Among cats, between cemeteries, and inside morgues

thesis is written with the intent to connect work I have created since writing The Wandering Womb: a cultural history of outrageous beliefs about women. It began as a collage of stories, poetry, images and memories. I intended to funnel this accumulation of mental maps, unusual vistas and events, poetic moments of inertia, into an alembic that would yield a unique residue, but it boiled over and only words remain. The starting point of these experiences took me to back rooms of museums, morgues, surgical suites and special collections libraries throughout the world to explore the stuff of curiosity. Martin Buber (1878-1965) allegedly, but not verifiably, is quoted as writing, "All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." Cats in cemeteries, sixteenth century anatomy books, babies in bottles, two headed calves, and chapels constructed from bones are but a few of the marvelous destinations I have discovered.