Taking Manhattan

I'm currently on the bus on my way home from New York City. The driver is quite a character. He keeps referring to all of us as "family" and he just informed the bus family that we may need to take our patience cards out of our pockets, swipe them, and use a little bit if we hit traffic on the turnpike. Um, okay. Will do. Usually the bus drivers don't chit chat at all, so it's a little strange to have one so outgoing and not surly.
I had a great four days in New York. I was there for a conference, presenting a paper on an "emerging scholars" panel. For the record, I think this will be the last time I can pull the debut scholar card since I now have eight or nine conferences on my resume, including this one, which is the biggest conference in my field. Anyway, my panel went well and I got good feedback on work that will ultimately be part of my dissertation. People seem interested in what I'm doing, and that's a good feeling. I rocked the networking this time. I'm getting better about just putting myself out there and introducing myself to people I know I need to talk to. This time I forced myself to go to a panel on publishing reviews and I introduced myself to various editors because I know that with so many conferences under my belt the next step is getting something small published. So I'm going to try. I don't think I'll get around to it until spring, but at least I have faces and personalities to go along with the editors' names now, so the process of submitting work seems a little less intimidating. I also reconnected with my old department chair from my undergrad department, and he seemed thrilled to hear that I'm working on a PhD and he promised me that if I stay in touch he'll help me however he can in the future. Sometimes reconnecting with old acquaintances is as important as cultivating new ones.
I also just met a ton of people at this conference. I think part of the reason why networking was easier is that some of my friends from my MA program were there, as was Anna from my current program. So they all introduced me to their friends and faculty in their current programs or, in Anna's case, introduced me to friends from her MA and undergrad departments. As a result, I now know approximately two dozen people I didn't know on Friday. That's pretty good! Sometimes it helps that this world is small and incestuous. It's easier to get a foot in the door. God, who would have imagined I'd become this networking, conferencing person? The sick thing is, I even sort of enjoyed it!
I did try to see a bit of the city. I was staying with Kiki in Astoria, which was nice and meant I got to spend a little time with her (not enough time, since we were on utterly different work and sleep schedules the whole time I was there, but we at least got to eat a couple of meals together). Maddi was also there for the conference and I got to meet her new boyfriend, which was fun.
It was great getting to see my two best girlfriends in one weekend. Next time I go to New York I just want to see shows and play, though. No more of this hanging out in hotel meeting rooms and working nonsense! The best ideas we had all weekend came out of boozy dinners, anyway. Isn't that always the case? I think conferences should forgo panels and awards receptions and just lock everyone in a ball room with an open bar for three days. That's when real innovation happens. Seriously.