A Post- SPEP Reflection
Hi Jamie -
I must confess I am a bit surprised that no one else has written. I think SPEP was an unqualified success.
I was not in on the organization/administration side of things, but I think that Walter and the core of graduate students made sure that everything ran professionally and smoothly. The facilities were for the most part adequate for the task (I attended a few sessions at which it was possible to hear talking/laughing/cheering next door - I imagine this is just a reality of conferences at hotels though).
At the last minute I was given the opportunity to moderate a session, but in doing so I missed Farhang's panel. The feedback I received on Farhang's session and the other sessions with VU folks -- and there were quite a few -- was positive. Hopefully you will hear from, for instance, Farhang, Joe, Ammon, and Ted about their session.
There was an author's session on Caputo. His new "The Weakness of God" is out. He received more praise than criticism. One of the commentators - whose name I cannot now recall - at one point in the session revealled his t-shirt which carried a picture of Nietzsche and the inscription "What would Nietzsche do?" There was also an author's session on Walter Brogan's "Heidegger and Aristotle: THe Twofoldness of Being." I was not able to attend, but I believe that so many people showed up that it was moved to a larger room. (I may be confusing the attendance at his author's session with the audience for his lecture on Agamben and the state of exception. In any case, Walter drew large crowds.). I did not attend Badiou's talk, or Wendy Brown's.
The highlight of the event for me was the opportunity to see so many friends. Our graduate community is now spread out all over the place, yet we are a pretty tight bunch. I love it. Some people had good news to share (and I will let him/them share it). Some people brought along their good news, so to speak: we met Mike and Shannon's daughter and saw again Ammon and Heather's daughter. There were 20+ of us out for dinner Friday night; kids at one end, the married, the newly engaged, and the bachelors spread out from there. We are a growing community, literally and figuratively.
*On a wholly different matter: because I mentioned to a few of you that I would try it again . . . last sunday I did indeed run the NYC marathon for the second time, and I actually did meet my goal: I beat my previous time by 10 minutes and 6 seconds. Lance Armstrong beat my time by almost 2 hours . . . but at least I came in ahead of the guy in the rhinoceros costume!
I must confess I am a bit surprised that no one else has written. I think SPEP was an unqualified success.
I was not in on the organization/administration side of things, but I think that Walter and the core of graduate students made sure that everything ran professionally and smoothly. The facilities were for the most part adequate for the task (I attended a few sessions at which it was possible to hear talking/laughing/cheering next door - I imagine this is just a reality of conferences at hotels though).
At the last minute I was given the opportunity to moderate a session, but in doing so I missed Farhang's panel. The feedback I received on Farhang's session and the other sessions with VU folks -- and there were quite a few -- was positive. Hopefully you will hear from, for instance, Farhang, Joe, Ammon, and Ted about their session.
There was an author's session on Caputo. His new "The Weakness of God" is out. He received more praise than criticism. One of the commentators - whose name I cannot now recall - at one point in the session revealled his t-shirt which carried a picture of Nietzsche and the inscription "What would Nietzsche do?" There was also an author's session on Walter Brogan's "Heidegger and Aristotle: THe Twofoldness of Being." I was not able to attend, but I believe that so many people showed up that it was moved to a larger room. (I may be confusing the attendance at his author's session with the audience for his lecture on Agamben and the state of exception. In any case, Walter drew large crowds.). I did not attend Badiou's talk, or Wendy Brown's.
The highlight of the event for me was the opportunity to see so many friends. Our graduate community is now spread out all over the place, yet we are a pretty tight bunch. I love it. Some people had good news to share (and I will let him/them share it). Some people brought along their good news, so to speak: we met Mike and Shannon's daughter and saw again Ammon and Heather's daughter. There were 20+ of us out for dinner Friday night; kids at one end, the married, the newly engaged, and the bachelors spread out from there. We are a growing community, literally and figuratively.
*On a wholly different matter: because I mentioned to a few of you that I would try it again . . . last sunday I did indeed run the NYC marathon for the second time, and I actually did meet my goal: I beat my previous time by 10 minutes and 6 seconds. Lance Armstrong beat my time by almost 2 hours . . . but at least I came in ahead of the guy in the rhinoceros costume!
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Saturday November 11, 2006 at 9:50am. 5 Comments 0 Trackbacks>Villanova News