The View From Kalamazoo

Ah, the rest-of-Congress post I forgot to publish before I left town for a few days. Brilliant I am, oh yes:

Friday, and my hopes that all crises could be kept to Wednesday and Thursday have been dashed. *snarl*

On a happier note, I not only snuck off campus for a wonderfully chatty and baba gannouj-filled lunch, I actually got away from Reception long enough to attend Societas Magica’s Divine Names session (and it was fantastic!) I attended a couple of late-evening receptions and, oh frabjous day, I managed to track down a fair number of friends and co-conspirators I still had not connected with.

Saturday held my aforementioned afternoon of session presiding. The general session was interesting, the three papers very different but all leading to interesting questions and all have the potential for continuing discussion on their respective areas. The Weblogs session was engaging and filled with a lot of post-papers discussion and questions (and the lion’s share of the discussion, that of anonymous v. non-anonymous blogging and gendered voices, not only took us past the session ending-time, but has helped generate the topic for next year’s weblogs session proposal). I will be further blogging this, so that’s all for now.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (cue monster truck commercial). Sunday is really a series of unfortunate moments in time…I’m up way too late at the dance (I always stay ’til the bitter end, alas) so I get way too little sleep, and am way too wiped (both physically and mentally) to properly offer farewell to my compatriots. And I’m packing up the mobile-institute and processing payroll and other bits of paperwork well into the afternoon. Later I get to rent a car at the airport, drive my sorry behind to St. Louis, and spend the next few days witnessing what should prove to be an outstanding dissertation defense and watching my friend process with the other SLU graduate school graduates and stand to be hooded. (there is a list of two people who could get me in a car for a road-trip the last day of Congress, and she’s one of them). I’ll also be an interloper, by sheer proximity, to the English Department’s Shippey retirement fest. And since I currently have almost voice left, I doubt I’ll be doing more than croaking for the next few days (apologies in advance.)

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, good night. See you all next year – same time, same channel.