K'zoo

For the mordibly curious or the obsessive stalkers, this weekend I will be here, the International Congress for Medieval Studies at Kalamazoo, Michigan. It's the largest medieval conference anywhere, and it attracts scholars from all over the world. I will be rubbing elbows with a bunch of famous medievalists, but also my future advisors and fellow grad students from Tennessee and Mr Terry Jones. Mr. Jones has made a second career for himself as an independent scholar, although people with their degrees in medieval things are largely divided over whether his scholarship carries any real weight. He published a book last year claiming that Chaucer was murdered that got some attention, but I don't think it was taken too seriously. At any rate, he'll be speaking there about the death of Richard II, and I'm trying to talk myself into caring enough about 'ol Richie 2 to go to the talk. There's probably another interesting Anglo-Saxon pannel happening at the same time, so odds are I won't make it. But I'll be at the same conference as he will, which is pretty darn neat. There is a "dance" scheduled for Saturday night, which I think has the potential to be the best thing in the world. Over a hundred drunk medievalists, tottering around holding drinks, the good 'ol boys slapping each other on the backs and buying rounds of scotch, and hopefully some poor soul doing the Electric Slide. A female medievalist professor of mine said that the dance gets ridiculously hot, so I should wear a skirt. As short a skirt as I think I can wear without getting my ass grabbed. Oh, this is going to be fun.