I had called this the Passion of Christ(opher) originally. However, I realized that I shouldn't draw parallels to the son of a god when I am, in fact, a god myself. Ha!
I can be pretty intense. Some people that know me would say I'm a passionless robot and others would say I'm hot-headed and intense. There isn't really an in-between with me. Such is life. I'm working on swinging more to the middle, but, it's apparently not in my nature.
Recently, I had an interaction with a good friend that demonstrated just how clueless I am to my particular personality quirks. In most relationships I have (friendly and otherwise) I'm either all or nothing. I'm like that with much of what I do. I don't do much of anything half-assed. I either do it, or, I don't. So, when I meet someone that I really click with and am on the same page with on a lot of topics I want to keep that interaction going. It's difficult to find, actually. However, my version of friendship can be, as I said above, too intense and some people simply aren't prepared for it.
Why am I putting this on the blog? Because I need a couple people with me right now that are the same way. I've got some projects that I want to do that simply don't have funding. They are necessary and needed in the field of archaeology (and beyond in some cases) but they are difficult to set up and I just don't have the money. I also don't have the time or ability to do it on my own.
What I need is one, maybe two, people that have similar drive and passion for these projects and can see the future potential and possibilities. What I need are people that don't tell me, "I don't have time", or, "I had something else to do, I'll get to it later". I need people that put aside other things to get these things done. I need people that see this as one of the big things they do in their lives and are more concerned with how many people will be helped by what we produce than what happens on Game of Thrones.
Are you that person? What sorts of qualities does this person have? First, they probably watch little TV. They're way too engaged with the world and their own projects to afford too much TV-watching time. This person also has a thirst and passion for knowledge. Are you constantly reading journals or online articles? Do you repost IFLS on Facebook all the time, but, actually READ the articles and not just the headlines? Do you know what PLOS even stands for? Finally, this person has a passion for communicating archaeology and improving working conditions across the board for archaeologists.
This is a tall order, I know. I've really only ever met two people like this in my life. One I'm not in touch with anymore and the other, well, has other things on their mind and might not be ready for something like this. Not sure yet.
Oh, and this person, or people, has at least an MA/MS or is in a graduate program. I know a graduate degree doesn't make you smarter but in this case it tells me a lot about you. It says to me that you believe in the field enough to want todo something drastic to move up and make a difference. It tells me that you follow through with your ambitions rather than saying, "next year I'll go to grad school" and never actually going. That's what I'm looking for. Honestly, even if you dropped out of your program for reasons relating to the fit or goals of the program, then that's OK. I respect people that can back out of a bid decisions rather than continue in something that's just not right and will lead to nothing.
If you want to know more and actually meet the qualifications above and are willing to put in a lot of hard work for very little early return but a high long term return, let me know. If you'd rather skate through life and let others do the hard work, then, this message will self-destruct in five seconds. Good day to you.
Sorry to be harsh and abrasive, but, I'm tired of dancing around these projects and I want to see at least one thing go live by the start of the next field season.
Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the field!!