So it’s November. We are officially barreling headlong into 2019, because by some sorcery, 1997 is no longer two years ago. Really, 2017 was two years ago. That statement makes no sense to me.

Anyway. Anthrospin has been with us for about a year and a half. We have covered a lot, learned a lot, and I’ve gotten better at doing this stuff than I could have ever expected when I started it.

But at this point, I feel like I’m finding a real rhythm. I kind of have methods and ways of approaching things. I’m known outside of my immediate social circles and feel a lot more comfortable reaching out and meeting new people.

My work is starting to reflect that.

So, that said, I wanted to take a few minutes to bring everyone up to snuff with what I plan to get out of and give y’all for 2019.

One of my biggest goals for 2018 was to find some way to get some money out of Pedal Powered Anthropology. With several screenings behind me and well over 50 dvds sold, that seems to have been a success.

If you haven’t picked it up yet, for the rest of the year, if you purchase Rhode Island’s Industrial Revolution it comes with a free Skull and Crankset logo sticker. Everyone loves stickers, right?? My hope is to sell 10 more copies this year, screenings excluded.

As I mentioned in my post about the end of 2018, my main focus is on Scrimshaw, which is by far the most complex and ambitious project I’ve taken on to date. And I don’t just mean to date with Anthrospin, I mean since I was born in 1983. The amount of research, networking, and interviews involved are exciting and I can’t wait to share it.

But with that in mind, there are some more things in store for 2019 that I want to share, partly because I’ll need your help.

The first is video projects. In 2019 I’ll be publishing at least 4 video projects. That seems small compared to what I’ve been up to, but I’m not including any trailers, of which there will be at least 3, two of which I’ll be sharing within the first couple of months of the year.

I’m also not positive that Scrimshaw will be completed next year, although it’s looking possible at this point.

So four good video projects.

I’m also going to be focused a lot more on my writing, with at least an average of 2 blogs per month. One or two months might only have one blog. But one or two months will probably also have like 5.

I’ve gotten much better at finding material to write about and now just have to get much better at creating a writing schedule and sticking to it.

Building off my “how do I make any money off this” goal, my “big” goal for 2019 is to make a set minimum per month. I don’t know what that minimum is just yet. But Anthrospin is growing. It’s growing in all the ways, and it’s getting to the point where in order to get it going where it wants to go, I need to make more money from it.

Basically this is being groomed into a career. It’s paying for itself, now I’m going to try to get it to pay for me to do it.

Which is where I need your help. No, you don’t have to contribute any money if you’re unable. But I’ll need everyone’s help expanding my network.

There will be a lot more fun stuff. I want to organize events (like the Industrial Revolution Historical Ride), there will be live streaming, there will be more Name That Tune videos because everyone seems to get really into it when I do that.

There will be more ways to interact with Pedal Powered Anthropology and more ways to share ideas. I hope to see more and more people getting on board because honestly, it’s a lot of fun.

Also, more branching out.

We’ve done a lot. A lot of videos, a lot of blogs. Countless pictures. A bunch of screenings. But most of it has been within the realm of cultural anthropology. That which I consider original anyway. We’ve learned about how to research everyday objects and learn what stories they have to tell, through an instrument I bought at a yard sale and through a piece of trash I found on a small island.

You haven’t seen it yet but there’s also a really cool video on maritime archaeology that I’ll be publishing as soon as I can get the music recorded for it. The first of the Name that Tune credit shoutouts will be included in it. If you want to play, find the videos on my Instagram (@anthrospin) feed or Facebook page.

We’ve learned a lot, but even the archaeological stuff is still more or less strictly within the realm of cultural aspects of archaeology. And with the exception of the trip to Germany and our experience at Dachau, much of what I’ve shared has been local.

As a result, and not entirely inaccurately, I think some people assume I’m a historian or that this is a strictly Rhode Island endeavor.

Rhode Island’s Industrial Revolution was the start of the expanding scope. Scrimshaw broadened that a bit more. I couldn’t pass up the chance to write about Germany even though that was one day of a three week trip.

For 2019, I’ll be focusing even more on the Pedal Powered aspect, with my first cycling tour. It will also expand beyond cultural and into biological anthropology.

In late spring or early summer, my wife and I will be cycling from Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo to the Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania. We will be visiting several other zoos and universities along the way to learn and share about nonhuman primates and the importance of conservation/the role zoos play in that conservation. And we’ll also be raising money for orangutan conservation along the way.

As of now, here are our stops.

Starting at the Franklin Park Zoo, we’ll be heading to the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Next we will stop at the Yale Peabody Museum and see their exhibits on primatology and evolution, and learn about how humans fit into nature.

From there we’ll be heading to the Leo Zoological Conservation Center in Greenwich, Connecticut.

I don’t think any tour of zoos is complete without the Bronx Zoo, which is our next stop, followed by Rutgers, where we’ll be talking to a primatologist about the importance of primate conservation.

Our last stop is the Philadelphia Zoo, where we’ll see all sorts of primates, from prosimians to great apes.

This trip will span about a week and a half. It will be raising money for an orangutan charity, and I’ll be sharing the fundraiser with everyone once that’s straightened out.

There will be different donation tiers to give you something back for the money you contribute. One tier will be a copy of the documentary of our trip on DVD that you cannot get otherwise. It will be on DVD, but the version you get from donating during our trip will have content not available otherwise.

Lastly, and for this trip, Anthrospin will be getting a new bike. As with everything, details are being sorted out, but as Anthrospin gets more self-sufficient and projects more ambitious, I’ll need a bike that can cope with the rigors of the road. The bike I’ll be getting is a bike I could live off of if need be.

By the end of this year, you’ll have two more videos (not including any trailers or promo stuff I put out) and a couple more blogs.

Then comes 2019, when All The Things are going to happen.