Anatomy of a Conference: JASC is not boring.

I know what you're thinking: I'm a member of the planning committee. Of course I'm not going to say the conference is boring, particularly not in a pubic space where potential delegates could read it. That is true. To do so would be tantamount to shooting myself in my currently recruiting foot. But this is not what prompts me to say (yet again): JASC is not boring. Nor, moreover, could my life since first attending JASC and even more since joining the AEC even remotely connect itself to such a term. This past weekend was a perfect example...

February 28-March 2, 2008
60th JASC AEC Spring Meeting
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine.

Thursday (thoughts from my journal)

I feel like a country girl gone to the city for the first time, only perhaps in reverse. Never before have I seen ice on the ocean but, looking out my plane window, such is my first view of Maine.

Greeting the lobsters and marveling at tire tracks on what seem to be frozen lakes, my mind immediately creates images of sailors with ice-encrusted beards, people bundled to three times their size in fur boots and parkas, and me: a naive West Coaster equipped with only her peacoat and a homemade hat. This is the first time I've ever been nervous to step off a plane. Maine: land of lobsters, baked beans factories, and soon to be a frozen member of the AEC. I'm so excited.

Friday
After a very short night (bringing JASCers together again seems to equal very little sleep. I think we finally went to bed around 3am and woke up around 7:30 or 8) of laughter and shushing ourselves, it's time for a full day of meetings. But first, breakfast...

Stomachs full, we set off for a morning of site and AO rundowns. We like to start easy and build to the hard stuff, or in this case delegate selection. Not having Aya there made the weekend feel incomplete, I think, but Aya seems to have somehow anticipated conflicts that arose and the comments she had sent proved invaluable.

Speaking of conflict, though, I find that, perversely enough, I really enjoy hashing out the business stuff. This team constantly surprises me and while there are plenty of frustrating moments as in any group project, at the end of the day, I'm left with people that will crawl into a fireplace with me,

that will climb on a butt-numbing polar bear,

and steal numerous custards from the cafeteria, all of which may initially seem insignificant but nevertheless remind me of how lucky I am to have this group of people as AEC this year. I feel free to express my opinions knowing that even though there may be rampant objection,

when we leave the table, our relationship is just as strong as it was when we first sat down.

Of course, meetings aren't all pain and suffering. Far from it, actually. Highlights of this weekend include: "I wish they'd leave me alone so I could go back to whacking my monsters,"

"Thumperton" and "Grovestand," The Plague (okay, that wasn't fun, but it was an adventure), the taxi driver who was channeling Jack Black, and finally Portland Airport security holding me from my plane as it took off leading to being driven through Maine by a hippie elderly couple with grandchildren, a bus trip down to Boston