The ALA in Boston

For me, going to a conference is a blend of the professional and the recreational. For example, last May I attended the annual American Literature Association conference in Boston, one of my favorite cities, which gave me an opportunity to spend some time working (attending a few sessions in my field) and relaxing (going to museums and pubs).

As for working, the highlight was chairing a panel at the session devoted to the Charles Johnson Society, which focused on Ethelbert Miller’s wonderful blog “The E-Channel.” For a year, Ethelbert and Charles Johnson had a wide-ranging discussion about art, aesthetics, politics, and literature. I can’t possibly sum up this conversation, so I simply encourage you to check it out. You won’t regret it.

For relaxing, I had two highlights: Touring the sites around Harvard, which always makes me feel smarter, and spending an afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts. I always love seeing, in person, a painting that I've admired for so many years.

My supper the first evening:

My hotel was just off Copley Square, the site of the Boston Marathon bombing a month earlier. A very moving tribute, including the shoes of all the runners, went up almost immediately.

Another moving memorial is is to the men of the 54th Massachusetts, an African American regiment in the Civil War, located on Boston Common. They are portrayed in the great movie Glory.

At the Museum of Fine Arts, I got to enjoy the special exhibit of samurai culture and some of my favorite Impressionist works, including this wonderful Renoir.

My colleagues (and friends) on the panel to discuss Charles Johnson: Julia Galbus, Ethelbert Miller, John Parks, and Marc Conner. I wrote a brief report for the Charles Johnson Society about the panel, which you can read below.

We (Marc Conner, Julia Galbus, John Parks, Ethelbert Miller, and I) convened at 5:10 yesterday, in a room at the Westin Copley, Boston, for a panel about the E-Channel. We had an audience of around a dozen, which isn’t bad for these sessions.

Marc led off with a presentation that introduced the E-Channel and explained how it functioned for a year. He made the interesting point that Charles Johnson has always been an experimental author, one unafraid to try new voices and styles, so the Q & A format that led to the essays shouldn’t be wholly unexpected. It’s simply a new “room,” he added, in the house of literature that Johnson's constructing.

Julia then followed with a presentation that described how the E-Channel exemplifies the “spiritual friendship,” the kalyanamitra, that Johnson shares with Ethelbert. She suggested that the informal conversations, along with the more scholarly discourses, could even serve as an example of ideal friendship.

Next, John spoke about how the E-Channel can offer some epistemological answers for problems of everyday life. He also spoke about how Johnson's thoughts about Martin Luther King Jr. offer insight into the great man’s beliefs.

Finally, Ethelbert wrapped up the session by outlining how he came up with the idea for the E-Channel and why he approached Johnson for a year-long dialogue. He was his usual hilarious self as he described the task that he’d set for himself of “mapping” the mind of Charles Johnson and his later attempts to catch him off guard with some of his questions. He added that Johnson always brought him to ground by reminding, “We’re doing serious business.”

After a few questions and comments from the audience, we concluded the session at 6:35.