Caught in a trap
Okay, before I get to my conference/Atlanta summary, let me just say Happy Birthday!! to my brother! Singing phone call to follow later tonight.
Back to my recap of the Dirty South.
My conference went well, but, alas, Stephen King was a no-show. Probably for the best, since Lord knows I don't need yet another celebrity to issue a restraining order. But I'm pretty sure my paper on domestic abuse and King will turn into an article. That few will read, but many will talk about. Or something.
Anyways, since I was footing the bill for this trip, I had to cut corners wherever I could. One of these corners involved sharing a room with two other conference participants whom I had never met before. One of them was great--interesting, intelligent, fun, etc. The other was a fashion design student and I had to be all judge-y, but man was she ever a fashion design student. Her stated goal is to be Carrie from Sex and the City, but to me she was more Donna from Beverly Hills, 90210. She's lucky she made it out of Atlanta alive. Oh, and she was Canadian.
Best quote from Canadian Donna, while looking over a menu: "Ohmygod! Like, I love pasta, but it has so many carbs! This is the worst decision I will ever have to make!"
EVER? Even more so than how high the hem on your skirt should be or what shade of eyeshadow to wear? No!!! Sorry about this pasta-themed Sophie's choice, sweetie. Your life, Canadian Donna, is rife with extremely difficult decisions. How you struggle on, I'll never know. Whew, I'd sure hate to be you. Everyday for you must be like Truman's decision to drop the bomb--gut-wrenching and soul-searching. Carbs? Or enjoying dinner? Damn it! Too hard!
Moving on.
At one panel I attended, which discussed interpretations of Gettysburg, I sat next to this guy who kept humming the theme from Green Acres. It took everything in me to not join in. I do a killer Eva Gabor. "I get allergic smelling hay!" I did get a case of the church giggles because of this humming incident, which I'm sure impressed the presenters as they looked out and saw my shoulders shaking while I attempted to get my giggling under control. I'm such a grown-up.
Oh, I ran into someone I went to high school with at the Atlanta airport. Maybe I should say that I allegedly went to high school with him, since I have no idea still who this guy is. But he knew me by name. So that was weird.
The best panel I went to was, in my opinion, directed by God himself. It was supposed to be on popular culture reactions to WWII. One of the papers was entitled, "German-Americans in WWII," but the presenter changed his mind the day of the talk and decided to look at Americans serving in Germany in the 1950s. His focus--and here is where the divine intervention figured in--was ELVIS in Germany. What are the odds that I would just randomly go to a panel on something seemingly unrelated to the King, and end up listening to a delightful discussion of this man's personal experiences with my hero? God has thus redeemed himself to me.
God bless that panel. And Elvis. God bless Elvis.
More on Atlanta to come. I need to go listen to "Suspicious Minds."
Back to my recap of the Dirty South.
My conference went well, but, alas, Stephen King was a no-show. Probably for the best, since Lord knows I don't need yet another celebrity to issue a restraining order. But I'm pretty sure my paper on domestic abuse and King will turn into an article. That few will read, but many will talk about. Or something.
Anyways, since I was footing the bill for this trip, I had to cut corners wherever I could. One of these corners involved sharing a room with two other conference participants whom I had never met before. One of them was great--interesting, intelligent, fun, etc. The other was a fashion design student and I had to be all judge-y, but man was she ever a fashion design student. Her stated goal is to be Carrie from Sex and the City, but to me she was more Donna from Beverly Hills, 90210. She's lucky she made it out of Atlanta alive. Oh, and she was Canadian.
Best quote from Canadian Donna, while looking over a menu: "Ohmygod! Like, I love pasta, but it has so many carbs! This is the worst decision I will ever have to make!"
EVER? Even more so than how high the hem on your skirt should be or what shade of eyeshadow to wear? No!!! Sorry about this pasta-themed Sophie's choice, sweetie. Your life, Canadian Donna, is rife with extremely difficult decisions. How you struggle on, I'll never know. Whew, I'd sure hate to be you. Everyday for you must be like Truman's decision to drop the bomb--gut-wrenching and soul-searching. Carbs? Or enjoying dinner? Damn it! Too hard!
Moving on.
At one panel I attended, which discussed interpretations of Gettysburg, I sat next to this guy who kept humming the theme from Green Acres. It took everything in me to not join in. I do a killer Eva Gabor. "I get allergic smelling hay!" I did get a case of the church giggles because of this humming incident, which I'm sure impressed the presenters as they looked out and saw my shoulders shaking while I attempted to get my giggling under control. I'm such a grown-up.
Oh, I ran into someone I went to high school with at the Atlanta airport. Maybe I should say that I allegedly went to high school with him, since I have no idea still who this guy is. But he knew me by name. So that was weird.
The best panel I went to was, in my opinion, directed by God himself. It was supposed to be on popular culture reactions to WWII. One of the papers was entitled, "German-Americans in WWII," but the presenter changed his mind the day of the talk and decided to look at Americans serving in Germany in the 1950s. His focus--and here is where the divine intervention figured in--was ELVIS in Germany. What are the odds that I would just randomly go to a panel on something seemingly unrelated to the King, and end up listening to a delightful discussion of this man's personal experiences with my hero? God has thus redeemed himself to me.
God bless that panel. And Elvis. God bless Elvis.
More on Atlanta to come. I need to go listen to "Suspicious Minds."
posted by Ace | 2:17 PM
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