On Tuesday, the 12th of April I head out of town for a week of work in the midwest — presentations at the U of Chicago and Chicago Art Institute (hey Chicago friends, yes I’ve been lazy and need to email you!) and then back to Pittsburgh for a set of Friday-Monday defenses.
Until then, it’s the dash for the finish. But this time of year is always a little special.
As is the case with every place I’ve ever worked, there is a point when all of the interesting guest speakers descend on my humble city at once, and I am left with impossible choices between getting my own work done and choosing among a rich menu of cool talks. That day was Thursday, when I had to choose among three talks — Jessica Riskin on automata, Sherry Simon on Montreal as a divided city in the 1960s, and Kathy Peiss on Zoot Suits. It was physically impossible to be in the same place at the same time. I chose Riskin and was happily rewarded. The talk was perfect for me because it was about 50% esoteric material I knew cold, and 50% stuff I’d never heard before. As an added bonus, her thesis was unusually ambitious for this kind of work, which only increased my appreciation of the event. I’m sure the other two were just as good. I bailed on the usual drinks and dinner afterward to hook up with Carrie and a group who’d caught the Simon talk. Since Jenny had a craving for TexMex and Carrie and I always pretty much do, we wound up at Carlos & Pepe’s. I need to preface this by saying that I have extremely low standards for this kind of food. But still, it was a pretty weird scene. They served the sweetest salsa I have ever tasted (okay, I know about fruit salsa, but that wasn’t at all their gig). I guess there’s some truth to the story about the Quebec sweet tooth.
After a series of meetings, one of which I was especially glad to have because I learned i’d screwed up part of my permanent residency application (I figured it would be good to know before sending it off), on Friday afternoon I attended the Montreal at Street Level conference which was simply outstanding, which is no surprise since my friend Johanne Sloan organized it — though you’ll be hard pressed to find her name anywhere on the event website. Thursday’s Simon lecture was the opening of the event. My only regret is that I didn’t see more of it. That was followed by a reception and then a large-group dinner at a Chinatown restaurant whose name escapes me. Their rendition of “Happy Birthday,” however, will not leave my memory any time soon.
You know, there are some people I see at every talk I attend. It’s like they make a life of this. I’m just amazed at how possible that sort of thing is here.
My only question is — how come these things are never spread out over a whole term so you can get a maximally even social and intellectual experience? I mean, if Thursday’s three talks had been at different times, I might have hit them all. . . .