November 16, 2009
“Adventures” in Arkansas, Part 2
The conference happened! Well, the Saturday happened, and it was… okay? I guess?
My main problem was that when I think “conference” I think, like… PAX. GenCon. Which this was never going to be. Not at all. So I was expecting a lot of people, or at least a decent number, but instead I mostly just got a small, sort of dedicated group of about 30 or so. Which is fine. I’m mostly here for a notch on my Vita (because the scholarly world can’t use the word resume!) and to get the experience, but even knowing I should temper my expectations, it’s kind of overwhelming.
I mean, it’s not a good sign when, during the first session, yours gets cancelled and combined with another because simply that many presenters didn’t show up. Why you would present a paper and then not call ahead and show up is beyond me. Why you would be someone who goes to school AT THE UNIVERSITY and show up late is also beyond me, but both those things happened, and it was kind of strange.
Anyway, my presentation went fine. I had, if I can brag, certainly more presentational polish about me than the other speakers in my session, and my ideas seemed to go over well enough, as people came up and talked to me about them afterwards somewhat. So that’s good, I suppose. I did have someone call out that I should read such and such book during the question and answer, which I wasn’t sure if I should interpret as an insult or not. Was he saying I didn’t do my research? But no, it soon became clear that trading sources is just what is done. Or at least was what everyone was doing. I paid it no mind.
As the day went on, though, the big guns started coming out. I heard this most excellent paper on Harry Potter and political activism which was just… really well thought-out. Better than Harry Potter actually deserves. (Reminds me of something else I need to talk about, but stay tuned for a future bloeg on that.) The keynote speaker was also excellent. I have not seen a man that got such a strong physical and emotional charge just by talking about Shakespeare before. He had some things to say I’d not thought about either, which was neat.
In any case, it went… okay? I really don’t know if it was worth all the trouble to come out here, but I suppose I gave it a shot. Gotta try things. That’s the only way anything will ever move forward. Sometimes I’m lucky, and sometimes I’m not. Maybe this trip was a little of both. I don’t know.
Anyway, I’m going to go eat at Olive Garden because I DESERVE IT and then sleep. I… kind of doubt the trip back will have any stories worth telling, so I wouldn’t expect a part 3! But who knows, maybe I’ll make up some shit just to fill another day anyway. Because I am completely committed to writing some stupid bullshit every single day. Yep.