Middle English Word of the Moment

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Bloggers with faces and pre-Carolingian Baptists (in the sixties)

Further Things I Have Learned In New York:

- CUNY is fun. And has fun people at it.

- Some bloggers are real people, and are actually moderating your panel (hi Jenn!).

- Mediaeval music theorists also used Venn diagrams.

- You can tell at the start of the day which of the speakers from the first panel will be interested enough to stick around for the rest of the day, and which will vanish soon after giving their own paper.

- More people will appear for the papers immediately preceding and succeeding lunch.

- No matter how interesting the papers, those chairs start to hurt after five hours.

- Friends of the Saints is a fun group to join for an evening's discussion after the conference, even if you haven't done the reading.

- Most importantly.  If you (hypothetically speaking) wander into the room where such a group is meeting simply because you want the free wine and cheese, despite not being any  manner of historian, do indeed sit down at the back of the group to shield the single focus of your intent, but do not feel obliged to comment on the proceedings. Really.  There is a reason we haven't discussed Protestants or Baptists yet.We're not being discriminatory, it's just that we're discussing the pre-Carolingian relics trade.

- In entirely unrelated news, some discussion leaders are very very good at taking random comments and assimilating them into the discussion as if they were actually relevant and helpful. Now, there is a skill I envy.

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