My Plans for Indy: The Humorous, The Banal, and The Necessary

To catalyze excitement for the conference, below is my tentative itinerary for next week.

Thursday: Opening Night!

– Arrive early via Megabus. I plan to meet with some colleagues and friends before registration (@ 4pm)
– The BIG DRAW on opening night is the Plenary. I can’t miss Hartman, Sehat, Shannon, Kramer, and Curtis reflecting on each other’s ideological problems. I’m hoping for some fun mudslinging.
– Afterwards I hope to carry on the conversation at a local watering hole. I won a bet with Ben Alpers (stakes: single beer) on the Royals-Oakland game, and I want him to pay up.

Friday: Day 1

This will be long and eventful. In the past I’ve had vocal chord problems by 9 pm on the conference’s first full day.

– Attend Business Meeting (8 am). Hopefully I’ll have had enough sleep and coffee to not nod off during Schultz’s Treasurer’s report.
– For my first session of the day, I’m leaning towards Panel 1, “Social Science, Social Thought, and the Mission of Post-War Universities.” The papers by Beuttler and Schrum seem interesting, but I don’t know about the one on “health professional education.” Whatever.
– During Session II (11-12:45), I’m 90 percent likely to listen to Hummel, Beaton, Serby, and Lasch-Quinn reconsider “Cold War Intellectuals.” While there I will be able to thank Elisabeth in person for her wonderful blurb on my book. As is the case during every session, I’ll miss other wonderful panels—in this case ones involving fellow bloggers and long-time S-USIH friends.
– Given that my own book covered an important part of the Culture Wars, I’m obligated to participate in Panel 8 during Session III. Thankfully my obligation includes being in the presence of three USIH bloggers (Alpers, Greene, and Burnett) as well as Claire Potter. This could have very easily been a plenary.
– Session IV (4:15-6 pm) again offers an excess of wealth, and Panel 11 is *super tempting* (SUPER enticing), but I’ll likely be at Panel 10. Given my recent interest in critiquing capitalism through my historical work, as well as my long-term interest in building a more just (or less unjust) American society, I think I need to listen to Newman, Averbeck, Seal, and Hartman expound on riches, greed, and neoliberalism.
– I’m totally pumped for Kathryn Lofton’s Friday-night keynote on Bob Dylan and “the search for history.” I feel confident that fellow blogger Rivka Maizlish will be in the crowd, humming something Dylan and history related.
– Find adult beverages at the reception and after. I can’t wait to see what craft brews are being sold in Indy.

Saturday: Day 2

The second full day is always the toughest for me. With that, …

– Maintain tradition of 7 am USIH Bloggers Breakfast
– Several panels are tempting, but I’ll be attending Panel 14 during Session V (8:30-10:15 am). This one is a roundtable titled “Theological Turn in Intellectual History.” I must be here given my recent work on Mortimer J. Adler’s religious interests (published recently as “Intellectum Quaerens Fides: Mortimer J. Adler’s Journey of Mind and Heart” in the U.S. Catholic Historian)
– During Session VI, it’s a toss up between Panels 19 and 20. I’m leaning toward 20, but I foresee a big crowd in 19.
– One of the toughest calls of conference, for me, is choosing a panel during Session VII (4-5:45). Again, given my recent interests in critiquing capitalism, I feel the draw of Brick-Currarion-Spellman-O’Connor-Horan panel. (Aside: Buy O’Connor’s new book, A Commercial Republic: America’s Enduring Debate over Democratic Capitalism!) But I also need to learn more about Christopher Lasch. My lack of first-hand knowledge about Lasch’s work is becoming an embarrassment to myself.
– Go to the book award reception and plenary in honor of Ajay Mehrotra.
– If I still have a voice, converse with friends after—while consuming adult beverages!

Sunday: Day 3—Powering Through the Morning

– Attend bleary-eyed breakfast with Publications Committee members and volunteers. But seriously, we have a good group so this will be fun.
– Panel 26 is calling me (Session VIII, 8:30 am). As a Loyola Chicago grad student one is heavily dosed with urban history—and for good reason since there are/were high-quality faculty in that area. Anyway, I can’t miss a panel that combines urban and intellectual history.
– In the conference’s last session (IX), I’ll be either in Panel 29 or 30. Paul Murphy is chairing 29, and Mark Edwards #30. You can’t go wrong with either.

…

That’s it! My other, more social goal for this conference is to take more pictures. For some reason I haven’t been diligent about that at prior events.

…Oh, and I’m free for lunch on Friday and Saturday. – TL