I hope to share my experiences by e-mail on wed and starting on the 29th I'll start a web site ( like usual) of pics from the trip

Thanks Kent!
Jules

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rosalie Franks
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2011 9:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Report from Hannibal

Thank you for sharing your lovely memories.  I enjoyed experiencing the joy=  you felt at being in Hannibal. =20 Rosalie Franks





-----Original Message-----
From: R. Kent Rasmussen <[log in to unmask]>
To: TWAIN-L <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Aug 15, 2011 12:52 pm
Subject: Report from Hannibal


Mark Twain once remarked how sad it was our memories must decay as we go = =3D to pieces. I'm old enough now to know how true that is. Some day, I'm =3D sure, all I'll remember about my meager contributions to Mark Twain =3D studies is that I once wrote a book called MARK TWAIN A TO G. I shall =3D not, however, ever forget the thrill of attending the first scholarly =3D Mark Twain conference in Hannibal, Mo., which concluded this past =3D weekend. From start to finish, it was an unmitigated joy--most =3D especially to those paying their first visit to Sam Clemens's boyhood =3D home. In my own case, it was my second visit there. However, as my first = =3D visit came fully 19 years ago (when my ignorance of Mark Twain covered =3D the whole earth like a blanket, with hardly a hole in it anywhere), this = =3D visit felt like a first-time experience. Being envied is humankind's =3D chiefest joy, so let me relish telling those of you not at the =3D conference what you missed:

--$15/night dorm rooms with semiprivate bathrooms (i.e., shared by two =3D
rooms) and air conditioning

--weather so cool that even attendees not from Yuma occasionally wanted =3D extra blankets

--guided tours of every major landmark and historic site in Hannibal and = =3D Florida (which is even more invisible now than it was in Clemens's =3D time)--mostly under the expert guidance of Henry Sweets, ranconteur =3D extraordinaire

--a riverboat (no, not a real steamboat) dinner cruise under a full moon = =3D on the majestic Mississippi (plus an opportunity to take the helm)

--a selection of conference papers with too many good ones for me to =3D risk mentioning only a few

--uniformly delightful company that included lots of promising young =3D scholars _________________________________

HIGHLIGHTS:

--the open-air music concert in front of the Boyhood Home on Thursday =3D night

--Grace Coggswell's performance of "A True Story," which was so moving I = =3D 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 =3D daughter body in a glass case stored deep inside the Mark Twain Cave =3D (Pat spoke in the very chamber in which the body had been kept; I =3D expressed my appreciation of his performance by recommending that =3D another chamber--which our guide said was the cave's creepiest--be named = =3D in his honor)

--archaeologist Karen Hunt's tour of the site of John Quarles's farm in =3D Monroe Co., where she is overseeing the reconstruction of the farm's =3D original buildings

--a long and stimulating conversation with Dan Norman (I think I have =3D his name right), one of this year's young "Tom Sawyers." Through him, I =3D gained both insights into life in modern Hannibal and confidence that =3D not all young people are obsessed with cell phones, iPods, and =3D television

--getting to know Shoichi Nasu, a freelance Japanese journalist touring =3D the sites of 25 American novelists in order to write a book (Shoichi--if = =3D  you're reading this, don't forget to go back to the San Francisco Bay =3D Area to gather material on Jack London. While you're there, be sure to =3D take in the R. Kent Rasmussen Boyhood Home, Donut Shop and Nail Salon in = =3D
Berkeley)

--Finally, I must not forget the local Mark Twain impersonator whose =3D performance reached a level of perfection that brought back pleasant =3D 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 = =3D his books and none of my own

--seeing myself quoted at length at the Birthplace Museum's exhibit of =3D HUCK FINN illustrations and not having Beverly David with me to share =3D the moment

--seeing how badly the old Tom Sawyer movie theater on Broadway has =3D deteriorated

--riding with Tim into Hannibal on Sunday to drop off Shoichi at the old = =3D bordello and not having time to go inside _________________________________

Seriously ... it was a truly wonderful occasion, and I can't wait to =3D come back in 2015. My thanks to Henry Sweets, Cindy Lovell, and their =3D staff; the staff and volunteers at the Hannibal-LaGrange campus; and all = =3D the old and new friends who attended.

Kent

=20