an interpreter of an interpreter, she maintained a subjective voice and ethic. Simultaneously, she asserted that her main purpose was to document the “native model” and to salvage the rituals of an endangered people. Through engaged participant observation, constant verification, and correction she tried to stay as close to Ramon’s meaning as she could. Nevertheless, through narrative style she maintained the dialogue between herself, Ramon, and his wife Lupe throughout the book so that she, alongside them, was an observable character. The final book, Peyote Hunt: The Sacred Journey of the Huichol Indians, published in 1974, was nominated for a National Book Award. Number Our Days; In Her Own Time: Contributions of anthropological reflexivity and narrative storytelling Myerhoff began fieldwork in 1972 with elderly Jews at the Israel Levin Center in Venice, California, supported by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation given to the Andrus Gerontology Center at the USC. The project included an anthropological component that Myerhoff took part in. Her project was one of six with themes of “aging as a career, the concern with continuity, and significant sex differences in aging.” Myerhoff addressed all of these themes in her essays and book, Number our Days. Myerhoff explained that the aged created rituals to ensure continuity and assert their voices and visibility. In one of her essay’s about the aged, “A Symbol Perfected in Death: Continuity and Ritual in the Life and Death of an Elderly Jew,” she described one of the center member’s death at his birthday party. Jacob, one of the oldest most-beloved center member arranged for an annual largely attended birthday party. The party was highly organized and Jacob, a writer, would always present a speech about the meaning he found in life and aging. The last year, Jacob asked the community to continue to celebrate his birthday five years after his death. After speaking he died. Myerhoff explained that because Jacob framed his own death the community had the tools by which to make meaning of his death at his party. The surprise of Jacob’s death strengthened his birthday ritual. The elders continued to celebrate Jacob’s birthday party and remembered the magical experience of his perfect death among his friends. In writing Jacob’s story Myerhoff took part in continuing his life and vision. In 1976, Myerhoff became a full professor at USC and chair of the Anthropology Department; she headed the department