Lydia Fish
Department of Anthropology
Buffalo State College
1300 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo NY 14222

13 July 2004

Dear Student

I am delighted to learn that you have registered for Anthropology 144W (5022) this summer. The course attendance and grading policies and the assignment for the first class meeting can be found on your class page of my website at http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/fishlm.

Please print out and read the documents on my website assigned for 26 July before first class meeting and bring the printouts to class with you. Also, if you haven't seen Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? you should rent it from your local video/DVD store and watch it before the first class meeting.

The textbooks for the course are: On Being Human: The Folklore of Mormon Missionaries (William A. Wilson), All Around the Year (Jack Santino), American Roots Music (edited by Robert Santelli, Holly George-Warren and Jim Brown) and a CD, Occupational Folksongs of the U.S. Air Force. Other readings will be posted on my website.

On Being Human, All Around the Year and American Roots Music are available in the college book store. I would suggest, however, that you first check with www.amazon.com and www.bigwords.com for second-hand copies. Occupational Folksongs of the U.S. Air Force can be purchased only from New World Records at 765 Elmwood Avenue (883 3472). The CD is kept behind the counter, so you will have to ask for it specially.

Since you will be writing a paper based on Occupational Folksongs of the U.S. Air Force which will be due on 2 August, it is essential that you purchase a copy of this recording and become very familiar with the songs as soon as possible. All Around the Year and American Roots Music are both fairly long books, so I would suggest that you also purchase copies of these ASAP and start reading well before class starts.

As you will note in the course schedule, you must have completed English 102 or the equivalent in order to enroll in this course. (Note 25) If you ignore this prerequisite you will be asked to drop the course at the first class meeting. You will also need to be familiar with the use of computers and have access to the Internet. (Note 28) Your third assignment will involve the construction of a simple time line in ExCel or Word tables.

From now on, I will communicate with you by e-mail AT YOUR BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE E-MAIL ADDRESS. Please send me mail (fishlm@buffalostate.edu) FROM YOUR BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE E-MAIL ACCOUNT as soon as you receive this if you would like to receive more mailings about the course before classes start.
I will not be in my office on a regular basis until classes start, but you can contact me by e-mail if you have any questions. I'll see you on 26 July!

Sincerely

Lydia Fish