I finished both Phil Dick’s The Divine Invasion and The Transmigration of Timothy Archer over the weekend and wrote a brief, somewhat rambling 3-page paper on them as a launching point for Wednesday’s discussion. I tried to compare alternate universes to Tolkien’s fairy realm. And I don’t think I did it very well.
For my sci-fi class, I think I’m going to write my term paper about the metafictional short stories of Jeffrey Ford. I mentioned this grouping of stories way back when I finished The Empire of Ice Cream, referring to them as the Jeff Fordia. Now I think I’m writing a conference-length paper that I might end up presenting somewhere, sometime. Should be fun.
Toes. I’ve broken many of them playing soccer, usually by having them stomped on with cleats. Today it was another matter. I got kicked—or perhaps the better word is drilled—on the underside of my foot which bent back pretty much all of my toesies. It hurts. I don’t think I broke anything but they sure are throbbing. The pain needs to diminish by Friday. Otherwise I won’t be able to…play more footie!
And mark your calendars: I had my first kerfuffle today. The vast majority of guys who regularly play in the lunch group are really very nice, but there are one or two jerks, and a couple guys who I’ve suspected could be jerks—so only a handful out of probably 40 guys who play regularly. Friday saw a tiny flare up over a minor event, and today a guy got rather bent out shape when he thought I fouled him. The funny thing is that he pretty much barreled into me and I gave him a shove while trying to win the ball. His forearm caught me—not gently—across the face right after, and only he knows if it was intentional or not. Then he stopped and started lipping off, saying “Do whatever you have to do, man,” all pissed off like he’s Ronaldo (only fatter) and I’m some hack.
First off, it was hardly a foul. I’ve been whacked harder than that most weeks and, while I don’t laugh about it, I wasn’t whining either. Second, the dude’s got at least 50 lbs on me so you’d think he could handle a shove. It’s not like I swept out his legs or checked him into the boards. He didn’t even fall down. Third, whether he meant it or not, he gave me a shot across the face, a fact which, for those of you know my saintly ability to check my anger, I politely pointed out to him. (There may or may not have been profanity involved.)
From the neutral’s unbiased standpoint here’s what happened: the fat guy (with admittedly crazy good dribbling ability) let his tired legs get the best of him, and lost his temper after I had STUFFED him on his last two attempts down the field. However, I will say after the flash point, I offered my hand and said no offense and he shook it. So that would be me offering up the $#%ing olive branch, which I sure hope St. Peter got in his good book.
These bumps in the road don’t make me like pick-up any less; they just make me like people less. Now if dogs could play pick-up, then you’d have something. But I know my dog. She’d never pass the rock.
Current Mood: Sore | 
4 Comments
Have you ever presented at an academic conference before?
I am presenting at my first one this year, URI’s Identities Conference — the Harlan Ellison paper I published with IROSF.
They’re cool, though, because you get to put each one in as a line on your CV without actually having to go through the difficulties and rejection of Academic Publishing; I suspect it is much easier to get into a conference than to publish a scholarly article in a peer-reviewed journal.
No, I haven’t. You should take a look at the journals “Utopian Studies” and “Science Fiction Studies” as well in terms of publishing stuff. Utopian studies really encompasses the majority of science fiction, and the scholar’s definition of utopia is far wider reaching than the lay person’s idea of a “happy place.”
My SF professor said presenting at noted academic conferences is an easy “in” as long as the work’s respectable. And it’s just like you said; they count on your CV without the extreme competition in academic publishing because it’s sort of a niche area of study.
There are three kinds of conferences: Those with published proceedings, which allow you to get a publication credit, too. Those with published abstracts, which are more “official” than just a line on your vita. And more parochial, local conferences, which are just a line on your vita.
Always look for submissions guidelines for abstracts for a conference and deviate from them at your peril. My first paper was rejected from an American Physical Society Conference, because one letter went outside the mythical box they designated for margins. (In those days your abstract in the conference book was reproduced directly from your copy.) I think they relish in denying newbies their first conference paper, if they can, and therefore make them hungier the next time. (grin)
Second, many humanities conferences actually “read” papers. As in, you have a paper and you read it. Reformat your reading copy — 16 point, double-spaced. Can’t tell you how many read papers I’ve seen where the speaker stumbled over 10- to 12-point single-spaced TNR. Especially true of non-English speakers (the 10-point Times New Roman single-spaced). (gaack!)
Dr. Phil
Oh, and I feel your pain. In college we were playing dorm hall soccer. Two of us went for the ball. I got the ball by the wall, the other guy got me. Huge pain, unable to walk. Public Safety drove me to the infirmary. The doctor said, given the color of my little toe, he didn’t know why it WASN’T broken, but whether it was broken or not, he took a piece of medical tape and taped it to the next toe. Gave me two Tylenol.
Ouch.
Dr. Phil