Conferences

I fully recognize the need for tourists to go back to NOLA, but as a 20 year "regular" (pre-Katrina) I was sickened by what I saw and heard from the locals while I was at CCCC last week. I was afraid to go back and more and more I am wishing that I had not. The Quarter and the Convention Center area have been restored for the most part but the Ward and the East side are now (for the most part) non-existent. Natives trying to return to the area are finding that they have to leave again because they are no longer able to get the jobs that they have held for so long. I miss the NOLA that I knew, the corner bars and Po' Boy/Gumbo spots and the love of a people like no other.

This shit really pisses me off. Three years later we still see FEMA trailers and tent cities are popping up under overpasses. You still see houses marked with the mark of the dead. People are homeless, desperate, and hungry. While poverty is not something new to these folks they now find themselves alone with no community or family left to lean on. What pisses me off even more is the accusatory looks that I got from folks because African American natives chose me to speak to, converse with, commiserate with, share with...quit fucking whining about "discrimination" and understand (or at least don't share with me) because when I am faced with the REALITY of Katrina 3 fucking years later I can really give less than a shit if you are mad because a young African American woman hands me a flier for a poetry slam and ignores you or comes to me first at a counter or speaks to me on the street (did you speak to them first or clutch your pocketbook a little tighter when they rounded the corner?). Really???...is that your biggest concern about what you have seen (or chosen not to) while in New Orleans?

If you are offended by what I have written maybe you need to be. In the end, one can only pray that the real New Orleans can one day be resurrected.

Notable moments at C&W

1. Jenn Fishman gets elevated to goddess status for pulling a french press and coffee out of her bag on Sunday when there was no coffee to be had at the conference. I was really in need of some caffeine.

2. Beer with Barbara Schneider at Circa Saloon, complete with the horrible sticky tables and surly, but sweet waitresses (much like sweet and sour chicken) that I have been nostalgic for.

3. Ethiopian food and crepes with Michelle, Pat, Will, and Lisa.

4. Monster ass irradiated baked potatoes at the Potato Place on campus.

We've been in Detroit since Thursday and I have seen some good sessions and some not so good sessions. But that's about par for the course, right? What I have been disappointed in is the attendance. There are a lot of folks who just didn't show even though they were accepted and some who never even thought about coming. I'm pretty sure that attendance is so low because it's in Detroit. Folks are afraid of Detroit. I don't know if they are afraid of the rumors or frightened by the thought of a true chocolate city. Afraid of being outnumbered the way us Black academic folk are at all of our professional meetings, in our departments, and many times in our own towns. To those folks I just say get over yourselves, your closed mindedness caused you to miss one of the greatest cities in the United States.

We are already hearing rumors of folks being "concerned" for their safety in New Orleans at Cs next year. To those folks I say again Get. The. Fuck. Over. It. Don't let your ignorance make you miss out on another of the great cities in the U.S. (ironically another chocolate city). NOLA (and Detroit) are no more dangerous that any large city in the U.S. They may be a little darker (and you know what I mean) than you are used to, but they are no more dangerous.

Ok, enough of my ranting. I'm going to bed. I'll put my notes up soon.

Edited to add: I just finished my last session so here are all of the notes that I took.

I was going to take some time to blog about the conference and tell a funy story about trying to get a flight out of NYC, but it's not funny any more so I don't even want to talk about the conference right now.

In a nutshell I went to the Delta website this morning to do online check in and found out that our later flight out of NYC had been cancelled and that they had moved us to a noon flight (nope, nobody told us). The noon flight was then delayed until 2:20 then 2:30 now 3:08. We are really starting to wonder if we are ever going to get out of here. That may be a negative. I just paid 8 bucks for wireless access to keep me entertained because I packed my ipod in my checked luggage and Lisa didn't (yep, that means that she is in her own little world).

We did have our SnB on Wednesday and I'll post pictures when I get them off of the camera. Unfortunately my own session was about the only one that I went to because I am on Executive committee and that means I give my life to meetings at the national conferences for the next three years. Hey, I'll do what it takes to do some good.

I was also re-elected co-chair of queer caucus, but I think that was because no one else wanted the job. I am actually excited about that because now I'll get to do some CMS stuff for the caucus.

Ok, I am writing more than I meant to because I really just wanted to sulk, check email, and read other peoples' blogs!

If you missed the @getinfo session at C&W now you can see my 60 seconds of fame online! :-)

I have finally uploaded the pictures from Thursday. Since the page is image heavy I've put them all below the fold.

Back from Texas and I have to say that it was odd thinking that the 90 degree temperatures that I returned home to felt remarkably cool! I have more pictures to post from Saturday and Sunday, but they need to be edited and resized first. But for now I can give you the rest of the notes that I have.

The conference was great overall and Rich did an awesome job with organizing it but there were some dissatisfactions:

Meal dissatisfaction- I know...I live with a chef, but d*#n, do Texans eat vegetables? I guess meat goes well with beer.
alcohol dissatisfaction- TX has some of the dumbest alcohol laws. No hard liquor sales after 9 p.m.. Lubbock is dry. Filling out cards to drink beer at a steakhouse and to buy wine at a winery (after being limited to the equivalent of 1 glass)
multimedia dissatisfaction- Please don't come to C&W and read a paper with no visuals if you are talking about multimodal stuff!
access dissatisfaction- Super slow connections in the dorm and no wireless on Sunday??? I was going through withdrawl!
weather dissatisfaction- Only an oven should go over 100 degrees!
accommodation dissatisfaction- fighting for sheets, no blankets, constantly running shower, overflowing trash cans, in the bathroom, stupid swipe cards, no food service at normal times
townhall dissatisfaction: see below

I have to find my notes from Saturday since I seemed to have written them out * gasp *. I know, shocking isn't it???

Sunday's notes are below the fold. I only made it to one session since I was boycotting (theoretically) the townhall for it's obvious omission from the program. Call it a conspiracy theory but it felt like more of the same ol' same ol'.

I finally made it to Lubbock. After being delayed 1/2 hour, sitting on a tarmac for an hour, running from one gate to another only to find that my connecting flight was also delayed an hour...I finally made it to Lubbock. Had a nice chat with Danielle on the cab ride in (of course there was no shuttle since we were an hour and a half late and we didn't feel like waiting for it to come back if we called), had to explain (nicely) to the young man at the check in desk that I would not be sleeping without linen and showering without a towel, waited for said young man's boss to wake up and come down and find me the requested linens. Got to my room and yes, it does look like every other dorm room in the US. And because I had to fit in I promptly threw my stuff around and ordered a pizza. Mmmmmmmmm....college life.