This past weekend, I attended the 38th National Convention for the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS) in Washington DC. It was a wonderful and exciting conference packed with hundreds of panels. Attending all the panels I marked in my program proved to be impossible. There were simply too many overlapping panels and going to four sessions a day was truly exhausting. The amount of brain power needed to listen, process, and participate in the discussion was daunting.
The roundtable I participated on, “What is Soviet?” was well attended for its 8 am time slot. The discussion was lively and provocative, causing me to continue to consider and reconsider my thoughts on the issue. It was quite a success.
But like always, conferences are more about seeing friends and networking. I got to see several friends as well as meet more. To my surprise, I was happy to learn that many of them read this blog and actually enjoy it.
Therefore I want to express my gratitude and regards to many people I met, talked, and drank with. Here are some shout outs in no particular order of importance:
Maya, Brigid, Mike, David Hoffmann, Steve Maddox, Christoph, Dave Reeves, Alex, Tim Johnson, Matthias, Andy, Josh, Oscar, Erica, Margaret, Susan, Georg, Brigitte, Wilson, Martha, Tim Paynich, Christian, and Ed. I’m sorry if I’ve forgotten anyone.
Special thanks to Claudia and Stas for their hospitality.
See you all next year in New Orleans!
