S. Worthen | Weblog

Today I achieved a major and exciting landmark in my academic career: paper title snark. My paper was titled "The Invention of Agriculture", and a friend overheard people mocking the title, complete with air quotes around agriculture. They thought, from the title, that the paper was going to postulate some major revolution in agriculture in the Middle Ages. (In fact, it was about what medieval historians believed, based on their research, concerning the origins of agriculture. See? Appropriate title.) I feel as if I've achieved a rite of passage.

Mine was a quirky session. It was organized as a three paper session, but since our third "paper" involved food, it had to happen in a different room - indeed, a different building - than an overhead projector. Thus, it was even at a different time slot. Part one of the session was well attended, perhaps forty people. We had a healthy number of questions afterwards. The multitudes (250-300, perhaps) descended on part 2, a stupendous feast of samples of medieval food, served during wine hour. Best of all, the food was delicious and lots of people expressed interest in Avista.

The rest of the day: social networking pedagogy; reunions with friends around every corner; gorgeous, clear, warm weather; and a pizzookie at Bilbo's. (A pizzookie involves an oven-fresh chocolate chip cookie baked in a mini-pizza pan, with ice cream and chocolate sauce on top.)