A sad day

On Wednesday a favorite professor of mine passed away on Wednesday. Professor Alan Dundes, a renowned folklorist, had a heart attack while teaching at UC Berkeley. He was a living legend in the Berkeley anthropology department having worked there since 1963. His daughter, Alison Renteln, had this to say, "He was intellectually fearless, no topic was too controversial for him - he didn't believe in political correctness." I can remember taking his class, and how he showed the relevancy of folklore studies to modern anthropological thought. He was the fundamental reason folklore at Berkeley was different from anywhere else. He wrote over 60 books covering a range of topics from Iraqi scud missiles and cockfighting to proverbs, fairy tales, and sacrilegious humour. He will be sorely missed in Berkeley and throughout the anthropological world.