Jack London Symposium



We interrupt your regularly scheduled Brenda shopping/outfit-of-the-week blog for an exceedingly rare update from the man who puts the "Hoag" in Hoags and Kisses, Andrew.

 

This week I travelled to Utah State University in Logan, UT, to present a paper at the biannual Jack London Symposium.  At one point during the conference, I talked to a Utah State graduate student who said she is frequently asked why she moved to Utah when she is not a Mormon.  I think the following pictures do a pretty good job of answering that question.  Utah is beautiful!

The conference itself was a great experience.  I am a Jack London fan, but I did not realize how versatile of a writer he was nor how many people around the world love him and his writing (There were even two people from France at the conference!).  Utah State also happens to have the second largest collection of Jack London manuscripts and first edition books.  The exhibit at their library was great.



 

 What truly made the conference a great experience was the people, especially my fellow UT San Antonio colleagues, Dr. Jeanne Reesman (my dissertation committee member and graduate advisor) and Calvin Hoovestol (who graciously let me share a room at the hotel with him).



The conference took place over four days, so we had plenty of time for exploration and fun activities. The highlight was definitely our trout fishing expedition at a local trout farm. I didn't do any fishing personally, but I sure ate more than my fair share of trout. So delicious!

This last picture was taken after the conference was over as Calvin and I drove from Logan to Salt Lake City.  This is the local Mormon temple for Brigham City, a small town about 50 miles from Salt Lake.  We were stopped at a light, and I thought it looked pretty amazing in the sunset.

 

I've really gotten used to this whole academic conference thing.  My first one was in San Francisco, and the next one will be in Boston, MA.  I think Brenda will actually join me for that one, too, so you know there will be a whole lot more pictures.