I recently attended the Graduate Liberal Studies Symposium held at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. There were only two representatives of Mount St. Mary's University; Dr. Michelle Fine and yours truly. It was a great experience with a lot of very interesting Humanities presentations. The main reason for my attending the symposium of to observe other's presentations and ask questions. Last year when the GLS visited MSMU, I presented a paper on Brother Juan, but I was at a loss and wasn't sure what was going on. It was a great learning experience. Next year the GLS Symposium will be hosted by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. I hope to present a paper at that time.
Reed College is very nice. Sort of like a very high-end prep school. The campus is incredibly green with massive trees. The lawn at the entrance of the school is 10 acres of nothing but grass and trees. (Being from Los Angeles, this impresses me.) Portland, where Reed is located, is a very nice city. The neighborhoods are very livable filled with nice homes and bike paths seemed to be everywhere. The downtown section reminded me a lot of San Francisco. When I mentioned this to some of the locals they complained that San Franciscans are moving to Portland in droves, thus driving up home prices. Apparently high tech industries are moving there as well; for example, AirBNB is relocating to that city.
One thing I learned was there were many difference presentation styles. A young Dutch student pointed out, some presentations were more self-indulgent exercises in personal fulfillment than academic papers and this contrasted with how things are done in Europe. There is definitely some truth to that statement. But that is more the exception than the rule.
The highlight for me was meeting a group of very impressive Maastricht University students. These kids where so intelligent. I came away with the feeling that the Millennial Generation is in very good hands.
