I went to the DISTAFF session on textile trade, which was delightful - if nothing else, I now know of the trade of the friperers. Friperers were secondhand clothing salesfolk, a thriving trade in an era where clothing was so much more of a major investment. I would love to know more about them.
After the Avista board meeting, a wrangle of planning, I was distracted from my afternoon's intended session but a multitude of discussions and conversations. I meant to make it to the bookroom, but spent too much time in conversation to make it there. Still, in the process, I caught up with old friends, acquired a list of people in cognate fields to contact about London jobs or volunteer work, and sketched out a roundtable session for next year's Kalamazoo with
juniperus.Fourteen of us ate dinner in a caverous barn of a building (the Firehouse Bar and Grill); only five of the group did not have a weblog to the best of my knowledge,
sursamajor being the most recent to join the hordes online. I ate a dull taco salad and stole fries from everyone else after inadvertantly insulting the venue to the waitress.I made it back to campus in time to intercept part of the York reception. I'd already had a good chat with Mark Ormrod earlier in the day, so joined
griffinick in getting to know Linn Mooney, J.B.'s mother, and newest professor of Medieval paleography at York! I also met Nicola MacDonald, who was at Toronto before I was, has taught at York since shortly after I left, and is currently advising my Smith/York/Toronto correspondant, who I met over Christmas. Medieval academia is a very small place, you see.Despite all the enthralling conversations and pleasant meetings, the real highlights of my days were moments which marked my increasing establishment in my field: I'm now on the board of directors of Avista, and was invited to give a talk during this coming academic year. Perhaps someday - even someday soon - committee work and talks may seem mundane to me. These are my first of each, and I am thrilled.
