible, take some photos.

The T.A., I found out, actually has a Master's degree in archaeology, but has an interest in anthropology, and experience with (if I remember correctly) the study of Native Americans from the Plains group (think nomadic/semi-nomadic peoples who ride horses, hunting buffalo, like the Cheyenne or Lakota, as opposed to, say, the Southwestern tribes like Navajos, Hopis, Mescalero Apaches, or Northeastern Woodland cultures like the Mohawk, Narraganset, and such).

So, knowing she's got a degree in archaeology, plus being in this old educational building . . . well, I couldn't help but think about Indiana Jones and all the exciting adventures everyone's favorite fictional archaeologist finds himself in. 

Anyway, I decided to use Picnik to make my photo of MacBride Hall look worthy of a post mentioning good, ol' archaeologist-adventurer Indiana Jones' era - in other words, old-timey. So here it is:

The same photo of MacBride Hall, made to look like it's old.

(I actually took this photo today before I headed to my other class, because I'd forgotten to bring my camera with me on both Monday and Tuesday! Yes, I'm surprised, too, because I almost always have it with me!!)