Kalamazoo XLIX (2014)

Via

Here are some of the sessions and parties I'm planning to go to at this year's Kalamazoo, in case anyone wants to stalk me and/or just have fun.

Also, note that I haven't really looked through the program yet—these are just sessions and parties that I'm, you know, especially involved with. Just because a session isn't included doesn't mean that I won't be at it or that I don't recommend it. (I might update this tomorrow after I've actually looked through the entire program? It's a long drive.)

WEDNESDAY

8pm. The "Rogue" Impossible Words session. Bell's Eccentric Café.

See In the Middle for all details—basically, there wasn't enough room to fit everyone into the "Impossible Words" session Thursday morning, so there will be an overflow (careful with that beer!) session at Bell's. Everyone has three minutes. Three minutes! That's not even enough time for a Madonna song.

Wednesday night is usually a somewhat awkward night at Kalamazoo, before anyone's had a chance to set up plans, so I'm glad to be starting the conference off with something to do.

Bell's is right near the Radisson, which is one of the (free) shuttle bus stops; the last shuttle bus from the Radisson is at 11pm, which should give you plenty of time to get back.

THURSDAY

10am. Session 12. Impossible Words (A Roundtable). Fetzer 1005.
My first paper; it's titled "I". This is the square, unhip, sell-out, institutionally recognized follow-up to the session at Bell's. See you there.

Session 16. Medieval Women Wikipedia Write-In. Fetzer 1060.
This is happening throughout the conference. I won't be participating—unfortunately, I don't have anything to say!—but this is a great idea, and I hope anyone who reads this who could add to Wikipedia's info-hoard about medieval women does so.

12noon. Material Collective Business Meeting. Fetzer 2030.
I'm going to try to make this, because who doesn't love the Material Collective? Who doesn't love pretty things? And friendly people who love pretty things? And exciting and emergent forms of creativity with friendly people who love pretty things? Go, "like" them on Facebook, your life will have more prettiness, more shininess, more lushness. It's open to everyone and you can bring your lunch.

9pm. Univ. of Toronto Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, Univ. of Toronto (Reception). Valley III Harrison 302
Actually, I won't be at this this year! I have mysterious other engagements. But you should go.

FRIDAY

10am. Session 215. Faking It (A Roundtable). Bernhard 210.
Organized by the Material Collective. Embrace your impostor syndrome; make it till you fake it. My friend Lois Leveen, novelist, independent scholar, one of those people who left academia (and someone who wasn't a medievalist)—she's one of the presenters, and she's great, and if you see her, say hello.

Speaking of not medievalists, my husband will also a gadfly at Kalamazoo this year, and you should say hi to him if you see him, too. Maybe he'll be hanging out with Lois?

(Session 189, Imagined Encounters (A Roundtable), Schneider 1140, also looks great, though!)

5:15pm. BABEL Working Group & the Material Collective (Reception). Bernhard President's Dining Room
Obviously.

9pm. BABEL Working Group 10th Anniversary Party. Cityscape.
Ten years! There will be a bunch of copies of punctum books' Burn After Reading—which you can download for free, too, but the paper copies burn better. And there will be matches available. I have one-and-a-half essays in this book, so this could be cathartic for you! More details at In the Middle.

You might also be able to look at some eth press books here, I'm not sure. There won't be a whole pile of them, anyways.

The party takes place around the corner from the Radisson. Again, last shuttle bus back to the dorms is at 11. That... might not be late enough. Cabs are available, one presumes.

SATURDAY

1:30pm. Session 391. #;()@?”:—*! (A Roundtable). Fetzer 1005.
It's a panel on punctuation! My talk is called "Seeing Spaces". This panel will be amazing, because punctuation is amazing.

8pm. Pseudo Society. Fetzer 1005.
Oh, right, that's the room my first two papers are in. That'll do.

I heartily approve of the Pseudo Society, even though it's such an aggressively mixed bag, and when pseudo papers don't work, they are nearly impossible to stomach. I tried not to go last year, and ended up there anyway, for the end of it; we'll see what happens this year.

10pm. Dance. Bernhard East Ballroom.
I mean, this is basically unavoidable at this point. Even if it is kind of irredeemable.

SUNDAY

8:30am. Session 523. Strange Letters: Alphabets in Medieval Manuscripts and Beyond I.  Bernhard 209.
Oh god somehow I will get up early enough for this, even having to get there from the hotel, oh god, it will be awful, but I want to see this panel—all the papers sound amazing—and it leads to...

10:30am. Session 560. Strange Letters: Alphabets in Medieval Manuscripts and Beyond II. Bernhard 209.
My final talk—the third in the trilogy—is on some fake Hebrew in medieval altarpieces made in Barcelona. This is my "real" paper, the twenty-minute one. This is, like, from a chapter of the dissertation I'm work on! It's that kind of real! Anyway, another paper on the panel is by Claire Fanger, which is about "Knowing and Not Knowing Hebrew", which sounds great. Alphabets are almost as cool as punctuation.

Honestly, I'm on a real grammatical kick this year. Which is the bestest kind of kick.

See you there!