Hello, Hello, Future Subscriber(s) and Fellow Musers!
Thank you to all of the Musers who have subscribed and have joined me on this journey! If you are new to this little corner of Substack, you’ve found a fantastic page to see what it’s all about! I know that it’s a long read, but I have my reasons for it being that way. I’m someone who can’t help but lay (spread? nah, definitely lay) out what you can expect from me. So settle in and enjoy reading about this page that you’ve stumbled across! Huzzah!
Also, if you’re already familiar with the Stay-Up-To-Date stuff, and don’t want to read Description/Definitions portion of this page, please skip down to the Why A Broad Subject Such As Anthropology? section, start read from there, and if you are convinced/so inclined to subscribe, please Hit/Samash/Mouse Click that subscribe button that’s lightly scattered throughout this here page but will much more prominently displayed within my articles. Thank you, thank you! <3
For those of you who are already familiar with this page and want to see the upcoming schedule, skippety-skip down to the Schedule section-this gets updated every so often as I prepare to release more posts so it’s hardly ever the same! But for those you who are sadists and masochists, I have done some rearranging and cleaned up the writing a bit, though, if you do want to (re)read this whole thing, be my guest! :D
Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox. You can also download the Substack app from either the Apple or Google Play stores depending on what kind of phone you carry! While the Musings will be posted on the website, app, and also via email, there will some things (like Chat) that will not go to email, but once I start a Chat, you should be able to access it via app and the website.
Why subscribe? I’ll get to that in a minute. Firstly, though, after you look at this lovely picture, please lemme break the name down for y’all:
A few Descriptions/Definitions regarding the name:
My definition of Musing(s):
To think on and then write my thoughts about whatever topic comes to mind. Topics may overlap at various points. Don’t worry, though-I’ll add links when that happens so you can refresh your memories :)
Anthropologist:
Someone who has studied and is getting or has a degree in the field of Anthropology, which in short form is the study of humans and culture. There are four fields of Anthropology: Cultural Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistics, and Physical/Biological Anthropology. *The pictures posted are a representation of the four fields*
Student:
Someone who is currently getting a degree at a college/university, and/or whose curiosity about life hasn’t faded yet <3
Why A Broad Topic Such As Anthropology?
I’ll admit that like most of the public, at first, I was focused on specifically archaeology…until I took an Intro to Anthropology class and realized that there was much more than just looking at ancient Egyptian and Central/South American pyramids, the Great Wall of China, etc.
As I became more invested in studying anthropology as a whole, I realized that there was a huge disconnect between what anthropologists talk about to the public concerning anthropology and what the public believes anthropology to be about. Now, that doesn’t mean that I think nor do I believe that I’m the smartest person in the field-I’m very (x5) far from being the smartest person in the field. I’ve literally only done 1 archaeology field school and-as of this About Page update-have done one independent study under a cultural anthropology professor. I’ve gained some good experience, but not enough to believe that I’m a so-called “expert” in this field!
I am also fully aware that I’m not alone in my thinking-I’ve found a few other Substacks by people who also write about culture-some are professors and grad students; some work in the anthropology field. These humans-in their own way-are also trying to undo the disconnect and build a bridge for anyone who is not an anthropology major/minor/enthusiast to better understand the field. Some aren’t anthropologists by trade but they have a good sense of what’s going on around them to look at things from multiple viewpoints. I see myself as also adding to their knowledge and to further get rid of this disconnect in my own way too.
*I realize that anthropology appears to be secretive and mysterious. The truth is that it is not mysterious. As for secrecy-this matter mainly concerns archaeology (at least to my knowledge). It’s not a matter of keeping something secret, so much as to protect the location of something found that can be returned to by a team of archaeologist at a later date and studied without too much public interference, and also to respect the wishes of a tribe/culture on what they consider to be sacred. I will be to sure to remember to point this out when it’s relatable to future posts.*
*I’m pretty sure that I’m not explaining this part very well, so if someone who is a more experienced anthropologist and/or archaeologist comes across this substack, sees this, and has a better explanation, please feel free to contact me and give me a better way to define this part*
What to Expect:
I will be a-musing about various topics, and I am quite happy to interact with subscribers! There are currently 3 sections but are still part of the main subscription, with one that’s going to be behind a paywall eventually once I’m able to devote more time to putting out paid subscription stuffs. However, if a topic does get its own section, rest assured, dear subscriber, that you will still be able to find it on the homepage! (Ima be honest, y’all-I could have multiple sections about cats! Juuuust sayin’!)
Some general topics that I’ll cover:
~Gender and Sex Identities, Culture, My Cats, Education
~*Sigh*…You’re thinking Paleontology, not Anthropology, nor Archaeology…
—>Of course I’ll talk about those Dinos, though…and my cats! :D
~Some Politics <bleh!>, Star Wars/Star Trek/Star…things!, Books and Genres
~Movies, Taboos, Art!
~Curse Words and other “bad” words (some of these specific posts will definitely be behind a paywall, while others not so much, although some comment sections may have a paywall)
~Gig work
~And a shitton more-including those darn cats!!
<Sehkmet would appreciate a grainy, red-colored beer before you move on so that she does not draw your blood>
Navigating the Homepage: Sections+Groups
There are currently three sections to the Musings of an Anthropology Student Substack and seven groups. There may be more groups in the future, but for now I’m trying to keep them at a minimum.
The three homepage sections that I created are:
Musings of an Anthropology Student (aka the Home page)
~This section will have what I call my Main Musings title Musing#1 (and so on and forth), and will be free to Fellow Musers with a Free subscription and a Paid Subscription.
~Warning: I’m very big on sarcasm, so don’t be surprised if you see some strike-through words/sentences on a lot of my articles. They’ren’t mistakes, they’re there intentionally, hehe
Artist’s Corner
~In this section, I talk about art, show some of my art, and talk about how it’s helped with my mental health and anthropology journeys. Although the posts that I write in this section will be available to both free and paid subscribers, some of the articles’ comment sections will be available to paid subscribers only, depending on the subject matter.
Deep Dives
In this section, I will go into more detail on specific subjects talked about in my Musings# posts or mentioned in my Intro posts. This section will eventually be for paid subscriptions-except for the intro post to the section, and a few occasional Deep Dives (or DD’s as I will sometimes call them). The first 3 will be free, and any others will go behind a paywall after 2 weeks, although occasionally I will release other free DD’s. You can read the DD’s Intro Post here.
*Further down, in the Subscription section on this page, I give full transparency and insight about what your paid subscriptions will go towards*
On the homepage, at the very top, you can also find:
Chat
I have started a few Chats, which you can see once you become subscribed to this substack! Eventually, I will split the Chat in the paid and free sections, but for now, all subscribers will have access to it, and can even start threads!
The Chatty Topics will focus on past posts, current posts, and sometimes events happening in the world, as well as general topics like me asking how your day/seasons going, or updating you on what I’m working on via Substack, school, and/or life. Sometimes a Chat topic will consist of my asking you, Fellow Musers, if there is a specific topic that you would like me to write a Musing about.
I think it’ll be a great way for all of us to discuss (hopefully in real-time) specific posts or just what’s going on in the world on this planet that we call Earth. I may even try to do a Zoom meeting-style event, but that’ll be later down the road when I’ve put out a hell of a lot more content for y’all to read/listen to/absorb and form an opinion on!
Notes
Every so often I will put a Follow Friday/Happy Caturday/Subscribe Saturday/Shout Out Sunday Restack of another writer’s article that they have worked super hard on and absolutely deserve that recognition that comes with restacks.
Some other random thing like a few pics here, there, and everywhere of my kitty overlords with some text about some thing that Future Me has yet to decide on.
Direct Messaging
Substack has added Direct Messaging to the Chat part. Currently my DM’s are open to everyone, so if you have a genuine question about my posts/page, or would like to connect in a non-creepy way, feel free to message me! Please know that even if I don’t answer back immediately, I will still see your message and I will answer back as soon as I can.
*Important: Spam messages will be deleted and spammers will be blocked as will harassers! Don’t be that kind of human or bot. Like seriously-Don’t.*
The seven groups are:
~Introduction Posts
~Musings#
~Mini-Series
~Artist’s Corner
~Shout Outs
~Quick Posts From The Furkids (aka Nalia & Salem)
~Life & Lemons
About the Sections:
Originally, I had four sections because I didn’t understand the grouping mechanism. It wasn’t until I read a post from another author that I figured it out. I did have a fourth section called Intro Posts, but I have deleted that section and merged the posts from that section to the main page. You can find them in the Introduction Posts group. I’m going to be keeping Artist’s Corner and Deep Dives as their own sections for now, but eventually I will probably merge Deep Dives with the main page and keep Artist’s Corner as a separate section. As I explained in the section area, I do plan to eventually put some or all of the posts in the Deep Dive section behind a paywall, but I’m going to wait until I start having posts for that section before I make a decision about that. For now, all posts and comment sections will be available to everyone. Huzzah!
About the Groups:
Some posts are in multiple groups. This is done intentionally, but only because they fit into multiple groups. I only plan to do this for a few posts, such as if I do another mini-series, for example. You may also notice that I have a grouping for Artist’s Corner and Deep Dives. This is intentional as I want readers to be able to find the most current posts for the all the groupings. However, you’re also welcome to clickety-tap on the sections where you will find Deep Dive and Artist’s Corner posts available as well. Huzzah!
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are free, with the choice of a paid subscription option available, but I will currently be keeping all of my posts free and available for those who are not able to do a paid subscription. For paid subscribers who practice budgeting, the subscription’s tiers are $6 (Monthly), with the option of $35 (Yearly) being available.
I do, however, also have a Ko-Fi page where you can toss a coin <or coins> my way starting at $5, and/or you can also contribute to the catnip jar! You can do this once, or you can do this however many times you’d like. It is totally up to you! I feel this is a fair alternative to paying a monthly subscription, and you’d still be able to support me and my cats wherever our wild adventures take us!
Clickety-click, Tappity-tap, and/or Samash the button below to go check the site out! Or you can continue on to the rest of this About page. Either way
A quick price breakdown for subscribers:
For subscribers who wonder why $6/$35 and not $5/$50/$150 like other writers on the platform:
Substack takes 10% of earnings from it’s writers. This means that because I’m charging $6 for monthly content, per paid subscription I will only get about $5.00, and with Stripe taking its cut as well, that total goes down a bit more to $4.93 from each Monthly paid subscription. For the annual subscription, between Substack and Stripe, there is $5 taken out total, so I’ll just get $30 for each Yearly subscription. By charging a little more for monthly, but keeping Yearly at $35, I feel that this is fair to both myself and you, dear subscriber. I’m including a screenshot from a Substack FAQ so you’ll have a clearer picture of what they and Stripe charge:
I’ll lay it all out for you and even do some maths:
While I don’t expect to be a full-time writer on Substack for the forseeable future, I have calculated that to make enough to be able to stop doing my side-gig and just write on this Substack+my normal job and focus on my studies-I would need at minimum a dedicated paid subscription following of:
~200 monthly subscribers ($1,200 a month)
~200 yearly subscribers ($7,000 Yearly)
~Before Substack/Stripe fees and gov’t taxes:
-200 monthly paid subs at $6 : $1,200
-200 Yearly paid subs at $35: $7,000
I’m also a realist. If I decide to actively push paid subscriptions, I know that I will still have a long way until I reach my goal of paid subscribers, that it might not be reached, and I also don’t expect my future Deep Dive paywalled posts to take off immediately, but I do hope that it does eventually. I’m planning on sticking around for a while! Convinced?
Currently All Subscribers will get
~Access to all free posts!
—>After the first 3 Deep Dive posts are released, future Deep Dive posts will be free to read for 2 weeks and then will go behind a paywall
~New subscribers will get a Shout Out Post!
—>I do these in batches-currently on a monthly basis at the end of the month-but you will get a Shout Out should you subscribe to this Stack <3 (And if you’re a fellow writer who subscribes I will also include a link to your page! Huzzah!)
~A fun pic or two of my cats being cute <but not always cuddly> on random posts
~A message from my cats every now and then
~1 to 2 monthly posts
(due to straddling the line of #returningcollegestudent and #adulthood this is probably what I’ll be able to muster up for a bit)
~Access to my full archive
~My DMs-this feature will always be open to any Musings subscriber (free and paid)!
Some example Topics of what the Deep Dive posts will cover
—>Ex: Cultural Anthropology-I mention Franz Boas who modernized North American anthropology when he moved from Germany. For one of my Deep Dive post, I’m planning on going into more depth about his life and his influence on anthropology in the Americas.
—>Ex: Archaeology-I may go into a Deep Dive of the process of getting items found at an archaeology site from said site to a museum
—>Ex: Linguistics-I may do a Deep Dive into how the language spoken by the indigenous peoples of Australia is similar to southern India (read an article about this a few years ago, actually. It’s quite interesting!)
—>Ex: Physical/Biological Anthropology-In one of my classes in Spring 2023, I learned about evolutionary medicine and how that perspective could be used to help treat mental health
I plan to keep 95% of my Substack posts free for everyone to read. However, I’ve also always planned to have a paid section. The Deep Dives will be my paywalled section, however as I mentioned above, I will keep them Free-To-Read for two (2) weeks before they go behind a paywall. So for the next section
Paid Subscribers
~Get access to all posts, including the Deep Dives after they go behind a paywall
~A personal email from me saying Thank You for your paid subscription, as well as a picture of Nalia and Salem being…well…themselves
~New: Once I get enough paying subscriptions, I’ll start a once or twice a month Paid-Subscriber-Only Conversations in the Chat section about any of my posts. We can start with my Introduction posts and work our way to the most recent posts!
How Will Your Paid Subscription Help Me?
I admit, early on, that when I wanted to push paid subscription-my Deep Dive posts were going to be those. However, life is sarcastically funny and right now I am not able to post enough things to feed your brain with, so while I’m going to leave the option of paid subscriptions open, you can continue to be a free sub and still get well-thought out content that you can read at anytime. If you decide that my writing and my cats obvious plan to take over the world is good enough to earn your hard earned dollars, I will earn your monthly or yearly subscription plus a little extra to cover:
~Rent, utilities, and other bills
~Vet visits for the cats (regular and/or emergency vet visits)
~School stuff
~Food-for me but mainly the cats (they LOVE the creamy Churu’s and are on a special food to help with anxiety and UTI’s)
~Building up some savings (both emergency and normal)
~Spoil my beloved kitty cats! <3 (I’d really like to get them another cat tower! And that heavy rope to wrap around the tower poles so they can scratch to their hearts desires! #catmomgoals)
Schedule
I was going to take this schedule down now that I’ve passed Year 1, but I’ve grown fond of it, and I think it also helps keep me accountable. Highlighted words means that the post is already out and have links to the post itself. So for the next few months (barring no life stuff happening), the schedule will be:
June:
~Substackaversary Post: Reflecting on Year 2
~Shout Out PostJuly:
~Writings From My Undergrad Years #1: Trade and Globalization
~Shout Out postAugust:
~Deep Dive #1
~Artist’s Corner (TBD)
~Shout Out postSeptember:
~Musings #5
~Artist’s Corner
~Shout Out postOctober:
~Musings #6
~Musings Special: Halloween post!
~Shout Out postNovember: (Assuming that I’m in grad school and will be neck deep in getting ready for final projects)
~Either a Musings #7, Musings Special: Thanksgiving post, or Artist’s Corner
~Possible Quick Note by Nalia and Salem post
~Shout Out postDecember:
~Deep Dive#2 or Musings #7 or 8
~Shout Out post
A Little Bit About Me:
<FINALLY!!! She’s gonna tell us about herself and the cats!!! About damn time! Huzzah!>
In case you’re curious as to whom the anthropology student is, tis I, Kimber, who is the student writing these musings!
I’m in my late-30’s. I’m going back to school, have recently graduated with my bachelors, and I hope to be starting grad school in Fall 2025. I currently have a job that goes along with my degree that I’m getting, but since it’s a student-job (meaning I don’t get paid a living wage), I am also having to do a lovely side-gig called UberEats to make ends meet. I don’t mind doing UberEats, but I would also like to not do it if only for the unselfish reason of being able to keep my car going for longer than 5 years! This is not a slight exaggeration of UberEats-the wear and tear on a car does eventually take a toll if you do any kind of delivery and/or rideshare driving for a while. However, if I get enough tips, and/or paid subscriptions, I will happily stop doing UberEats, especially so my car can last longer.
I live in Texas, and am also from Texas…but due to the stupidly insane political climate in this beautiful-as-fuck state, I’m hoping to eventually move out and explore the world a bit with my cats and my partner, and hopefully write about it on here!
As I mentioned, I recently graduated-specifically, I graduated with Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology. I am hoping to continue onward and get two masters, one in Museum Science and another in Anthropology-originally I saw myself specializing in Cultural Anthropology and Archaeology, but now I am leaning towards the newer field of Applied Anthropology. Ambitious? Yes. Do-able? I’m about 99% sure it damn well is (says my confidence level, but my realistic level is a tad bit lower)!
About Those Darn Cats:
In addition to being a university student, I became owned by two female-identifying cats in Jan 2023 that go back and forth between calling me Mama and Human Servant. Their names are Nalia and Salem. If you don’t want to support a recent undergraduate hoping to become a graduate student, but would like to support the cats, then…dear wonderful subscribers and Fellow Musers…please click on that pay-to-subscribe button or this here Ko-Fi link so that I can continue to pay rent, as well as spend more time with and spoil my furbabies! You can check out their story in the Mini-Series that is at the end of this page right before that final <Subscribe> button! There are 3 point-of-views told: my p.o.v., and both of their p.o.v.’s. <3 You can see a pic of them below!
<This image will be consistently changing as the ladies allow me to take more pics of them being cute and sometimes cuddly, while also reminding us all that even mini panthers and mini lionesses are still, indeed, fierce!>
Why I’m Writing on Substack:
Well, in case you haven’t noticed with this somewhat, stupidly long About section-I enjoy writing, probably more than I enjoy drawing art-although I enjoy that too as you’ll see when you visit the Artist’s Corner section. However, recently I’ve found that I enjoy writing more when I’m not hindered by an academic grade (I can only imagine whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy).
So why don’t I just have a blog? I don’t have the time at the moment to work on the things that make a blog fantastic-like a cool background that may or may not have motion, coding, etc. I can also be too much of a perfectionist. As much as I would Love to invest the time to do that cool shit (and do it in early 2000’s style too) as well as do an actual website, right now I just have the time and energy to write about well-thought out things about who-knows-what and maybe add a pic or ten three about the things.
I can promise, though, that the posts (just like this About section) will have a creative element to them, as well as plenty of sass to keep you laughing. Even the serious posts will have some sort of humor ^_^
I encourage you to also please check out a few currently active pages that I follow and HIGHLY recommend!
They be:
Conversations with Critters
Ancient/Now
Death and Birds
When Hope Writes
Practice Space
Table #666
Cultural Study
Womaning In India
One Word
The Curious Platypus
Elixir of Love
Mexico Soul
If there are other substacks that you think I should check out, please lemme know!
Until we get the pleasure of meeting each other, Carpe Diem!
(That’s “Seize the day!” for those not in the know before reading this)
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Never miss an update.
Thank you so much and please check out some these posts:
Introduction posts:
~When You Say Anthropology… here!
~Cultural Anthropology…here!
~Linguistic Anthropology…here!
~Physical Anthropology…here!
~Archaeology post…here!
~Anniversary Year 1 Post…here!
Musings# Posts:
~Musings #1 here!
~Musings #2 here!
~Musings #3 here!
Mini-Series:
~Two Cats and Their Human: The Human Part 1 & 2!
~Two Cats and Their Human: Nalia Part 1
~Two Cats and Their Human: Salem Part 1
~Two Cats and Their Human: Salem Part 2
~Two Cats and Their Human: Nalia Part 2
Reminder: Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox. Huzzah!
