Canadian Bacon Barbie

Some disorganized thoughts:

Hotels

The hotel situation seemed interesting to say the least. I didn’t stay at the conference hotel (big mistake) and instead went for the Comfort Inn and Suites, where my roomate and I encountered the following:

• Men’s underwear in our bathroom. No men were staying with us.
• A broken vanity light, probably resulting in overdone/excess make up to compensate.
• Keys that stopped working after 1-2 uses
• Surly hotel staff who didn’t seem to care about any of the above

However, we did get a free breakfast that included Quaker oatmeal, which was a welcome addition for my gluten-free self.

Jodie found a “quaint” little hotel in the French Quarter… so quaint that she had to check out of it the last night and stay at La Quinta by the airport.

Both C. and J&S stayed at the Doubletree Hotel, where they encountered:

• Free warm cookies upon arrival and upon request
• Critters (in C’s room)… but at least they gave him free drink coupons

I know where I’m staying next time.

Shopping

There was a Saks Fifth Avenue right by the conference hotel. KRGP and I spent a good amount of time there trying on designer clothes and then deciding they weren’t perfect enough to merit the major cash outlay. I almost bought this trench coat but decided it wasn’t practical to get a white coat that I’d be afraid to wear for fear of soilage. Instead we both bought a bunch of MAC cosmetics which we knew we’d put to good use.

We also went to a Nine West Outlet where I got white ballet flats and a white purse. I also got an awesome Puma bag that I will use to schlep my laptop to the coffee shop every day instead of my old brown leather one.

We also went to a yarn store where we each bought 4 skeins of unmarked kettle dyed, merino yarn. Katie bought hers first, on a solo trip. She showed it to me at the hotel and we both marveled at how much it resembled Malabrigo., So went back to get some more and told the salesperson we both couldn’t get over how much it resembled Malabrigo. “It is Malabrigo.” Right. So for some reason they took off the labels so no one would know what the dye lot or brand was, and then they sold it for $2-4 more than usual. I almost put mine back, but the lady started talkinga bout how the shop was locally owned by a woman who had been there since 1852 and rebuilt after the hurricane etc. etc., so I eventually succumbed. Oh well. You can never have too much Malabrigo, even if it is overpriced.

Food

Eh. I’m no foodie. I ate wherever and generally found that there was lots of gumbo available and nothing else of too much interest for the non wheat eater. I did have an excellent meal at Brennan’s with Jack and a bunch of Penn Staters after my panel. Most of us ordered fish, which was delicious and buttery, and I had bananas foster for dessert. Yummy. I wonder if someone has come up with gluten-free beignets. I should’ve investigated this beforehand but usually I’m lucky if I get a flight and a hotel room within a week of the conference.

The Actual Conference

I was a bit of a slacker this time. I did hear Cheryl Glenn’s excellent speech at the plenary, and went to Jess, Jenn F, and Rosalyn’s panel on historiography. I heard a so-so panel on the rhetoric of science. I went to my own panel. That was about it. I feel a bit guilty for this but somehow my time was occupied with social engagements and a meeting or two. I felt like I was missing everything, including several parties, a meeting (*oops*), and a good chat with some close friends from grad school. I don’t know how to remedy this.

I didn’t even have time to look at the book exhibits much, although I am eternally grateful to the good looking guy at the Inside Higher Ed booth, where they had free chocolates. I love the free chocolates. And the magnetic poetry they handed out was cool.

Lessons learned:

1. It pays to pay more for a nicer hotel.

i. If you find men’s underwear in your hotel bathroom, and you are not staying with any men, leave immediately.

2. Someone needs to make gluten free beignets. Maybe me. These could also morph into g-f portselkje for good Mennonite New Year’s day fare.

3. Add an extra day to future trips if you want to shop/socialize and also actually attend the conference.

Apparently the name discrimination issue I posted about the other day is a little different than previously reported by the CBC. According to the venerable CBC, government officials are now saying that

“asking applicants to provide a surname in addition to Singh or Kaur has been an administrative practice used by our visa office in New Delhi as a way to improve client service and reduce incidents of mistaken identity. This was not a mandatory requirement. There is no policy or practice whereby people with these surnames are asked to change their names.”

They have also admitted that the letter they sent to Jaspal Singh, (the guy who brought this issue to light) was “poorly worded.” This seems to be the written equivalent to the apologies politicians have been giving for oral miscommunications. For example, when Joseph Biden called Barack Obama “clean and articulate” he apologized by saying that it was not his intent to insult Obama and that his words were taken out of context.

So, I know we are in a post windowpane theory of language moment… we know that the effects of language always exceed the speaker’s intent, and we question the speaker’s sovereignty over that intent in the first place, and that meaning is slippery. But examples like these show that language does have concrete effects and that we’d like to hold people responsible for what they say. Right?