a Geographer's Place

The Fulbright mission, “…to increase mutual understanding and support friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and the peoples of other countries,” remains a dominant driving force in cross-cultural communication and appreciation. I’m proud to be part of the Fulbright Family. I stand ready to help anyone who is thinking of pursuing a Fulbright opportunity. The program is, quite frankly, amazing. One of the Forgotten Fortresses of the Eastern Desert: Qasr Q'ilat  (Castle-castle). It's really a dam that's been there since, according to my Bedouin guide taking a smoke break on the dam, Roman times. He showed me Roman engravings. This is OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. But such a neat place! I ’ ve had some time to reflect on our experiences in Jordan, now that we ’ ve begun settling back into life in the States. And here's the thing: I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the experience  –  or the Kingdom, or its people. I can hones...

Ruins. One word that always seems to make me giddy. I’ve always liked ruins – especially the ones you can climb on/around/over/under/in and explore. That’s how it’s been ever since I was a little kid and my parents took my brother and me to Mesa Verde’s Anasazi ruins. Jordan has lots of ruins. Like a lot a lot. People have been inhabiting this region of the world for a long time, so the ruins span millennia. Yes, there are the well-known ruins like Petra and Jerash , and lesser-known places like Kerak and Umm Quaiys. But the Kingdom also hosts numerous others, some of which barely have a name, and others that are literally in the middle of nowhere. These forgotten fortresses have been a big component of my research here. Qasr az-Zahib . As I was taking pictures, a little Bedouin kid who was out herding sheep and goats came over with tea. We chatted a bit. He showed me a nearby cemetery, a still-functioning well, and another set of presumed Crusader ruins that I can't fin...

Dixie in her natural habitat: outdoors. Here in Southern Utah, 1993 When I was a little kid, Dixie (my mom) was into Native American (Indian) things. Actually, she was always interested in them. And because she was, and we spent a lot of time together, I became interested in Indian things too. We spent time discussing ancient native cultures, her (some would say wild) theories about them, and the more spiritual/mystical aspects often tied to the rich cultural heritage. She also liked “glyphs”, as she called them, and I soon became aware that these glyphs – rock art – were found in almost every culture around the world. Fast forward to my PhD work where, by luck really, I ended up studying rock art (though not in the traditional archeological sense) – and in the Desert Southwest US, no less. I learned there are four main types of rock art: petroglyphs (those carved or pecked into the rock), pictographs (paintings on rocks), intaglios (scraping away of a surface to reveal ligh...

The day in Petra began like other days: walking through the siq in early morning light, coming out at the Treasury to find it devoid of people – only a couple camels, their owner, and a local “street sweeper” (one of the people who comes in before Petra opens to make sure the grounds are clean). Petra’s magnificence still almost overwhelms me every time. And even more so when the spirit of the Fulbright program occurs – that “...promotion of goodwill...” they mention . With only one day in Petra this time, our plan was to do what most single-day tourists do: wander through the main valley on the way to the Monastery, spend some time there, and then spend the rest of the day wandering around other various monuments in the valley. We stopped by our Bedouin friend’s tent in the valley to chat quickly, and let her know we’d be back later that afternoon to purchase items from her shop. She was super welcoming as always, and had tea ready for us – as if she expected us....

January and February in Amman are usually cold and rainy. “Yucky”, as my Director described it. Once in a while, they even get snow. Our airport driver said the forecast predicted snow for the weekend. Guess they were right, as this is what we woke up to today and walked in yesterday: A dusting of snow, as seen from my hotel window this morning. Look close at the orange-colored roofs and the white field next to the tree in the foreground. Okay. I agree it doesn't look like much. But, when snow falls here , it's wet, and quickly melts. So it's more about how it moves down the slopes. The roads become shallow rivers and everywhere is super slippery. A little precipitation goes a long way here! It started snowing on New Year’s Eve. At first, the flakes were small and intermittent. As the afternoon turned to evening, however, the flakes became heavy and wet—almost slushy-like. Not so much snow as we think of in the Western US, but a light sleet, and very slippery. Sti...

After a non-eventful several hour layover in the Frankfurt airport (a fine European hot chocolate, a massage, and a snooze), we hopped on a 20 ½-row Royal Jordanian A319 aircraft for the final (4-hour-long) leg of our trek. Our flight arrived a half hour early in Amman, and after changing US cash for Jordanian Dinars (referred to as JOD or just JD by folks here), we purchased our visa and walked through customs, only to discover our lone checked bag was not on the carousel. Checking bags is always distressing for me. I always expect them to get at least delayed, but sometimes lost. And then there’s the ability that without checking a bag you can scoot out of the airport more quickly. So after giving our baggage claim ticket to an attendant, he went in the back and found it. I had to go in the back room and let the Customs guys search the bag…similar to what happens every time I leave Grenada with a bag full of chocolate and spices. We joked a bit, they asked if I spoke Arabic. La ...

Fulbright Scholar posts generally span six, nine, or 12 months, and usually the Scholar decides on term length. I selected six months. That should give me enough time to conduct meaningful research, drag kids into the field, and still explore the country’s and regions’ wonders. Although I most likely won’t be able to complete the research I originally intended on conducting, I am still excited to be in situ , in such an amazing landscape among such wonderful people. Or at least, that’s what I remember from my last visit to Jordan (back in 1995…thanks Deon and Julie!) I’m grateful that Kaelin will be joining me for the duration – and not just because of her Arabic skills J . She’s not only a fabulous field and travel companion, but the most amazing spouse. So, preparing. Yeah. They told us in orientation last summer that social media plays a huge role in helping people understand the Fulbright program’s importance. I’m more than happy to oblige them. I expect to keep friends abreas...

In the throws of applying for tenure, I also submitted a proposal to the Fulbright Commission to conduct "Research-Teaching" in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as part of my sabbatical. Sabbaticals take a lot of planning and allow professors to pursue avenues of scholarship that would be difficult given their normal duties. It's not a vacation. You have to work to get a sabbatical. And apply for it in a lengthy process that goes up the chain of PTB all the way to Provost. Sabbatical, at my university anyhow, can be taken by any full-time, rostered faculty member after 7 years of service. Hence, "sabbatical", like "Sabbath", coming from the Hebrew, sabat , which means "rest"...as in the seventh day of the week...although sabbatical is actually taken after  you've completed seven years of service... Well, anyhow, last week I got an email congratulating on winning a Fulbright! I was so excited I couldn't stop shaking! I almost cancel...