Serpent Mound

 (Reporting Information Paper)
                         
Serpent Mound, a mysterious and ancient relic of a long-lost civilization, has fascinated modern humans for over a hundred years. Who built it? For what reason? What secrets does it hide? Was this quarter-mile sculpture of a snake the site of ancient ceremonies? Does it have special meaning for us today? As F. W. Putman, savior and excavator of the mound wrote of his visit in 1883, “Reclining on one of the huge folds of this gigantic serpent, as the last rays of the sun, glancing from the distant hilltops, cast their long shadows over the valley, I mused on the probabilities of the past; and there seemed to come to me a picture as of a distant time, of people with strange customs, and with it came the demand for an interpretation of this mystery. The unknown must become known!” (871)

The Serpent, a giant snake built of clay, earth, and sod, basks on a high, crescent-shaped prominence and looks over the Brush Creek river valley. As George R. Milner, author of The Moundbuilders describes it, “This long, low embankment snakes its way down a narrow ridge. The tail forms a tight spiral, and the other end widens to join an oval embankment, commonly interpreted as the head, although some have thought the snake is swallowing an egg.” (79) It was only one of the many earthwork wonders that white settlers found when they moved into the Ohio and Missisippi river valleys, but among the many mounds, hill forts, and geometric enclosures built by earlier unknown cultures, it holds the distinction of being one of few that was preserved in its original state. At 30 feet wide at the head, 6 feet at its tallest point, and 1,348 feet long, it is the largest snake effigy found in the United States. (Glotzhopper and Lepper 3)

 In the mid-nineteenth century an interest in ancient earthworks blossomed, and the scientific community discovered the Serpent. E. G. Squier and E. H. Davis included Serpent Mound in their 1848 collection of surveys of ancient earthworks for the Smithsonian Institution. (96) Inspired by their work, Frederick Ward Putman visited Serpent Mound in 1883. He was awed by the earthwork, but also dismayed to find that it was being slowly destroyed. After a tornado raked along the precipice and cleared away the trees growing there, the farmer who owned the land had plowed the covering soil to grow corn, then let animals graze on the mound. The farmer planned to sell his farm the next year, and the new owner would likely turn the mound into a cornfield, as was happening to so many of the of the ancient earthworks. Rushing back to Boston, Putman enlisted the help of Miss Alice B. Fletcher, and together they raised the $6000 needed to buy Serpent Mound and the surrounding 54 acres. As Warren Moorhead, a prominent archeologist of the late nineteenth century, tells us “After investigating the mound, Putman told Bostonians that if it were obliterated by development that event would be more disgraceful than tearing down Bunker Hill Monument.” ( 241) The land was given to Harvard’s Peabody Museum to hold in trust, and Serpent Mound Park was created. (Putman 872) Before it opened to the public, Putman examined the mound by partially excavating the oval and a portion of the tail. He also studied the three nearby burial mounds and a village site. In 1886 William Henry Holmes published a map for the Smithsonian Institute, and in 1919 Charles Willoughby, from the Peabody Museum at Harvard Univerity published a paper with measurements and surveys.

After the Ohio Historical Society took over administration of the park in 1900, it became a popular place for people to picnic. In 1908 the thirty foot tall observation tower was built, which is still in use today — as are the picnic shelters and latrine houses constructed in the 1930’s. (Glotzhober and Lepper 12-14) Even today, Serpent Mound draws over 23,000 visitors each year. (Toncray, par 1)

So who built Serpent Mound? When Putman excavated portions of the effigy, he found no bones or artifacts to link it to its builders. However, the two nearest burial mounds contained Adena Culture graves and artifacts, and thus Putman linked the building of Serpent Mound with the Adena.(Glotzhober and Lepper 5) The Adena Culture populated Ohio from about 700 BC to 1AD. They were the first people in Ohio to build burial mounds. Grave goods, such as stone platform pipes, copper braclets and breastplates, pieces of cut mica, and marine shell beads were buried with the dead. Then dirt and rocks were hand-carried to the site, mounded up, and tramped down, forming large, hard mounds over the graves. The larger mounds contained multiple burials. (Milner 57- 61) Because the mounds were apparently maintained and even enlarged from generation to generation, many people believe that they were used for more than burials. The mound sites may have hosted clan-gatherings or larger gatherings on the Solstice and Equinoxes, and there may have been feasting, marriages, and storytelling. (Byrd, Dawn of the Adena, 12)

However, the Adena were not known for building elaborate earthworks. This did not start until the Hopewell Exchange Culture, approximately 100BC to 400AD. The Hopewell built geometrical enclosures: circles, octagons, and squares which surrounded acres of land. These enclosures which contained both burial mounds and building sites, (Milner 76) but little evidence of daily occupation or agriculture. It is assumed by most scholars that these were ceremonial centers which people came to for special occasions and trade. (O’Donnell 21-23) There were openings in the walls, apparently aligned with the solstices, the equinoxes, and the nodal points of moonrise. They may have been, therefore, giant observatories which marked the seasons as well as sites for gatherings and feasts. (Byrd, Heights of the Hopewell, 13) Fort Ancient, west of Dayton, is a good example of a Hopewell earthwork.

Serpent Mound is not a geometric shape, and it has no openings, but it does contain astronomical alignments in the loops of the snake. In 1988 Robert Fletcher and Terry Cameron demonstrated that a line drawn from a stone structure on the body of the serpent to a stone structure in the oval aligns with the setting sun on the summer solstice. By 1993 the pair had mapped out alignments with the summer solstice sunrise, the equinox sunrise, and the winter solstice sunrise. Further, a line from the tip of tail to one of the stone altars marks true north. (Glotzhober and Lepper 10)

To answer the question of who built the mound, and when, samples of charcoal were taken from the mound and dated by radiocarbon testing in 1991. The result indicated that the mound was built about 1070 AD. (Sarcaceni) This was well after the time of the Hopewell Exchange and into the time of the Fort Ancient Culture, which lasted from 900AD to 1500AD. (Glotzhober and Lepper 9) A Fort Ancient burial mound and the remains of a Fort Ancient village within a hundred yards of the mound (Putman 874) supports this.
 The Fort Ancient people built burial mounds, but they were smaller and less elaborate than those built by the Hopewell or even the Adena, and their burial goods were fewer and more utilitarian. (Milner 105-106) At the same time, villages, as exemplified by Sunwatch Village in East Dayton, became more complex and inhabited for longer times.(Milner 114) Open areas in the center of the village appear to have been used for ceremonial purposes, with alignments of the houses and posts used to track the solstices and equinoxes. (O’Donnell 25) The remains of such a village, determined to be from the Fort Ancient culture, has been found 100 yards south of the mound.(Saraceni)

Effigy mounds were common at that time in Wisconsin and parts of the neighboring states, but seem to have been built by a hunter-gatherer culture which was not part of the Fort Ancient Culture. (Milner 106-108) There are, however, two snake effigy mounds which were constructed just outside of Fort Ancient, and which work with Fort Ancient features to mark the Winter and Summer Solstices. Although Fort Ancient is a Hopewell structure, the snake effigies have been dated with Radiocarbon dating to the twelth century AD, only a hundred years after the Serpent Mound date. (White 55)

 However, Dr. William F Romain, a research associate with the Ohio State University Newark Earthworks Center, questions the validity of the radiocarbon dating. He believes that when Putman restored the mound in the late 1880’s, he could have contaminated the site by using soil taken from the village site. He is currently leading a new archaeological excavation to find an undisturbed area of the mound, and to take samples from that area for radiocarbon dating. (Weyrich)

The more researchers try to answer the question of who built Serpent Mound, the more confusing the answer becomes. It has been dated to the Fort Ancient time period, but that dating may be faulty. It is characteristic of the large scale Hopewell earthworks in size, in complexity and in marking various celestial events, but the burial mounds close to it are filled with Adena artifacts. The Serpent remains mysterious and ancient.
Today, in the 21st century, people still travel to Serpent Mound for spiritual reasons. Some believe that Serpent Mound is a “ New Age power center; the locus of an astrological harmonic convergence.” (Glotzhober and Lepper 7) Others, such as Pagans and Wiccans, come to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices, just as Native Americans may have done a thousand years ago. Friends of Serpent Mound sponsors events on these days, as well as the Archeology and Ohio Geology Day in September to celebrate the unique geology of the area, and a Perseid Meteor Shower viewing in August. (Friends) Even the Mayans are coming for a Full Moon Ceremony in October 2011. (“New Changes”)

Serpent Mound is unique, a relic of the past saved for the future, for our children and our children’s children — and yet it barely escaped destruction in the 1880’s. Many other Indian mounds and earthworks, such as the Dayton earthworks located just west of what is now just west of I-75 in West Carrollton, (Squier and Davis 82) have been destroyed.  More continue to be destroyed in the name of development and growth. In 1890 Moorhead wrote, “…it is only by careful and patient investigation into the remains of these dead and almost forgotten races that we may ever hope to arrive at any definite knowledge of their lives. All the light we can hope to shed upon them must come to us through the examination of their works and their skeletons. It is in the interest of science that we plead for the preservation of the native Americans.” (108) A hundred years later the battle was still being fought. Roger Kennedy, writing about the efforts to build a dam and flood the land about the mound for “recreational use,” said, “The rescue of Serpent Mound and the issuances of Cyrus Thomas’s report on the Mound Builders marked the highwater mark of intelligent and responsible preservation of the architecture of ancient America. As these words are being written in the winter of 1994, a developer is threatening to desecrate the lowlands which supported the life of the people who created the serpent effigy on a promontory above them.” (241)

Works Cited
     2011 FOSM Events. Friends of Serpent Mound. Arc of Appalachia, 2011. Web (www.serpentmound.org) 4 April 2011.

Byrd, Alfred D. “Kentuckiana X: Moundbuilders of Kentucky I: Dawn of the Adena.”     The Reluctant Famulus 77 (2010): pp. 9-14. Print.

- - -. “Kentuckiana XI. Moundbuilders of Kentucky II. The Heights of the Hopewell.”     The Reluctant Famulus 78 (2010): pp. 13-17. Print.

    Glozhober, Robert C., Bradley T. Lepper. Serpent Mound: Ohio’s Enigmatic Effigy Mound. Columbus:Ohio Historical Society, 1994. Print.  

    Kennedy, Roger G. Hidden Cities: The Discovery and Loss of Ancient North America Civilization. New York: The Free Press, 1994. Print.

    Milner, George R. The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Print.

    Moorhead, Warren K. Fort Ancient: The Great Prehistoric Earthwork of Warren County, OH Compiled From a Careful Study With An Account of its Mounds and Graves. Cincinnati: Robert Clark and Co, 1890. Print.

    New Changes Coming To An Ancient Site. The People’s Defender, 24 January 2011. Web. 24 April 2011.

O’Donnell, James H. Ohio’s First Peoples. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2004. Print.

    Putman, F.W. “The Serpent Mound of Ohio: Site Excavations and Park Contruction.” Century Magazine XXXIX (new series Vol. XVII) (1889/1890): pp 871-888. Print.

     Sarceni, Jessica E. "Redating Serpent Mound." Archaeology 49.6 (1996): 16. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.

    Squier, A.M. And E.H. Davis. Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington: Smithsonian Institute,1848. Print.
   
    Toncray, Marla. Drawn to the Serpent — Serpent Mound State Memorial Continues to Fascinate. Ledger Independent, 1 April 2011. Web. 24 April 2011.

    Weyrich, Carleta. Scientists Aim To ID Age of Serpent Mound. The People’s Defender, 18 April 2011. Web. 25 April 2011.

     White, John R. "The Sun Serpents." Archaeology 40.6 (1987): 52-57. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.


               

Text Analysis Paper

Helen E Davis
English 111 section 67
April18, 2011

FROM WHAT YOU KNOW TO WHAT YOU WANT

  Introducing new concepts to a general audience can be a daunting task for both professionals and scientists.  In this paper, Jonathan Frome uses a popular video game as both springboard and vehicle to explain his ideas of how cognitive psychology can answer the question: why do we care about fictional characters?

Why Do We Care Whether Link Saves The Princess? Frome asks in his essay, but he’s also asking a bigger question: why do we care about fictional characters?  Why do we cry at movies when the hero dies?  Why do we cheer when the heroine succeeds?  Why do we go into endless discussions on the love lives of a young wizard who never existed in the real world?

To answer this question, Frome delves into philosophy and then into cognitive psychology, his area of research. (Jonathan Frome, Ph.d 1)  Before he explores these unfamiliar areas, however, he grounds his readers in a topic that is familiar to them, the playing of videogames.  As The Legend of Zelda games are the subject of the book, The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am, in which this essay appears, he focuses on one particular videogame game: Legend of Zelda: Windwaker. (Frome 3)

The first Zelda title, Legend of Zelda, was released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  (Cuddy xii)  In the twenty-five years since there have been 14 additional titles released, as well as numerous re-releases of games on newer systems.  The franchise has included comic books, animated cartoons, music, and artwork.  Its popularity is due partly to the fact that it has always been more than just a videogame, it is also a story.  Link, the main character that the gamer must guide through puzzles and in combat against dangerous monsters, is on a quest to save Zelda, the princess, from a specific evil antagonist, and on the way he must interact with a variety of characters.  From the beginning these characters have had personalities, and are as likely to be grouchy as nice — Zelda must convince them to help him in his quest.  It’s a very entertaining world, as compelling any straight narrative.  Gamers often talk about the characters as if they are real. Why are they sucked into these game worlds?  Why are any of us sucked into the Adventures of Harry Potter, for that matter?

Frome starts his essay by appealing directly to the emotions of his audience.  He uses second person voice to draw the reader in, to give her the same feeling she has while controlling the Link in the game.  Frome reminds the reader of the emotions created by the game.  Using such phrases as “you feel a swell of emotion when you defeat the final boss” (Frome 3) and “you have every right to feel happy with your performance” (Frome 3) he directs the reader to feel those emotions again, the joy of winning the game.  Then he moves deeper and directs the reader to remember the emotions she felt while playing through the storyline of the game, such as “it’s sad when Link leaves his grandma,” or “you feel touched when Aryll gives Link her telescope.”  (Frome 4) His intimate tone allows the reader to participate in the essay, to be involved.

Then, when Frome admits that the story is fiction and moves to summarize the section, he moves into first person plural voice.  He invites himself into an intimate conversation with the reader, and in this intimacy he asks, “Why do we care about people who don’t exist?”  (Frome 4)  Thus the reader is invited — not pushed, not forced, merely invited as one friend would invite another — to explore this new area with him.  At the same time, Frome uses the change in personal address to signal that he has moved from merely engaging the reader to a discussion of the topic.

The next section, with its discussion of theories, sets up the academic background of the essay.  Frome introduces the term “paradox of fiction,” the act of caring about characters we don’t believe in, and then presents three theories to explain it. There is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “suspension of disbelief” (Frome 6), Noel Carroll’s “illusion theory”(Frome 6), and Kendall Watson’s “pretend theory” (Frome 7).  Frome discusses these theories and their criticisms in third person, maintaining a scholarly air: “Noel Carroll…argues that emotions can, in fact, be generated by thoughts alone, and he proposes what he calls thought theory.  He gives the example of standing on a dangerous precipice.” (Frome 6-7)  Frome then moves into a more intimate voice, using first person plural, to discuss the example, “We’re scared, not by a belief that we are in a dangerous situation, but by the mere thought of something bad happening.”(Frome 7)  Later, Frome moves into second person voice to link the example to the reader’s emotional reaction to the game, as described in the first section, “But if our thoughts only cause emotional response when we visualize them, then this doesn’t explain your response to Wind Waker, because you don’t visualize the world of the game while you play.  You don’t have to — you see it onscreen.”(Frome 7)  By using different voices to describe different parts within the same section — scholarly presentation, response to the presentation, and links to the emotional experience of the reader, Frome helps the reader to keep clear which part is which and to navigate the argument.  In this way, he makes the academic background accessible to the new student.

With the reader engaged and the background material explained, Frome moves to the idea he is presenting to the reader, that the ability to become involved with fictional characters can be explained by “the idea that the mind has multiple systems.”  (Frome 12) We can accept something as real by one part of our mind while knowing that it is not real in another part of the mind, and we can hold both of those ideas at the same time.  In this section, the focus is on the academic argument, presented in third person voice, and Frome’s discussion of this argument, presented in plural first person voice.  The reader is still included in this discussion, but the focus is on the argument, not the videogame.

Frome concludes his essay by returning to The Legend of Zelda and discussing the videogame in relation to this idea of multiple systems.  He answers the question he put forth in the title with the opening and closing sentences of his final paragraph. “We react to videogames and other art forms in some ways as if they are representations and in some ways as if they were reality….And as Videogame simulations approach reality, we may expect that our emotional responses tothem will approach our response to reality as well.” (Frome 14-15).

By using separate voices for the different parts of his essay — scholarly presentations in third person, discussion in first person plural, and examples in second person — Frome not only engages the reader in an intimate discussion but also helps the reader to keep track of the different parts.  By moving the reader from a topic she knows well to the one he wants to teach, and by giving academic support to his argument before he makes it, Frome leads the reader into new ideas and concepts.  Although videogames may not seem to be a very academic subject, they are a major part of the young adult culture, and can be used effectively as part of academic teaching.

Citations

Cuddy, Luke.  “Setting Up The Game” The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link
     Therefore I Am.
    Ed. Luke Cuddy. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court, 2010.  Print.

Frome, Jonathan.  “Why Do We Care Whether Link Saves The Princess?” The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am.
    Ed. Luke Cuddy. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court, 2010.  Print.

"Jonathan Frome, Ph.d." University of Texas at Dallas Faculty. The Arts and Technology Program at the University of Texas at Dallas, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. .

Mound Hunting in Chillicothe

You can do a lot of research for stories online, at the library, and from your own TV. But sometimes, in order to get the right feel for a story, you have to go onsite and experience what you want your subjects to experience. Objects should be felt, held, and sometimes smelt. Places should be stood in. Food should be tasted. You'll never know the small details, such as how it feels to be bitten by the bugs of the region, unless you actually go there.

For that reason my friend needed to do some research on Indian mounds. he picked me up and we drove out to what was not the nearest site, but the place with the greatest number of mounds: The Hopewell National Historic Park. This National Park hugs the Scioto River Valley, and covers five different Indian mound sites. Two were closed, as they were in the midst of active preservation, but the other three -- Mound City Group, Hopewell Mound Group, and Siep
Mound – are open to visitors.

We drove in from Dayton on US35, turned onto
Highway 104, and drove past two large correctional institution complexes, missed the turn into the park due to construction, drove past a smaller correctional complex, turned around, made our back to the park and dodged the construction equipment to turn in. The park itself was worth the trouble to reach it, though. To the front was a nice, air conditioned visitor's center staffed with friendly park rangers. There was a small museum, a well-stocked gift shop in the lobby, and clean bathrooms. To the side was a shaded picnic area, where we ate lunch. Behind it stretched the well-manicured grounds of the complex, with informative signs on most of them. Even the maintenance workers were friendly, and told us to go down to the river walk where there was a shaded view of the river.

There are 23 mounds at the Mound City Complex. The Hopewell Indians lived in this area between 200BC and 500AD. Using nothing more than simple digging tools, baskets, and a lot of hand labor, they built large mounds of dirt which have lasted for over 2000 years. The mounds were used for burials and other ceremonies. Originally the burial ceremonies took place in charnal houses which were then burned down, and a mound erected over the site. Often artifacts, such as carved effigy pipes, were buried in the mounds. The taller mounds were built in several layers, apparently over several generations. It is thought that the taller mounds were built to honor important people. A monument, perhaps like the pyramids, to mark the final resting spot of a great chief.

I rather have the idea that these mounds grew over time as first mourners, then respectful visitors, added bucket after bucket of dirt to the mounds. This idea does not come from archaeological evidence but from human psychology. Our tendency to pile flowers and other artifacts at gravesites did not start with our culture,

At the end of the lifespan of this spot, the practice of burial had changed. Instead of building new mounds for people, they were cremated and their ashes interred in the tops of existing mounds.

We next went to the Hopewell Mound Group, following a map provided by the Visitor's Center. There we found a site that was much more in its wild state. A well-maintained gravel path led along the high outer wall and a road cut through the center of the enclosure, but high prairie grasses hid most of the features of the land. The largest mound was just visible curving up above the grass. In its own way, this was quite valuable for research, as it showed how an undeveloped site would look. And also why so many of mounds go without notice until they are torn open and the artifacts spill out.

The third site, Siep Mound was memorable in several ways. The first is that it contained a relic of Ohio Travel from the last century. As recent as the nineteen eighties, the only rest stops along I-71 in Ohio were latrines, and they can still be found along country roads. On the plus side, it was nice to have something. On the minus side, well, if you've ever visited a permanent latrine...

The mound itself was well worth seeing. It's elliptical, tall, and could have been used to stage outdoor dramas and other ceremonies. As my friend declared, “Jackpot.”

PERSPECTIVE, by Helen E. Davis

Babylon 5 Fanfic

“Why are you doing this?” Captain John Sheridan screamed as the shadowy forms slipped closer. They flash visible, then invisible, a brief iridescence as if cycling through the spectrum of light. Crowding tight, they pushed him back against the cold metal wall of the Babylon 5 space station.

Already he had watched as their ships sliced apart the station, sections falling away as friends and acquaintances tumbled into the big nothing. Delenn’s screaming as the creatures overwhelmed her, one white hand the last bit to be drawn into the inky darkness. Londo’s laughter, high and maniacal, as panicked people swirled around him like the folds of an enormous cape. Cheers rising from Down Below as Lurkers looted their final moments away. And Geribaldi giggling gleefully because finally, just now, the coyote had caught the roadrunner.

“There – heads at last,” stated one of a pair of figures in medieval dress. “As I said it would, Guilderstern.”

Suddenly Sheridan found himself running through empty hallways, his footsteps muffled, pure horror at his heels. Ivanovich called his name; he stopped and turned back. She stood at parade rest, her uniform gleaming with polish, then snapped to attention. “At your service, Captain.”

“Hurry!” he screamed, throwing out a hand toward her.

A thin red ray cut between them. She fell away, still at attention, still perfectly in form. At his feet a chasm opened to a star-studded emptiness while heat and fire exploded overhead. He fell – but now the stars were the lights of the gardens, rushing up to meet him. Where was Kosh? Would he come in time? The alien, exposed and radiant, played at a chessboard with a figure swathed in black cloth, and the pieces were the ambassadors and their aides. A putrid tentacle slipped from the dark robe to pick up the black rook, Morden, and sweep the white bishop, G’Kar, from the board. As the Narn screamed in rage, thirteen eyes opened beneath the hood and burned with eternal flame.

Behind Sheridan, monks chanted out the names of God, counting down to the end of the world.

Where was the bomb? He had to find the bomb. They had only seconds now, and the only hope for millions of people was his finding the bomb and casting it in the outer darkness. He scrambled through access tubes and ran through Down Below, searching desperately. Vir was there, grinning like a maniac, a medieval pike in his hands. “Where is Morden? I must find Morden. I promised him this, and I must keep my promise.”

“Playing a game. In the garden.”

“It’s always a game. All it has ever been. Do we matter? Of course not, we’re just markers to be swept off and put away until next time. But now the game will end.” He raised the pike to his shoulder.

A non-noise caused Sheridan to turn and look behind himself. Shadows filled the hallway, flowed on every side, forced him back against the wall. “Why?” he screamed, through the rawness of his throat.

“To cleanse the Universe,” the leader intoned in a rich, mysterious voice.

“To cleanse it? Of what? And why?”

“Of evil. The final age is coming, the reign of the great pure one. All imposters shall be destroyed, all those lacking must be shut out. You, and all like you must be destroyed, for you are less than perfection.”

“And what makes you the judge over all creation?” Sheridan could feel the wall dissolving behind him. “What gives you the right to be guardian of the Universe?”

“What else?” The shadows grew and merged into a single intangible mass. The shape of a hat came clear, and the sweep of a giant cape. “Who knows better what evil lurks in the heart of men?”

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE INVESTIGATION OF R’LYEH

by Helen E Davis


– Step forward, Airman, and state your name and rank. –

– Airman First Class Feginald Hoot of the HMS Congressional, sir. –

– Feginald? –

– Yes, sir. Although the physician attending my birth was sober at the time of my birth, by the time he filled out my birth certificate, he had been celebrating with my father for several hours. –

– Do you go by Feginald among your mates? –

– Of course not, sir. I go by the shortened form, Feg. –

– I see. Well, Airman Hoot, will you be so kind as to tell us of the events of the Eighth of June, in the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Eleven? –

– Yes sir. I was on my customary duty at seventeen hundred hours, making my rounds of the C’s engines, when...–

– The C’s? –

– That’s what we call her, sir. C. We’re all a bit embarrassed by her full name.–

– I understand. But as this is an official inquiry, I request that you use the full name of the vessel whenever possible. –

– Yes sir. As I said, I was on my customary rounds of the C’s, that is, the Congressional’s engines, assuring that everything was in order. I had just reached the zeppelin’s final turbine when Commander Sherman’s voice came over the intercom, requesting all hands on deck. I quickly finished my check, and then proceeded to the docking deck. –

– So you did not immediately comply with his orders, then. –

– I finished my duties, and then proceeded to the docking deck. That is why I was behind all the others, and therefore the first chosen to accompany the landing party onto the island. –

– Tell us about this island. –

– Yes sir. Second Mate Higgins, out science officer, first noticed the island earlier that day, and determined that it was not on our sea charts. He hypothesized that it was a newly formed volcanic island, and his hypothesis was supported by the state of the surrounding sea. Although the wind was calm and the ceiling high, the water surrounding the island was in a state of high activity. –

– High activity? –

– It was boiling, sir. Second Mate Higgins explained that this was consistent with recent volcanic activity. He then requested that Commander Sherman turn the C toward the island in order to investigate it for scientific purposes.–

– The Congressional.–

– Yes sir. He then requested that Commander Sherman turn the Congressional toward the island in order to investigate it for scientific purposes. We arrived, as I noted, at seventeen hundred hours. The island, however, was not as Second Mate Higgins had expected.–

– What was it like?–

– It was not a volcano, sir, and it was not new. There was a city upon it.–

– What kind of a city?–

– A city with buildings, and a harbor, and people in the streets, sir. The people seemed to be dressed in bed sheets, and when we went out into the city, we found that they all spoke Greek. We were fortunate to have Seaman Rigoulas with us, as his parents came from Greece, and he was able to communicate with them, though in a very rudimentary way. We learned that the city was called R’lyeh by the inhabitants, and that it boasted a population of ten thousand citizens, a harbor with over three hundred ships, a university, and nearly a thousand wine shops. –

– Did he ask them about the island?–

– Yes, sir. They gave him to understand that this was a floating island, built to avoid some great catastrophe, and that it had been their home for endless centuries. They claim to have sailed it all the way from the Northern Atlantic Ocean, though we were in the South Pacific, and for that reason they called their island Atlantis.–

–How, convenient. Did the citizens tell you how their island could float? –

– They built it to float, sir, by installing giant metal tanks beneath it, which were filled with both air and water. These tanks were connected to the surface of the island by a system of pipes, and through these pipes they could raise or lower the volume of the water within the tanks, thus lifting or lowering the island itself. They could even submerge the island in the event of a great storm, then raise it afterwards. There were also giant steam engines on the back of the island, which served to propel the island in the direction that the citizens wished to travel. This was the reason for the boiling water around the island. –

– I see. What was the city itself like?–

– Very odd, sir. Very odd. The architecture was disturbing, to say the least. The buildings and archways seemed to bend at unnatural angles, not straight as would be proper, but almost curved, as if grown. A building might be three stories high on one side, and four stories high on the other, without any clear distinction between the two sides. My mate Lovecraft kept calling it eldritch, though I have no idea if that was the name of the architect or the period from which it came. In addition, the buildings all glowed.–

– Glowed? Like a lamp, Seaman Hoot?–

– No, not like a lamp, sir. Not like fire. It was more like the sea, sir, or certain nights when the seafood is poisonous. You run your hand through the water and it glows like really faint moonlight. The city glowed like that. It was in the rock that they used to decorate all the buildings. They rather liked it, the citizens did, but it felt, well, eldritch to me.–

– What happened next?–

– That’s where it gets a bit embarrassing, sir, though it was none of my doing. There was a huge building in the center of the city, with no doors or windows, rather like a tomb. Second Mate Higgins took a fancy to climb up it, and to get samples. The citizens were upset by this, and begged him not to touch the building, but he was determined. Good English determination, sir. Nothing stops us.–

– Nothing indeed, Airman. We’re quite proud of it. –

– Yes, sir. In this case, however...–

– What happened? –

– Second Mate Higgins fell in, sir, and something came out. –

– Something? –

– A cross between an angry octopus and a mad sea god, sir. With more than a bit of lobster thrown in. All the citizens dashed for their ships and pulled away, sir. But the thing didn’t bother with them. It came after us.–

– What happened then?–

– Commander Sherman marched us all to the C, to the Congressional, that is, and we went to our battle stations. He tried to use the big guns against it, but they had no effect – other than to make the creature mad enough to tear the city apart. He then ordered the use of the flamethrowers.–

– And did that work?–

– They set the city on fire, sir. –

– I thought the city was made of stone, Seaman Hoot. –

– It was. But that glowing rock burned explosively, sir. I don’t know if it even touched the creature, but apparently the fire was hot enough to melt the air tanks under the island. It sank then, still in flames beneath the waves. –

– And what did Commander Sherman do then?–

– He just stared at where it went under, sir, and muttered, “Gone with the rend. Tis the burning of Atlantis.” –

Separated at Birth?

The question of the day is this: are we looking at Cthulhu?

This is a picture of an actinotrocha larva. It's microscopic, and lives in the ocean along with all the other strange creatures that make up larvae. Later in life it will metamorphose into a tube worm.

Still, the resemblance is enough to make one ask -- was this lowly larva and the elder god merely separated at birth, er, hatching? Or is Cthulhu going to metamorphose into a giant star-chomping tube worm?

Marcon 2010

This is a con report for Marcon 2010, which was held over Memorial Day Weekend. I'm still pretty exhausted from the convention, so I'm afraid that this will be a rambling report.

The four of us -- myself, hubby, Janette, and Elizabeth -- arrived at the convention center in mid-afternoon. We checked into the Drury, which is a nice hotel on the far side of the Convention center. We like it because it is separate from the convention hotel, and thus quieter. Non-hotel guests cannot come there, so it's more private. And it comes with a free breakfast, which is very nice. The hotel is quiet for another reason -- it used to be a parking garage. The lower floor still are, but the upper floors have been converted to rooms. Since the floors were made to hold automobiles packed close together, they don't shake when people walk on them. No elephants.

Janette had two panels on Friday night. I attended most of the first, which was "Growing Up Geek, " which I got to late due to plumbing problems that Mr. Bean would have appreciated. The second one was Dr. Who, and by the time I got to the panel, there were people standing at the back and sitting on the floor. I heard that there was an official account of 68 attendees, but there could have been more. Unfortunately, by then my migrane was screaming, and I couldn't stand to be in the room. It does appear that I missed a good panel.

On Saturday, Elizabeth, Janette, and I were Chicks in Chain Mail, courtesy of Victoria's Secret Forge, run by Jeff Toliver. We wore steel chain mail dresses. They wore pretty well -- but alas, I cannot afford a full dress.

Maybe a belt, someday. Or a chain mail bra.

On Sauturday morning she had the panel for the Big Bang Theory. I caught some of it, but found myself with a crises of my own. I was in charge of a panel which was using Powerpoint Presentations on my laptop, and when I tried to open Donna's powerpoint, I discovered that my version of Powerpoint was incompatible with hers. Luckily she had her work laptop with her, and was able to convert it to the proper format. I did not know the other two panelists, and so prayed that they would be bringing Powerpoints in the proper format.

After this panel I managed to run through the huckster room and get some lunch. At one o'clock I had my first of three in a row panels, H.P Lovecraft. The panel went well, though not much was expected of me. The moderator appeared to be the expert and did most of the commenting, but some interesting stuff was shared. Oddly, I seemed to be the only panelist who was wowed by Lovecraft's technique. Otherwise, we just talked about what we liked in his stories.

My Little Cthulhu was appreciated.

Unfortunately, I had to pack up and leave before the official end of the panel, as the moderator thought that the panel ran for an hour and a half, not an hour and fifteen minutes with a fifteen minute break in the middle. And I had to grab a bottle of water and rush to my next panel, which was in kids programming. There Donna and I drew dragons with the kidlets and discussed how to make them believable. At the preschool level.

Then it was off to Biological Oddities, the panel with the slideshows. Where we discovered that it was a good thing that I had brought a pocket projector for the panel. It was dimmer than the full-sized projector, but it worked. And gave a very nice image if the room was dark. And since we didn't have to figure out how to work the projector, we could focus on the other major problem, which was that both of the other two presentations had to be converted before they could be shown. Donna worked on her laptop while I did my presentation.

There weren't a lot of comments from the audience, but hardly anyone left, so I think we kept the interest. I hope we do that one again.

I came out of that panel with a need to visit the bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were on the other side of an endless parade of zombies stumbling through the convention hall. No, not the OSU students out for the summer. About a thousand or so walkers had dressed as Zombies and walked from City Center to the convention hall. Sadly, I was wearing out at the time, and did not think to grab my camera.

No, I didn't get a lot of pictures this year.

Thanks to the Zombies, I was late to Janette's panel, Is There An Age Limit on Fandom? Apparently, there is not. Afterwards we got dinner, and then off to the Masquerade. Because I am short -- though not clinically so -- I usually like to stand in the back, leaning on my cane if need be. Not this year. I was completely worn out. I asked for short people seating, and the usher accidentally seated us in the special needs section, so that we were asked to move when there no more seats available. By that time, I hurt so much that moving was a real problem.

The masquerade was okay, but it has definately lost its magic. Every year there are better costumes, but fewer ones. This year there were eight or nine entries. Considering that Marcon is a regional con, that's really sad.

On Sunday, I participated in author readings and went to a panel on music and writing. It was on Sunday at Four o'clock, so having any audience was a plus. A pity, as it was a very interesting panel. The panelist talked about how they used music to define their characters.

We stayed over Sunday night so that the girls could participate in the Dead Dog Party, and so that I wouldn't have to drive home exhausted. It also gave us the chance to visit Schmidt's Sausage House. Maybe today I can eat...

Helen