Reading all the glowing reports about the Hannibal Conference makes me 
regret, even more, that I was unable to attend.
My big question - when is the next one?
Heather Morgan.


On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 3:52 PM, R. Kent Rasmussen wrote:

> Mark Twain once remarked how sad it was our memories must decay as we 
> go =
> to pieces. I'm old enough now to know how true that is. Some day, I'm 
> =
> sure, all I'll remember about my meager contributions to Mark Twain =
> studies is that I once wrote a book called MARK TWAIN A TO G. I shall 
> =
> not, however, ever forget the thrill of attending the first scholarly 
> =
> Mark Twain conference in Hannibal, Mo., which concluded this past =
> weekend. From start to finish, it was an unmitigated joy--most =
> especially to those paying their first visit to Sam Clemens's boyhood 
> =
> home. In my own case, it was my second visit there. However, as my 
> first =
> visit came fully 19 years ago (when my ignorance of Mark Twain covered 
> =
> the whole earth like a blanket, with hardly a hole in it anywhere), 
> this =
> visit felt like a first-time experience. Being envied is humankind's =
> chiefest joy, so let me relish telling those of you not at the =
> conference what you missed:
>
> --$15/night dorm rooms with semiprivate bathrooms (i.e., shared by two 
> =
> rooms) and air conditioning
>
> --weather so cool that even attendees not from Yuma occasionally 
> wanted =
> extra blankets
>
> --guided tours of every major landmark and historic site in Hannibal 
> and =
> Florida (which is even more invisible now than it was in Clemens's =
> time)--mostly under the expert guidance of Henry Sweets, ranconteur =
> extraordinaire
>
> --a riverboat (no, not a real steamboat) dinner cruise under a full 
> moon =
> on the majestic Mississippi (plus an opportunity to take the helm)
>
> --a selection of conference papers with too many good ones for me to =
> risk mentioning only a few
>
> --uniformly delightful company that included lots of promising young =
> scholars
> _________________________________
>
> HIGHLIGHTS:
>
> --the open-air music concert in front of the Boyhood Home on Thursday 
> =
> night
>
> --Grace Coggswell's performance of "A True Story," which was so moving 
> I =
> was grateful it was too dark in the auditorium for anyone to see my 
> eyes
>
> --Pat Ober's impromptu lecture on Dr. McDowell's attempt to petrify =
> daughter body in a glass case stored deep inside the Mark Twain Cave =
> (Pat spoke in the very chamber in which the body had been kept; I =
> expressed my appreciation of his performance by recommending that =
> another chamber--which our guide said was the cave's creepiest--be 
> named =
> in his honor)
>
> --archaeologist Karen Hunt's tour of the site of John Quarles's farm 
> in =
> Monroe Co., where she is overseeing the reconstruction of the farm's =
> original buildings
>
> --a long and stimulating conversation with Dan Norman (I think I have 
> =
> his name right), one of this year's young "Tom Sawyers." Through him, 
> I =
> gained both insights into life in modern Hannibal and confidence that 
> =
> not all young people are obsessed with cell phones, iPods, and =
> television
>
> --getting to know Shoichi Nasu, a freelance Japanese journalist 
> touring =
> the sites of 25 American novelists in order to write a book 
> (Shoichi--if =
>  you're reading this, don't forget to go back to the San Francisco Bay 
> =
> Area to gather material on Jack London. While you're there, be sure to 
> =
> take in the R. Kent Rasmussen Boyhood Home, Donut Shop and Nail Salon 
> in =
> Berkeley)
>
> --Finally, I must not forget the local Mark Twain impersonator whose =
> performance reached a level of perfection that brought back pleasant =
> memories of the piano player in chapter 32 of A TRAMP ABROAD.
> __________________________________
>
> LOW POINTS:
>
> --visiting the public library with Tim Champlin and finding 30 copies 
> of =
> his books and none of my own
>
> --seeing myself quoted at length at the Birthplace Museum's exhibit of 
> =
> HUCK FINN illustrations and not having Beverly David with me to share 
> =
> the moment
>
> --seeing how badly the old Tom Sawyer movie theater on Broadway has =
> deteriorated
>
> --riding with Tim into Hannibal on Sunday to drop off Shoichi at the 
> old =
> bordello and not having time to go inside
> _________________________________
>
> Seriously ... it was a truly wonderful occasion, and I can't wait to =
> come back in 2015. My thanks to Henry Sweets, Cindy Lovell, and their 
> =
> staff; the staff and volunteers at the Hannibal-LaGrange campus; and 
> all =
> the old and new friends who attended.
>
> Kent