The Power of a Good Conference
Thought I’d share a bit of personal history today. A picture popped up on my Facebook feed from six years ago. This one, in fact.
It was for the 1st Annual Spanish Borderlands Conference at the Huntingdon Library in San Marino, California. I was still a graduate student at the time, very much questioning if I’d even finish my dissertation (PhDs are unnecessarily difficult to complete in the United States) and full of an intellectual inferiority complex that plagues me to this day.1
The conference was put on by (my now friend) Alejandra Dubcovsky and Steven Hackel, who invited promising young scholars and me to attend the workshop. I remember a few different things from the workshop: 1) my body had the worst time acclimating to California from Florida and I was sick from allergies and climate for the first day I arrived (always arrive early if you can), 2) they provided lunch and everything was covered with aioli. Why catering companies glop that nonsense on is beyond me, and 3) Daniel Richter, a legend in my field, making cow puns the entire time during my Q&A: “So Jason, what would you say the STEAKS of your argument?” Some of these made their way into my manuscript in progress.
I remember how talented all of those people were. So many terrific scholars. And while being there was intimidating, you have to remind yourself that you are in the room too. And not by accident. You belong. Reflecting on that image, I see the cool things so many of them have done, even in this atrocious job market: we have assistant professors at Washington State University, Auburn University, University of Illinois-Chicago, UC San Diego. We have people who have already published books, and others with books on the way. We have new parents those years (hell yes I’m counting that). And of course Alejandra continues to be the Spanish-speaking Godzilla in the field, writing brilliant stuff that none of us mortals can touch.
But what I really took away are the friendships it gave me. I don’t get a chance to talk to everyone often, but I still get to share with everyone in this pic from time to time. Aubrey Lauersdorf and I got to be in the same journal in 2021. Scott Cave and I muse over Florida often. Alejandra continues to be a guiding voice in my own scholarship. And Alan Malfavon ended up being one of my closest friends.
So I look back at this image fondly this morning as I sip my (Cuban) coffee, inspired by my friends’ successes. God knows they had their own challenges along the way. And I got curious about the next Spanish Borderlands Workshop and took a look at its roster. And I got excited.
Hope you’re having a good Saturday morning.
Jason
Nearly everyone has this. This is such a weird profession.