Wrote this on Wednesday, but failed to post it: “Headed for Denver – Dr. K & I & five graduate students – for the annual meeting of the Western Social Science Association. All presenting papers. If United gets us off the ground from Fargo. This will be a pretty hectic trip. Any down time, I’ll try to catch up on writing. Also, with all the grad students along, it’s a good time to catch up with them as to their individual programs. And, gonna try to find someplace to wine and dine Dr. K in style. She works too hard.”
Well, we did have a bit of a celebration for Dr. K on Thursday night, recognizing both her recent promotion and her birthday with a get-together at the Brown Palace. Old friends, along with our students, made a festive time.
Otherwise it was mostly business Thursday and Friday. Dr. K and I each gave papers in the New Zealand & Australian Studies Section of the meeting; mine revisited our long line of research on the Lindis district of Central Otago, looking toward renewal of that work post-COVID. Dr. K can talk about her paper for herself.
Our grad students really distinguished themselves. Aaron Barth, Dakota Goodhouse, Jake Morris, Stefani Aulner, and Oliver Sime all presented papers and all knocked them out of the park. They really burnished the NDSU brand here.
Last night we streamed the folk school from here at the Hilton. Lisa Ossian, coordinator of the Rural & Agricultural Studies Section, wrote it into the program, so we had a local audience on hand. This was fun and seemed to go over well. The core of the folk school program was my paper on the granger ballad, “The Farmer Is the Man.”
We spent most of the day today walking around downtown Denver, first to the Wynkoop Tavern for an indulgernt lunch, then over to the Tattered Cover in McGregor Square. Dr. K picked out her birthday present – an armload of books.
Tonight we’ll attend the president’s reception of the WSSA, where one old friend, Tony Amato, will hand over the gavel of the presidency to another old friend, Bill Schaniel. Good. It’s time to wrap up a productive meeting and, tomorrow, get back to the home office on Willow Creek.