New York's Garbologist-in-Chief

NYU anthropology professor Robin Nagle is the anthropologist-in-residence at the New York City Sanitation Department (DSNY), where she studies the culture of a city department that most of us—let's be honest— would rather not think about very much. The role, which she came into after a stint working as a streetsweeper (and which, Nagle notes, is unsalaried), has given her a unique view into the city's masses of trash and the men and women who look after it. She's parlayed this into the DSNY Oral History Project, and, eventually, she hopes to create a full-fledged New York City Sanitation Museum. She is also working on a book, entitled Picking Up, about her experiences working in, and with, the city's Sanitation Department.