CLS!

If I had known about it earlier I would have volunteered to help out; as it was, I mooched appallingly (heheh . . .), eating cookies, drinking coffee, going to talks and collecting hand-outs from the speakers. Although some of the lectures were interesting, all were significantly over my head, and during the question-and-answer period Saturday, there was one fellow, about 3,409,872,589,624,098 years old, who was clearly an Indo-Europeanist, probably because he had grown up speaking it, and he would make the most tangential references to the actual talk and then waddle on off to talking about Indo-European roots, which had no reference to the lecture just given. The speakers all nodded politely and waited for him to be done (which sometimes took as long as the talk they had given had taken) and then said stony-faced, "that's interesting. I'll be sure to think about it." The last time this happened one of the women in the audience turned to the moderator and made "cut him off" gestures, and I heartily agreed with her.

My favorite talk was about historical tone changes from Middle Chinese to Old Mandarin, and it was very good, at least as far as I was concerned. It was clear, simple, didn't try to tackle too much at once, seemed intuitively correct, and looked a great deal like something that I might be able to write next year. In a way, it was almost an inspiration to write a BA, as long as I could be sure that no more would be expected than something like that. Comprehension will do that to one, I find. I'm gettin sick of not understanding what's going on in class and during lectures and in my articles! Why can't everyone be like the nice Chinese woman, and make sense?

My Hyde Park moment

A woman and I both turned onto Woodlawn at about the same time, and she said to me that I looked like a boy from behind. She then continued talking about the way I dressed, how it was clear that I was into neutral clothes, that there are other options for girls, and so on. It wasn't at all hostile, more like a "be aware of what you can wear when you decide you're ready for it." She was very friendly, and prattled on about machines they now have in the Gap (or maybe Old Navy) that measure a woman's body with electric eyes to tell them exactly what cut of jeans are good for them, because all women's bodies are different. I pointed out that all men's bodies are different too, but they make do with baggy pants and a belt, and she laughed and said that I could buy girl's jeans baggy if I wanted, with rhinestones or butterflies or embroidery. I suggested that these machines might not be as good as she thought, because they were fake make-work for the fashion industry, and the effort might be better put into something else. She said that girls like and want to have those options. I said that girls have been conditioned to think they need those options. She laughed and said that I was just in a "neutral stage", and I should think about the other options when I decide I'm ready for them.

Huh.