The Elk and I

The greatest friend a woman can have, aside from a blog from which she cand spout off about cognitive anthropology, is an elk.

Across cultures and in my own journals, the elk is depicted as the source of life and nourishment, a magnificent beast with a prized spot in ancient petroglyphs around the world. For this blog, the elk now represents a different sort of sustenance: An intellectual compatriot. A fellow with whom to discuss new ideas and research. A friend.

The elk is also at the center of a new poetry collection that I am writing, a series of pieces called, simply, The Elk and I, which will be published exclusively here at Asnuma. In these poems, the elk will take its place of importance in my cognitive and academic development — they will be conversations between this theoretical elk and myself about the topics I am currently weaving into my life like a golden braid, including neuroanatomy, Optimality Theory, Russian literature (I have not forgotten my Year of Russian Literature!), and computer programming.

The elk and I will begin our first discussion soon. May the collaboration between the two of us begin.