Conference Wrapup

On the whole, a bit dull. I walked out of several sessions out of sheer boredom. Perhaps some of the topics might have been interesting presented properly, but these were not. One session that did deliver was on a fairly old controversy regarding a cover for our professional journal, perhaps two or three years ago.

I know, I'm overcome with excitement too.

Without getting into all the dirty details, the cover caused some stir, especially among corporate archivists who have to explain to the bosses that might have seen it that the organization does not hate corporations. Letters flew back & forth, including one from an academic basically saying its impossible for corporations and corporate archivists to be ethical.

So the session dealt with the whole thing, and I have to say the Q & A after made me feel highly defensive. Let's simply say there are a lot of liberals in my profession, and I believe they have a bizarre view of the relative value of corporations vs. academia. Barring one older gent who stood up and told the gathered socialists that they were off their nut. I told him privately that I agreed with everything he said. I don't know that there's such an antipathy to corporations among the general membership, but there's clearly a cultural chasm here. I'm glad I am where I am - I couldn't take the academy life at this point, and I prefer working in an environment where the real world intrudes occasionally.

Other than that, nothing of note happened. We spent shabbos with our friends, had some lovely grilled lamb chops for Friday night dinner, and then a large lunch on Saturday that included some other old friends, so the trip was still nice. Driving home took forever, most of the traffic hitting as we got closer to NY. So I'm not sorry we went, but I don't know how much I learned.