Kerim and I were talking recently and we couldn’t decide when to throw the Savage Minds party at the AAA meetings in DC this year. On the one hand, the AnthroSource open forum is -Friday- Thursday night, and it seems only natural to then move directly into Party Mode. On the other hand, there is a lot of other stuff going on that night as well. The other option is to have it on Saturday — the drawback here is people might already be leaving the meetings, or might be leaving the next day.
My vote is Saturday, but I am ambivalent. Kerim said: “Why don’t you just ask the blog?”
So: what do you guys think?
As it turns out, ongoing financial meltdown will preclude my attendance in DC this year. So my vote is for Thursday night, 7 pm, meet up in the main lobby and go to the Thai place across the street (Thai food is the Official Food of the American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings).
You know that is so true about Thai food. Why is that? My spider sense tells me it has something unsavory to do with ‘exoticization.’
If people want to meet privately on Thursday that is fine. But there will definitely be a public party. So: Friday or Saturday?
I, too, think there’s something to do with exoticism going on — whenever my school had job talks, the Student Association would take the candidate out for dinner to get some ono-on-one time with her/him, and we almost always ended up at a Thai place. I think it’s suitably exotic *without* being as mainstream as Japanese, Chinese, Indian, yet is also more recognizable (and thus more likely to gain consensus when presented to a group of people) than, say, Ethiopian or Mongolian barbecue.
As someone who lives on an island in the middle of the Pacific full of asian immigrants, my goal while on the rim of the atlantic will be to eat as much beef and dairy as possible, and have a cocktail that isn’t a maitai or involve a paper umbrella. Can anyone recomend a nice little French bistro in DC for Long French Dinner? I think of the restaurant scene in DC as being expensive and a little plastic.
Oneman: “As it turns out, ongoing financial meltdown will preclude my attendance in DC this year. So my vote is for Thursday night, 7 pm,”
So, let me get this straight: I can vote even if I’m not going (ditto for financial meltdown, having just moved into a new place)? Well, then, just to be evil I will say Friday, 2AM, local pool hall.
I vote for Saturday, but I can do Friday too. And Rex, there is a fantastic French bistro in DC that i would be happy to accompany you to multiple times. I can’t remember the name, but I know just where it is…
Well, those of us presenting in the Wednesday evening and Friday afternoon internet anthro sessions will be past our presentations if we do it on Friday or Saturday, which could be good. I have no idea what other people’s presentation schedules are–we should have a post here where Savage Minds contributors and frequent commenters can comment with when we are presenting so people can come see each other.
I personally can’t do Thursday.