Ah…some good panels I’ll tell ya. I ended up going to that new media panel and it was worth it. One panelist looked at “populist rhetoric” and technology…especially in relationship to the current presidential election. She was interested in the ways in which the “Internet candidate” seems to coincide with “the populist candidate” in the press and the rhetorical framing of the campaigns. The second guy was interested in opening up scholarly publishing to collaborative Web 2.0 kind of texts–especially when it comes to considering those texts “legitimate” as academic and scholarly work. And, the third panelist, an anthropologist, was looking at “the vernacular web” and some of the ways in which the new Web 2.0 is opening up more vernacular uses of the Internet.
The second panel, Rachel’s “transnational rhetorics” panel was fab. Rachel talked about Zapatista’s rhetorical work in constructing openings and news spaces in civil society. Katherine Mack looked as South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and how the NGO, IJR was moving it’s work in supporting transitional justice across the African continent as part of an “African Renaissance.” Scott Wible discussed Bush’s “National Security Language Initiative and MLA’s response to it. And, finally, Rasha Diab looked at Anwar Al-Sadat’s role in constructing the possibility of peace between Egypt and Israel in the 1970s. Both panels were well attended and the discussion afterwards was great. I even got to see Lu-Ming Mao at the Transnational Rhetorics panel…always great to run into folks from Miami.
Anyway, I’ll keep it brief…I’m going to meet Seth, Ann, and Rachel for dinner for some great Seattle food and continuing awesome conversation.
Still sunny, 64 degrees. Beautiful!
After several delays and longer than expected layovers, I’m in Seattle for RSA. The bummer is that last night Rachel and I and a group of folks were going to get together for a little book launch celebration…but, alas, I didn’t get in until 11pm. Good thing that Ken and Trish were around and willing to hang out for a while in the lobby of the Westin, have a few drinks, and talk the night way.
I’m just about to head over to the hotel to pick up my conference materials and scout out the sessions for the day. I will be going to Rachel’s “Transnational Rhetorics” panel at four o’clock which promises to be fabulous! There’s also an intersting looking session at 2:15 on “Implications of the New Media” which is calling me, I think. We’ll see. Our panel, “Responsibilities to Whom, For What?: Complex Audiences at Cross-Purposes in Labor Organizing,” is not until tomorrow morning…
I just got off the phone with Rachel and was happy to hear that I’ll be joining her, Seth, and Ann for dinner tonight! Yeah. All is not lost. Rachel promises many tragicomic tales of her trip here and I’ll get to meet Ann. Anyway, despite what you’ve heard about Seattle:
Sunny and a beautiful 60 degrees!
So, I come home today after attending my niece’s graduation…she’s graduating from pre-school…and find a box sitting on my front porch. What was in the box you ask??? Copies of Democracies to Come from Lexington Books!!
That’s right folks…we’re in print. The official pub date is May 28th, but Rachel and I got our advanced copies today. It feels so great…especially after such a long process. The best part of it all is that we’ll be able to bring copies to RSA in Seattle this weekend. We planned to have a little pre-release, party Saturday night anyway…now, we’ll be able to make it official!
Now, this is enough to start the week off right. If you didn’t click “this,” then you should definitely click here to check out the “pre-pub discount” for Democracies to Come!!!! It’s been a long road, but Rachel and I are finally hitting the bookstores.
