SASSy

Attended the 93rd annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study last weekend. This year the convention was in scenic Minneapolis. How àpropos.
Before the convention itself began, we had an opening reception in the St. Paul Science Museum, home to the traveling Vikings exhibition which has toured through New York and Washington, D.C. As well as a nice view of the Mississippi.

Had a chance to catch up with friends from previous conferences: here, on the bus back from the museum, is Chip waving a friendly hello, while Morgan and Jakob debate Deep Eco interpretations of nature poetry. Probably.

Chip gave a paper on The Nature of Silent Swedish Cinema and Terje Vigen, while Morgan talked about Deconstruction in Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes. Jakob pontificated about The Liar's Island: Choreography in Martin A. Hansen and Harald Kidde.

The hotel bar at the Hyatt turned into the social center for this convention - free popcorn will do that. Here Andrey is trying to teach us Russian whistling technique while Morgan pretends not to notice.

Of course, Minneapolis offers lots to entertain visiting academics besides anonymous conference hotels. This statue, for example, while appearing as a wraith-like apparition in this shot, is actually a life-size statue of Mary Tyler Moore, captured at the exact moment she tossed her hat into the air and frozen in a lifeless scream for all eternity. Chip and Brigid join the fun. (Brigid presented on The I’s Eye: Hans Christian Andersen’s Travel Narratives.)

No conference would be complete without a farewell banquet. This one was marked by an unforgettable speech by Anatoly Lieberman on Who Goes Beserk and Why?. For those of us concerned that Scandinavian Studies has for too long neglected the influence of psychotropic mushrooms on Viking behavior, this talk was a welcome antidote.

After the talk came dancing, with the obligatory ABBA cover band. Here Chip, myself and an anonymous Solaris kernel engineer (who wandered into the wrong conference) enjoy the ambiance.

Listening to: Bendik og Årolilja from the album "Jygri" by Gåte