Also often funny.
Arianne



On Sun, Aug 18, 2013 at 2:36 PM, Kevin Mac Donnell <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Well, it's no wonder we have good attendance at the Mark Twain Conference.
> At the end we all sing and smoke cigars (but we don't inhale) and then we
> light out for the territories for four years.
>
> At the Melville Conference they all get tangled in the ropes during the
> harpoon-throwing contest (and unless you know some pretty fancy moves you
> don't want to be the fattest white guy there). At the Virginia Woolf
> Conference they all wade out into a river, and they don't all come back.
> It's much worse if you're an attendee at the Hart Crane Conference --they
> take a cruise but the ship returns to port empty. At the Frank Norris
> Conference they head off into the desert with handcuffs, which sounds like
> fun, but isn't. I've heard the Salinger Conferences can get edgy; what a
> bunch of fakes! And after that last bar fight I flat out stopped going to
> the Christopher Marlowe Conferences.
>
> Twainians are such a friendly bunch.
>
> Kevin
> @
> Mac Donnell Rare Books
> 9307 Glenlake Drive
> Austin TX 78730
> 512-345-4139
> Member: ABAA, ILAB
> *************************
> You may browse our books at
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>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Bird" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2013 2:52 PM
> Subject: Re: Elmira Twain Conference 2013
>
>
> >I am late chiming in on the success of the Seventh Quadrennial =
> > International Conference on Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College a few =
> > weeks ago. I have now been to all seven, and it does seem that it just =
> > gets better and better. When I introduced the Hal Holbrook documentary, =
> > I asked how many people were there for the first time, and over half the
> =
> > people raised their hands. I was really happy to see so many new folks, =
> > as well as to renew old friendships. The Cigar Ritual at the end was =
> > lively and moving, with raucous but heartfelt group singing, heavy on =
> > spirituals and camp songs. Fitting for what Tracy Wuster calls =
> > =E2=80=9CMark Twain Summer Camp.=E2=80=9D I look forward to the next =
> > one. Hats off to Barb Snedecor and her crew! As Bruce Michelson said =
> > when he won the Louis J. Budd Certificate of Merit from the Mark Twain =
> > Circle of America, we certainly must have the most congenial author =
> > group on the planet!
> > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > John Bird
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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-- 
Arianne Laidlaw A '58