#alexa hagerty

[bangbangwhoa]

books I’ve read in 2024 📖 no. 126

Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty

“It is one story among many. Every bone tells a life. Every person lost is a world.”

[anthrofreshtodeath]

Are fans of Bones reading this? I am - I’m not done yet but this book… oh, this book. If you enjoyed Bones for Dr. Brennan and the work of anthropology and you want a serious, adult look into it, read this. It’s almost an insult to this book to associate it with a crime drama, but the discussion of how forensic anthropology changes you, how genocide changes an entire population, is so poignant. The best chapter by far is chapter seven, which provides a deep dive into the linguistics of genocide. Please, please read this.

[writerly-ramblings]

Books Read in July:

1). Directions to Myself: A Memoir of Four Years (Heidi Julavits)

2). Bluets (Maggie Nelson)

3). Essays in Love: A Novel (Alain de Botton)

4). The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (Maggie Nelson)

5). Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains (Alexa Hagerty)

6). Margot (Wendell Steavenson)

7). An Alphabet for Gourmets (M.F.K. Fisher)

8). My Documents (Alejandro Zambra)

9). Planet of Clay (Samar Yazbek)

10). The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays (Kelly McMasters)

11). Offshore (Penelope Fitzgerald)

12). Encounter (Milan Kundera)

13). Housekeeping (Marilynne Robinson)

14). Gingerbread (Helen Oyeyemi)

15). A Small Place (Jamaica Kincaid)

16). Where I Was From (Joan Didion)

[alackofghosts]

looking through my goodreads and the last 5 star book was from september 2023 ol-<

[kaijukiki]

I happened upon this book much the way anyone would happen upon a body in the woods, a finger in the dirt, or fragment left where it lie shorn cut at the ankle or wrist…it surprised me. But for Alexa Hagerty, forensic anthropologist finding such evidence of “La violencia” was every bit intentional. And integral to the mystery and the justice of a people who’s story is brought to light, by hands in dirt. Shovels, spades, and toothbrushes. Following a carefully and responsibly constructed narrative that details the process of work that puts people together, but also shreds them to the core. Part linguistic a anthropological triumph and scientific data of accounts, Hagerty writes like a poet in the dirt but also a scientist in a field lab. Truly one of the most uncommon and moving #nonfictionNovember reads I couldn’t put down.

[steddie-island]

No one asked for this but 🤷🏼‍♀️

Finished

The Haunting of Alejandra - V. Castro 4/5 ⭐️

Electric Idol - Katee Robert 3.5/5 ⭐️

Learn My Lesson - Katee Robert 5/5 ⭐️

A Worthy Opponent - Katee Robert 4/5 ⭐️

Death Between the Pages - Peggy Jaeger 3.5/5 ⭐️

The Hellbound Heart - Clive Barker 3/5⭐️

My Darling Dreadful Thing - Johanna van Veen 5/5⭐️ (God I wish I could read this for the first time again 😭😭)

Requiem for a Memory - Saige Denmark 2.5/5⭐️

Hunt on Dark Waters - Katee Robert 3/5⭐️

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson 4/5⭐️ (Highly highly recommend audiobook over the physical or ebook.)

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke - Eric LaRocca 2.75/5 ⭐️ (My rating of this keeps fluctuating. We’ll see how I’m feeling in a day or two, it might go up to 3 again. 😂)

Currently reading

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

Still Life With Bones - Alexa Hagerty

A Haunting on the Hill - Elizabeth Hand

Flight of Icarus - Caitlin Schneiderhan (I know feelings were very mixed on this but I know I’m going to love it, it’s more of my boy and that’s not a bad thing. Elliott suggested it as a palette cleanser so we’re going for it!)

Upcoming TBR (Can and will change depending on what my ADHD finds interesting at the time.)

Whalefall - Daniel Kraus

From The Belly - Emmett Nahil

Manhunt - Grace Felker-Martin

Home is Where the Bodies Are - Jenna Rose

Incidents Around the House - Josh Mallerman

DNFs of the year

Never Whistle at Night - A dark fiction anthology

I wanted to love this but I just. Didn’t. And it’s what made me realize I don’t vibe with short stories. I felt the same way about Out There Screaming last year. Some of the stories that I managed to get through were really interesting and others I just hated the author’s style and had to go back and re-read chunks (very annoying in short stories which feel like they’re supposed to be easier?) IDK, I just. Didn’t fall in love with it. I might try this one and Out There Screaming later but for now she's a DNF.

The God of the Woods - Liz Moore

I’m not DNF’ing this one for good I don’t think, it was just not the campy slasher read I for some reason thought it would be and it was like. Rich people being assholes to each other a little bit?? Idk it wasn’t BAD, this was just not the time to read it for me. I AM planning on picking it up again. Eventually. Down the road. Ish.

[laurelhare]

still life with bones, alexa hagerty (2023)

[thistle-and-thorn]

What's your favorite nonfiction book?

AHHHHH I read a lot a lot a lot of non-fiction (about equal with fiction I would say) so I am going to bombard you with recs, I am truly sorry, but non-fiction is a passion of mine so I broke it into the three main categories that I read:

To learn about a topic: Say Nothing (about the history of the IRA) & Empire of Pain (about the opioid crisis) by Patrick Radden Keefe. PRK is an excellent, excellent writer. These go super fast, he writes with an enormous amount of pathos, and I really, really enjoyed both of these. (I loved Say Nothing, but my recommendation comes with the caveat that I have problems with the end.) Under the Banner of Heaven (about polygamy and Mormon extremism) by Jon Krakauer is also great. I love how he uses the case to build a history of Mormonism but also questions religious extremism more broadly.

Memoirs I love include: City of Falling Angels by Jon Berendt. Another one I have read again and again. People think it's rambling and meandering but I find it charming. Ducks by Kate Beaton is a graphic novel about working in the Canadian oil fields and is really well-done. The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre has stuck with me more than I anticipated as well. One that I just finished this weekend and already want to re-read is Still Life with Bones by Alexa Hagerty about her experience excavating mass graves in Guatemala and Argentina. It's a beautiful meditation on science, death, power, and memory. The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power is a non-traditional political memoir which gives insight into the philosophy behind Obama-era foreign policy but also...what it's like to be a woman in power?

3. I read a lot of literary criticism as well: Sex with Shakespeare by Jillian Keenan is a flawed, but compelling memoir/Shakespeare essay about how she came to terms with her sexuality and kinks through Shakespeare. On Stories by C.S. Lewis is a compilation of essays and notes on...well, stories.

Okay. that's like. 12 instead of one. i will cut myself off! But I cannot choose!!

thank you T-T

[cozcat]

are you a big reader? have you read anything good lately?

I FORGOT I DIDN'T RESPOND TO THIS but yeah i guess you could say i'm a big reader at [checks storygraph] 93 books this year. so I'll give you five highlights from recently.

I finished the Deverry series by Katharine Kerr, and although I wasn't overwhelmed by the ending, I wasn't expecting to be - I did, however, still enjoy it, and it's a series I'd recommend if you want a sprawling and complex high fantasy involving reincarnation across the centuries. (that being said: it's pretty committed to very Traditional Gender Roles as it's based on a Dark Ages-equivalent society. so go in knowing that.)

Gwen & Art Are Not In Love by Lex Croucher is a very fun medieval YA about two royals, betrothed since birth, who hate each other's guts, but enter an uneasy alliance when they each find out the other is queer.

the Nevermoor series by Jessica Townsend is middle grade fantasy about a neglected and lonely child who is suddenly whisked away on the eve of what should be the day of her death to compete for a place in a magical society in a place called Nevermoor and it is so fun. I read it wanting a recommendable replacement for a certain other series that has a similar sounding premise but this is so good, very much stands on its own (you kinda have to twist your words to make it sound as similar as I did and the resemblance does fall away pretty quickly). also it's nice to read about normalised queer characters in a series for kids.

Still Life With Bones by Alexa Hagerty is a fascinating autobiography about her work in Guatemala and Argentina, excavating mass graves from the wars there. Hagerty is not a forensic anthropologist but rather a (I believe) social anthropologist, so a lot of the book is talking to the living, not merely about the dead.

and Small Island by Andrea Levy, quite frankly, blew me away. this is about Jamaican immigrants to the UK after World War Two, and their experiences during and after the war, as well as those of the white woman who takes them in as lodgers. beautifully written, deeply emotional, it ripped my heart out. honestly, I don't have the words for how much I loved this. (and although I watched it a few years ago, I'd say now, having read the book, that it is an excellent adaptation.)

yeah there's been some bangers this year

[peachyteabuck]

Hi peachy I'm so happy once again you reached your book goal of the year!!! I'm super proud of you!!!

I cannot remember what your reward is for this year but I hope when you do this again next year not to go overboard on how many, since I saw you were struggling near the end (what I mean is don't burn out).

Anyway I'd love to hear what the best book you read and the worst book you read was?

Happy new year and a great 2025 to you :)

thank you!! three years in a row!!

you're absolutely right--several people have told me I should stick with 105, but that grind was notttt my favorite. i'm definitely going back down to 100! my hope is to focus on books I already own, as we are moving again and I want to be able to do another weeding session. my reward for this year is another tattoo (i'm waiting to hear back from artists!).

it's hard to say my favorite and least favorite because I mostly dabble in two very specific, very different genres: leftist literature that makes me come across as very pretentious when i explain it to people) and supernatural romance novels. i also read a lot of self help books.

that said, here are the ones that I particularly found particularly impactful and worth the time it took to read them, in no particular order:

ari wright's MVP: Most Valuble Pack series

the marriage hex by sarah blue

the cancer journals by audre lorde

american crusade by andrew l. seidal

still life with bones by alexa hagerty

the sleep prescription by aric prather

well bred by a. anders

the rape of nanking by iris chang

relinquished by gretchen sisson

morning glory milking farm by c.m. nascosta

the sum of us by heather mcghee (she spoke at a conference i attended and she's an amazing public speaker)

imbeciles by adam cohen

the worst books are mostly romance novels I got reccomended to me from tiktok. also, cleaning books that could be short blog posts.

[haniawritesthings]

3, 17, 25 📚

3. What were your top five books of the year?

In no particular order because I'm terrible at ranking:

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard

The Familar by Leigh Bardugo

Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty

Kindred by Octavia Butler

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

100% Say Nothing. I didn't go in expecting it to be terrible or anything however I wasn't ready for it to completely blow me away. Actually I'll ammend by previous statement that I'm terrible at ranking, because Say Nothing is definitely my number one book of the year. I listened to it on audiobook and powered through all in just a few days. It's so incredibly compelling and well-researched and if there's a single book someone should read about the troubles it is this one.

25. What reading goals do you have for the next year?

To read more sci-fi and fantasy, especially some of the classics. Maybe next year will be the year I finally read a Game of Thrones?

[thehumanistvampire]

Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains

by Alexa Hagerty

[pdougmc]

#facism #ChristianNationalism #RonDeSantis, #racism, #antisemitism I just started listening to a new book:  Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains by Alexa Hagerty. So far, it has covered the massacres in Guatemala and Argentina.   You may be old enough to remember 1976, the beginning of the Argentine military dictatorship.  One of their principal activities: book banning.  They also had the following qualities, Anti-feminism and opposition to anyone who dares to be different from them.  A word to the wise.

[dyke-terra]

I think it’s also worth pointing out the difference between a long running campaign of enforced disappearances and a massacre. Those Jews didn’t all die at once in a massacre. Not saying one is less bad, just that it’s a weird comparison to make.

I’ve got a copy of Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number, which is a memoir by a Jewish survivor of torture by the junta, waiting for me by my bed. Haven’t started it yet, so I can’t recommend it, but it’s definitely worth mentioning. It also comes up in Still Life With Bones by Alexa Hagerty, the memoir of a forensic archeologist, which I’m half way through and would recommend.

Hello, I'd like to ask a question in good faith about israel/Oct 7

I have seen many Jewish folk and israelis say that Oct 7 was the largest Massacre since the holocaust but from my understanding a significantly larger number of Jewish folk were killed and disappeared during the dirty war in Argentina in the 70s and 80s so I was just wondering I guess about why the dirty war doesn't seem as important as Oct 7 or why barely anyone talks about the dirty war because both events are horrific but I only ever see Oct 7 discussed when it comes to more modern Jewish oppression and history

this is a really interesting question, but I'd actually never heard of the dirty war in Argentina up until this point, so I don't I have the knowledge to answer you.

After some quick reading it seems it might be due to the fact that the dirty war seems to have occured over a long span of time, while October 7th was just one day, but that's just my conclusion after some very surface level research.

I'll tag some people who might be able to answer this better than I can.

@historicity-was-already-taken @homochadensistm @native-n-jewish-thoughts @aqlstar @gay-jewish-bucky @newnitz @spale-vosver @magnetothemagnificent

[steddie-island]

Tomorrow is our B&N trip and I'm so fucking stoked. I keep going over the list of shit I want to look for, even if I don't end up grabbing it all. 😂

So far we have:

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor

An Education in Malice by ST Gibson

Still Life with Bones by Alexa Hagerty

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver (Have I read the first one? No but I know I'm gonna love it. 😂)

Also I want to just look at T Kingfisher because I feel like I would enjoy her stuff

I may or may not end up getting any of these, but we'll see!

[goksoymedyacom]

İnsan hakları örgütlerinden Zoom'a açık mektup: "Bu planınızdan çabucak vazgeçin!"

Göksoy Medya

İnsan hakları örgütlerinden Zoom'a açık mektup: "Bu planınızdan çabucak vazgeçin!"

Kar hedefi gütmeyen dijital haklar vakfı Fight for the Future ve 27 insan hakları kuruluşu, Zoom’a açık bir mektup yazarak şirketten görüntü konferans platformunda hisleri tahlil edebilen AI kullanımını araştırmayı durdurmasını istedi. Kümeler, Zoom’un gelecekte duygusal yapay zekayı eserine nasıl dahil edeceğini faal olarak araştırdığını söyleyen bir Protokol haberine karşılık olarak mektubu yazdığını söylüyor.

Bu araştırma, şirketlerin, satış görüşmeleri sırasında potansiyel bir müşterinin duygusal durumunu tespit etmek için yapay zekayı nasıl kullanmaya başladığını inceleyen daha büyük bir gayretin modülü.

Salgının başlaması ile birlikte görüntü konferanslar dünya çapında çok daha yaygın hale geldi. Satış vazifelileri, beden lisanlarını ekrandan okuma yeteneği olmadan, potansiyel müşterilerin eser ve hizmetlerine ne kadar açık olduklarını ölçmekte zorlanıyorlar. Şirketler, aramalar sırasında insanların ruh hallerini tahlil etme yeteneğine sahip teknolojiyi kullanmaya başladılar ve Protokol, Zoom’un birebir hizmeti sağlamayı planladığını söylüyor.

Fight for the Future ve öbür insan hakları örgütleri, davetlerinin Zoom’a planlarından vazgeçmesi için baskı yapmasını umuyor. Teknolojiyi “ayrımcı, manipülatif, potansiyel olarak tehlikeli ve tüm insanların birebir yüz tabirlerini, ses kalıplarını ve vücut lisanını kullandığı varsayımlarına dayalı” olarak tanımlıyorlar.

Ayrıyeten bu kümeler; teknolojinin, tıpkı yüz tanıma üzere, tabiatı gereği önyargılı ve ırkçı olduğuna dikkat çekti. Özelliği dahil ederek Zoom’un muhakkak etnik kökenlere ve engelli bireylere karşı ayrımcılık yapacağını sav ediyorlar. Yanlış duyguyu sergiledikleri takdirde öğrencileri yahut çalışanları cezalandırmak için kullanılabilmesi de mümkün olabilir.

2021’de Cambridge Üniversitesi profesörü Alexa Hagerty tarafından yönetilen bir proje, his tanıma AI’larının sonlarını ve onları kandırmanın ne kadar kolay olduğunu göstermişti. Daha evvelki çalışmalar da his tanıma programlarının ırksal önyargı testinde başarısız olduğunu ve siyahi yüzleri okumakta zorlandığını söylüyordu.

Küme, Zoom’un yüz izleme özelliklerinin kullanıma sunulmasını iptal etme kararından bahsederek ve bunu kullanıcıları için yanlışsız olanı yapmak için diğer bir fırsat olarak nitelendirerek mektubu sonlandırdı. Artık Zoom’dan 20 Mayıs 2022’ye kadar eserinde his AI uygulamama taahhüdünde bulunmasını istiyorlar.