Notes and pictures from L'anse aux Meadows, August 2010

Darrell Markewitz, the leader of the DARC Reenactment last month at L'Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland -- a re-creation of activities at the Vinland Viking landing site now commemorated by a national historical park -- Darrell, I say, has posted pictures and notes at his blog, Hammered Out Bits which will give you some idea of the site, the landscape, and the activities.   Here are three pictures to tempt you to go see the rest.

The price of imperial chest-thumping war

The Hill's Congress Blog reports on the Afghanistan Study Group's plea for the US to change course in Afghanistan, beginning the argument with these figures:

At eight years and counting, the U.S. war in Afghanistan is now the longest in our history, surpassing both Vietnam and the Soviet Union’s own extended military campaign there. With the surge, it will cost the U.S. taxpayer nearly $100 billion per year, a sum roughly six times larger than Afghanistan’s annual gross national product (GNP) of $14 billion and greater than the total annual cost of the new U.S. health insurance program. Thousands of American and allied personnel have been killed or gravely wounded.

I wonder what the Canadian figures are?

Two views of grad school

Two recent posts talk about the graduate school experience.

Tanya Roth, a military historian, talks about non-academic activities that have kept her fit and sharp:

One of the accomplishments of the past two years that I’m most proud of – aside from my dissertation progress – is my gym routine. During the first two years of grad school, the idea of taking time to hit the gym was just stressful. I had no idea how to fit it in on top of the reading and the writing and the general survival of graduate school.

In year three, I got a little better, but it was really the end of year three – late spring 2008 – when I got myself into an actual routine. Now I hit the gym for 45 minutes to an hour every weekday morning before I start to work, and that’s a commitment that I like.

 I like variety, so I try to shake things up as I’m able....

 In October, I think I’ll finally give running a shot and check out Couch to 5K to see if I’m up for the challenge.

I’m proud of this routine because it’s not always easy to get myself to the gym. There are days when I’d rather be frittering around on email or something else, or even sleeping a little later. But in the end, I think the gym routine is one of the best “for-me” things I could have added to my schedule: not only am I keeping my body in better shape, but I’m also giving myself a stress outlet.

You know, it may actually be part of the reason why I’ve been able to get through this dissertation thing so far.

I would also like to point out that stress doesn't end with finishing grad school, and plenty of people are stressed out as undergrads.  The sedentary aspects of modern life are debilitating and even deadly; you've got to fight back.   And just because you've stayed fit for a good long time doesn't mean you can take five years off, sitting in front of screens.

Speaking of fighting back, if J.J. Cohen's remarks on George Washington University's English program are accurate, it's kind of too bad that Tanya isn't there.  She might be a star in this situation:

Last May in Kalamazoo I had a pleasant dinner with a large group of faculty and graduate students at restaurant called Food Dance. A great deal of wine may have been involved. At one point I told someone who had been accepted into GW's graduate program and who was about to relocate to DC that we have a tradition of locking each arriving student in a steel cage with a faculty member. Just as in Thunderdome, only one combatant emerges from the Cage of Scholarship conscious. I believe I described the cage fight as one of our more beloved GW English traditions, something that everyone eagerly looks forward to as a rite of passage.

Why I make this shit up I have no idea. I blame the great deal of wine.

Imagine my alarm to have found the pictured gift waiting on my desk this morning. The note card states, with quiet menace, "See you in the cage, Jeffrey." I know its sender practices krav maga. Tauntingly, the cotton hand wraps she gave me are labeled NOVICE. I wonder if she will settle for being taken out to lunch instead? Please?

Ponzi scheme government collapsing in Kabul?

That's what Juan Cole thinks.

Baron's Howe -- an invitation

If any readers are going to be in the North Bay area this weekend, please know that there will be a medieval re-creation event in Bonfield on my property.  It is free, but we ask that you make some attempt at medieval costume.   The main activities will be on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

If you need more information, contact me (today, Thursday and Friday).  Anyone who is reading this blog is probably capable of figuring out how to do that.

The Fight Network features modern jousting

A very nice short video piece starring other friends of mine:

What some of my friends have been up to

Iron-making at that real Viking campsite in Newfoundland.

Hammered Out Bits reproduces an article and this picture from the Northern Pen.  An excerpt:

Donned in traditional viking attire, re-enactors from Ontario and site interpreters from Parks Canada spent a sweaty day’s work layering charcoal upon raw iron ore inside a hand-built furnace and pumping the bellows to transform 20 kilograms of iron ore into almost three kilograms of iron.
Using a technique lost almost 800 years ago the group re-created a bog iron smelt — just the second to take place at L’Anse aux Meadows in 1000 years.
“I came a long way to make iron here,” said Ken Cook, otherwise known as Grettr Blackhands, his bushy beard only partially obscuring the huge grin spreading over his face.
“When we were doing it we were all floating on air. It was pretty exciting.”
The all-day activity was arranged in conjunction with the Dark Ages Re-Creation Company (DARC) as part of L’Anse aux Meadows’ 50th anniversary.
Darrell Markewitz, an artisan blacksmith and founding member of DARC, developed the training for the viking re-enactors at L’Anse aux Meadows and Norstead, and was instrumental in organizing this year’s demonstration.
“The problem with viking history is that it’s so far beyond people’s experience,” he explained last week.
“We’re talking about things that happened a thousand years ago — people have nothing to relate that to because it’s just so different. The easiest way to help them understand what objects were used for and what vikings were about is to use living history exhibits and this is a prime example of that.