True story-- and I mentioned this to a few folks in Elmira--but I initially tried to get grounded in the Hawthorne group, due to my huge ingest and admiration of the Salem stylist. I was passionate for Hawthorne! Well... I was disabused of my thinking upon my contact with the conferences on NH. This will sound absolutely stereotyped: but in fact the group seemed to me, back twenty years ago, rather muted, dour, humorless (though in fact NH can be pretty funny) and, in short, not so much fun. I, being the fun guy that I am, immediately gravitated away from the Hawthornians.... and alas, here I am now among this group called the Twainiacs. I really do think there is something to Bruce's comment: it's the funnest group to have a conference with! If not please tell me which group is, cuz I want to go to their meetings. -hb On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 9:28 AM, Ben Wise <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I prefer the Emily Dickinson conference where everyone stays home. > > Ben > > -- Prof. Harold K. Bush Professor of English 3800 Lindell Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO 63108 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h) <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>