Anthropology

Besides being a really cool word, the discipline is very interesting to me. I've been thinking heavily about what I want to do with my life, including my old passion for writing and new interests. I think I would like anthropology to have a place in my future. But where? My passions and interests have become dimmed and confused as of late.

I've been thinking about moving to Kansas City and all that brings with it. At UMKC, I want to major in English, creative writing, but I also want to minor in anthropology, mainly cultural. I've also been thinking about jobs I would like to have while in school. Ideally, I would like to work on campus, or in a bookstore. I also think it would be kind of awesome to work at the zoo, even if that just means working in the gift store. Lately I've also considered volunteering at the humane society, but not sure if I will. Obviously these two things come from my love of books, writing and animals. But the question remains, what am I going to do with my life?

I would really like to combine all of these things, if at all possible. I'm really not very argumentative, so any position in politics that comes to mine just doesn't feel like me. While I was reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, I thought of the idea of the anthropology of food. Why some animals "are" food in some cultures, while others escape that fate, why others are deserving of compassion, meanings associated with food, importance of certain foods, etc. I'm not really a big food-lover myself, but we all eat and food sharing is a big concept in anthropology. Appealing to my academic side, maybe I should pursue a master's and come up with some kind of thesis for this?

It's all really so interesting. Some people have such an intense passion for animals while others don't see them in any good light. I really hope all of this works out.