dispatches from middle america, part one

dear friends,

well i have been here in kansas city for a little less than 36 hours and i am already counting down the time until i am back in cosmopoliton montreal and the cozy illustrious circle road manor. kansas city is like a bad casserole--bland, generic, favoured by moms but not by kids, and generally dull. maybe it is just because i am in the downtown core/ hotel central but the place is like a giant outdoor mall. chris and i walked blocks and blocks in search of a non-midwest/southern equivalent of kelseys or dundees to no avail. we decided that baja 600 was the least evil of all possible evils. it was blah, but it was cheap blah.

so, what to report thus far:
the trip- loooong. door to door 7:30am to 3:30pm(central time). the flight from jersey was 2 3/4 hours. also i can't believe i am thinking living in jersey would be cool.

the hotel- nice enough. but goddam i wanted a king and got two doubles.

the conference- um, sociology of religion needs to be shaken up. while we may like to blame the marginalization of the sub-discipline on academic distain for religion in reality people are doing unexciting, shotty work. i have met some very "famous sociologists" including a few potential supervisors at the schools i will be apply to this year. chris and i spend a lot of time complaining. this afternoon we went to a session specifically to ask the presenter about his former research assistant who we met at notre dame and left bitter after we found out he wasn't even there. tommorow after presentations and participation we are going to booze it up on 39th st. and complain further. super glad i am not alone among the unsocialized nerdzos.

ok, off to prepare for my 8am presentationa and watch some bad tv, i can't wait to be home...
cam