Greetings from Sedalia!

I'm out here at the Missouri State Fair working the MAS information
booth for a couple of days, but I wanted to take few minutes to tell
you about an upcoming event in the St. Louis area that I'm very excited
about.

As you know, there are dozens of events scheduled to commemorate this
September as the eighth annual Missouri Archaeology Month (view the
full list by clicking on the link at missouriarchaeology.org).

One of those events is our monthly MCAS meeting featuring Bill
Iseminger at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters on Wednesday,
September 10. In addition to that, however, we have also arranged to
hold a "Meet the Archaeologist" day at Crestwood Plaza on Saturday,
August 23 from 10am until 7pm. That date is ideal because the mall
should be teeming with lots of back-to-school shoppers and it gives us
the perfect opportunity to build awareness of 1) local archaeology 2)
Missouri Archaeology Month, 3) the Missouri Archaeological Society, 4)
our organization as well as the Three Rivers Chapter, and 5) what we're
doing to help promote an appreciation for the rich cultural heritage of
the St. Louis region.

The main thing we want to do at this event is show visitors that
archaeology isn't anything like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft; it's
normal people just like you and me pursuing careers and hobbies, and
there many ways to legitimately pursue an interest in the past, both
historic and prehistoric. If we're lucky, we might even pick up a few
new members or, at the very least, get a few new faces at our monthly
meetings.

Ideally, I'd like to have at least three or four volunteers at the
booth at all times, preferably a mix of professionals and amateurs, who
are willing to talk to passersby and answer any questions they may
have. We'll have a copy of the MAS video, "On the Trail of the First
Americans" showing continuously. If possible, I'd also like to have
some "show and tell" items for folks to look at; nothing gets someone's
attention better than an artifact display. There'll also be a supply of
brochures and Archaeology Month posters to give away.

With all that in mind, I'm asking anyone who can spare a couple of
hours on Saturday, August 23 to please get in touch with me right away.
Even if you can't be there that day, at least help spread the word
about this evnt by passing this information on to your friends and
family members (the official announcement will be posted to the St.
Louis Archaeology Clearinghouse this coming Saturday).

In closing, I'd like to share something with you. It's a photograph
from 1936 that was taken during the Texas Dust Bowl somewhere outside
Amarillo (you can view a copy on-line at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAS-MCAS/files/logos/amarillo.jpg ). In
this photograph, there are two men standing at the base of tall stump
of a tree in what looks like the middle of nowhere. One of the men is
pointing up at what was once a main fork of the tree, in which there is
a large bird's nest. A closer look, however, reveals that this is no
ordinary nest; instead of twigs and straw that you'd normally expect,
this nest is made of great, looping strands of barbed wire.

Regardless of the actual circumstances that led that particular bird to
build that particular nest out of that particular material, I prefer to
imagine that poor creature unsuccessfully scouring a windswept
landscape, looking for the usual organic material it needed to build
its home, yet managing to persever by using the only substitute
available.

I see this as a good analogy to our situation; we may not have
available exactly everything we want, but we do have resources
available to us and, by using our imaginations and working together, I
firmly believe that we can use what we have to our best advantage and
make this event at Crestwood Plaza a great success. I sincerely hope
you'll join me and help out in any way you can. Please let me know if
you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

Thanks for your time and have a nice day,

Greg

Greg Paulus
President, Mound City Archaeological Society

4484 Westminster Place
Saint Louis, MO 63108-1813

(314) 704-3507

bgpaulus@...