21 Cheshvan/8 November, 2009
Nov. 8th, 2009 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyI really, really don’t like flying. The more I fly the worse it gets. And I think it is worse on small planes. Somehow when I’m flying to England on a big plane I’m able to settle down after take-off more or less but on the small plane I’m tense all the time. It did not help that the plane was seesawing back and forth. Maybe the pilot just likes to fly like that. But that was a long hour and a half. At least the flight came early and the landing was nice and smooth, my ears didn’t hurt as usual. I also prefer to fly above the clouds. I like seeing the sights on landing but I didn’t like that we could see the ground the whole time. But planes are necessary in modern life, can’t avoid them. I just have to bear it. Medicating myself might become an option at one point but I never like pills or altering my state of mind. I’m just glad to be home. I think this trip was invigorating overall and it felt good to be a historian again.
In the morning I got bagel and cream cheese and raspberry tea and graded a bit before going to a Black Death panel. There were four papers and all were interesting and sustained my interest. One paper raised an interesting if not wholly convincing point that based on archeology there were more men than women during the time of the Black Death. Many women are missing from excavation of cemeteries. But then it was expensive to be buried in cemetery. That paper actually led to a great airport lunch discussion with two professors about death and afterlife. Another paper was on material culture and how change in eating habits might have affected women. At airport lunch, the discussion between professors about that paper was kind of fun to watch, because the argument was new and not fully developed yet and they dissected it and thought of suggestions to give the presenter. It was a fun glimpse into how famous history professors discuss history.
After the panel, and a brief (if a bit awkward on my part since I'm not that great at small talk) elevator conversation with Really Famous Historian, I checked out of the hotel and went to the airport early since I figured I can just grade there. I chatted with a US historian, at one point, who knew Russian, he learned it for fun. Sometimes it is interesting to meet people that you will probably never see again. As my lunch arrived at the airport restaurant so did the two professors (one was on my plane again) and they joined me for lunch. That was really fun conversation with glimpse into their lives and it was just fun. But alas, I couldn’t chat forever, I needed to grade some more. I even managed to grade on the plane so it would keep me distracted.
When I got home it was more grading. I did manage to squeeze in an episode of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Overall, I think the conference was a success on many levels. I got to travel again, I presented a paper and I felt like a professional again, which is hard to feel when you are just working at home by yourself. And I got to be social, which is good.
In the morning I got bagel and cream cheese and raspberry tea and graded a bit before going to a Black Death panel. There were four papers and all were interesting and sustained my interest. One paper raised an interesting if not wholly convincing point that based on archeology there were more men than women during the time of the Black Death. Many women are missing from excavation of cemeteries. But then it was expensive to be buried in cemetery. That paper actually led to a great airport lunch discussion with two professors about death and afterlife. Another paper was on material culture and how change in eating habits might have affected women. At airport lunch, the discussion between professors about that paper was kind of fun to watch, because the argument was new and not fully developed yet and they dissected it and thought of suggestions to give the presenter. It was a fun glimpse into how famous history professors discuss history.
After the panel, and a brief (if a bit awkward on my part since I'm not that great at small talk) elevator conversation with Really Famous Historian, I checked out of the hotel and went to the airport early since I figured I can just grade there. I chatted with a US historian, at one point, who knew Russian, he learned it for fun. Sometimes it is interesting to meet people that you will probably never see again. As my lunch arrived at the airport restaurant so did the two professors (one was on my plane again) and they joined me for lunch. That was really fun conversation with glimpse into their lives and it was just fun. But alas, I couldn’t chat forever, I needed to grade some more. I even managed to grade on the plane so it would keep me distracted.
When I got home it was more grading. I did manage to squeeze in an episode of “Battlestar Galactica.”
Overall, I think the conference was a success on many levels. I got to travel again, I presented a paper and I felt like a professional again, which is hard to feel when you are just working at home by yourself. And I got to be social, which is good.
