Medieval Academy, Day 1

Finished posting my Blackboard stuff, put a book on reserve, and ran down to the conference. The first person I saw was someone who was on my committee. I wasn't sure he'd remembered me after all these years, but he did. He's a Fellow, though, so I got the distinct feeling I was a lesser person. Went to some interesting papers, including Heidi Marx-Wolff's really interesting study of madness and possession (and saintly cures thereof) in 14th c. Italy. Also a really cool paper in the same panel by Cynthia Ho on the representations of the life of St Francis in Orta. The third paper was iffy, at best, I thought. Just not too well organized or presented, although there were some interesting points. Part of a dissertation in progress, though, so it was understandable.

The reception at the end of the evening was fun. Met some very nice folks, and even managed to get kinda spoken down to by one of the respected dinosaurs known for his acerbic nature (or so I gathered). A good time was had by all. Now I'm off to learn about teaching Medieval Islam in a post 9/11 world.