JCLC Wrap up post

I did attend the evening closing reception and gala. This proved to be another fun event. There was entertainment provided by a troupe of Chinese dragons as well as some harem dancers who performed various dances with grace and elegance. After that, it was dancing the night away, and I will simply leave it to say that I had a very good time dancing for a while.

The next day was the closing plenary, which I chose to skip in favor of taking some time to visit my parents, who live "next door" in Fort Worth. My brother came over with his wife and their new baby. My mother made a delicious pastelon for lunch, a Puerto Rican dish made with beef and ripe plantains, think of it as a sort of very tasty "lasagna" or pie, except replace the noodles or dough with the plantains, add a few other tasty things, and yum. Sorry, I tried to find a link to a recipe, and I could not find one that does justice to my mother's recipe. Maybe I can talk her into writing it down for me, or I can make a note sometime, since I know how to make it. It's just, well, a mother puts a certain love into her cooking, what can I say?

I did not feel that I missed the closing speaker, Tim Tingle, since I was fortunate enough to see him perform the day before during a visit to the exhibits. I am told he mostly gave a speech rather than a performance, so I think I got the best of it the day before. As for the exhibits, I still need to teach myself not to grab every single free book/galley they offer, though I did do better in that regard when compared to TLA earlier this year. That time I got more schwag and less books; this time it was less schwag and more books. Maybe I will eventually get the hang of it. I did get a couple of interesting books I will make notes about as I read them. Overall, this conference gave me a lot to think about, and a thing or two to bring back to my work and library. It also gave me some time to meet with colleagues as well as some time to work some ideas on my Assistant Director. She did take some notes of our conversations, so there goes any notion of deniability on my part (haha). Maybe she'll lose the napkin she wrote it on. Actually, she had a small notepad. While I did make some notes on our conversations as well, those I am keeping on my journal. In the meantime, I will look forward to the next gathering, and I will continue,

En la lucha, (in the struggle),

Best, and keep on blogging.