Tired wee me. ICFA in Ft. Lauderdale was super fun and the conference, unlike many academic conferences, was not merely an excuse for competitive snarkiness. I hung with the marxists, they bought me drinks. I can't complain.
It was honestly superb and my mentor was so amazing, she knew everyone and she was just one of those women whom if I had to pick a word to describe her, it would be "cool." I met a ton of contacts, including a very famous Cuban fantasy writer who was very interested in my thesis. Everyone was just so supportive.
The days were long and filled with a lot of activity, the weather was not great but I did manage to get some pool time on Saturday. The whole conference taught me two things: you can't mingle and network without an alcoholic drink in your hand (I tried and it didn't work) which confirms my thoughts that society is kind of fucked that way - people cannot be social without the excuse of being half cut. I did not actually drink, just had the drink in my hand and it was amazing the difference it made. The second thing I learned was that when profs are out with grad students who are not from their universities, they are flirty, dirty pigs. Not one to be offended by this sort of thing, I got on swimmingly. Good thing I brought my bikini ;)
Actually, I met this great woman who has agreed to help me with my research and she and I had many long conversations and I was getting the dirtiest looks from her partner, who was the dominant gal in the relationship. Oops.
Anyhoo, the whole experience just confirmed for me why I went into fantasy, the people were not the typical academics as we are all interested in something the "real" academics are trying to keep out of the universities. We are on the sidelines constantly trying to gain bits of space here and there and it was so great to be with a bunch of like minded people rather than being the only one in my department studying this kind of thing.
Oh and my roommate was hot, a true deserver of the name "Helen"
It was honestly superb and my mentor was so amazing, she knew everyone and she was just one of those women whom if I had to pick a word to describe her, it would be "cool." I met a ton of contacts, including a very famous Cuban fantasy writer who was very interested in my thesis. Everyone was just so supportive.
The days were long and filled with a lot of activity, the weather was not great but I did manage to get some pool time on Saturday. The whole conference taught me two things: you can't mingle and network without an alcoholic drink in your hand (I tried and it didn't work) which confirms my thoughts that society is kind of fucked that way - people cannot be social without the excuse of being half cut. I did not actually drink, just had the drink in my hand and it was amazing the difference it made. The second thing I learned was that when profs are out with grad students who are not from their universities, they are flirty, dirty pigs. Not one to be offended by this sort of thing, I got on swimmingly. Good thing I brought my bikini ;)
Actually, I met this great woman who has agreed to help me with my research and she and I had many long conversations and I was getting the dirtiest looks from her partner, who was the dominant gal in the relationship. Oops.
Anyhoo, the whole experience just confirmed for me why I went into fantasy, the people were not the typical academics as we are all interested in something the "real" academics are trying to keep out of the universities. We are on the sidelines constantly trying to gain bits of space here and there and it was so great to be with a bunch of like minded people rather than being the only one in my department studying this kind of thing.
Oh and my roommate was hot, a true deserver of the name "Helen"
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