I was looking in the twainweb archives for something else and found Shelley’s second attempt to post her message, so I copied it again and trimmed the line-endings. Maybe this will work. Maybe not.

Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
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Austin TX 78730
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Dear all—

I’m reposting in response to Steve Hoffman’s request (evidently my earlier post appear as gibberish on his computer, and probably on some other computers, as well).  I’m happy to do that since it gives me a chance to correct a handful of typos and inadvertent omissions.  Here goes--

So many favorite moments and memories!……Two late-night jams of bluegrass, folk and rock on the verandah of the student union, with the  pouring rain outside drowned out by the strains of mandolin and  guitar played by John Bird, Ben Click,  Steve Hoffman, & Hal Bush….Singing along with them and with Paula Harrington,  Sharon McCoy, Mark Dawidziak,  Ronald Jenn, Megan Dawley, and others  (after Ronald came up with the inspired idea of getting the lyrics we forgot on our iPhones)…Collecting a stack of terrific books that will keep me busy all year….Hearing so many illuminating papers….Being prompted to  ponder things I’d never thought about like “Was Huck Quaker?” (Kevin MacDonnell) and what Mark Twain can teach medical students (Patrick Ober) …. Realizing (after hearing papers and comments by Gregg Camfield, Holger Kersten, Tracy Wuster, Jennifer Hughes,  Jeff Melton, Jim Caron, Judith Lee & Jeff Williams) that I know a lot less about what humor and satire do  and how they do it than I thought I did, and realizing that I need to try to figure things out afresh…..The astonishing experience of hearing Matt Seybold read a paragraph from my very first book from the podium Friday evening….The shock of receiving the John Tuckey Award…Great 4-hour conversations with Dave Sloane on the drive from CT to Elmira and back …..Reconnecting with former students Tsuyoshi Ishihara and Tracy Wuster (and hearing their great papers)….Having a wonderful mini-seminar  on ‘Global Huck’ with Ronald Jenn and Amel Fraisse….Meeting young scholars  like Courtney Bates, Christine Dixon, and Atushi Sugimura who make me confident that Mark Twain Studies have a bright future…Seeing old friends Barb Snedecor, Kent Rasmussen and Linda Morris get the recognition they deserve….Learning about how Jocelyn Chadwick is transforming the NCTE….Getting a packet of some great student papers on Twain from John Pascal….Singing spirituals in the woods at the site of the octagonal study at Quarry Farm (while holding an unlit cigar—I’d inhaled that first year and regretted it since)….Oh yes: and being reminded over and over—through extraordinary conversations over four wonderful days with more people than I can possibly remember—why I love studying Mark Twain and why I got into this profession in the first place!

THANK YOU to Matt Seybold and Joe Lemak!  And to co-chairs Kerry Driscoll and Ann Ryan for pulling together such a stellar program— and to the other organizers--Nathaniel Bell, Jim Caron, Joe Csicsila, Ben Griffin, Larry Howe, Bruce Michelson, Chad Rohman and Henry Wonham —and  everyone else who made the conference so special!
Warmly,
Shelley