The Green Zone - ACIS Conference in NYC

Recently I was asked to moderate a panel of the American Council of Irish Studies meeting in New York on April 19. This fell within the guidelines of my new policy on speaking or writing - I never volunteer, but I try to do things when people ask. Library Director Charles Getchell gave the green light, so we blocked out 3 days. The evening before the event, we were invited to a party at the Irish consulate, on 51st and Lexington. The bars were well-stocked - particularly with things that had been bottled in Ireland. We got there as the party was starting, so the appetizers were coming by every minute.

The next morning, I caught the 6:52 train in to Penn Station. My book of choice was re-reading Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions, and feeling bad that Vonnegut was no longer with us. The conference was held at the CUNY graduate center, across the street from the Empire State Building. I had never moderated a panel before, so I wanted to be prepared, and arrived an hour before the bell. By 8:45 all three presenters had arrived, so we got through the business of how to set up the equipment, and I got brief bios of each of them. The first presenter was Michael Griffin from the University of Limerick, who spoke on the life and politics of a Clare-based poet I didn't know - Thomas Dermody. Dermody was writing in the Romantic period, and his lifestyle fit the pattern. He wrote brilliantly in his early twenties, lost his talent and then drank himself to death. Next Elaine Morgan spoke about the WWII era radio work of the short story writer Frank O'Connor. Finally, we heard from Theresa Crapanzano, a second year doctoral student at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She presented about the media coverage of JFKs 1963 trip to Ireland. I remembered the trip, but I didn't remember that there had been substantial grousing from the Times and Post that this was just a diversion to a sentimental favorite, but backward country. The interesting thing was that the trip worked beautifully - months later, Ireland was getting much more respectful treatment from the same two papers.

I met my friend and colleague from Quinnipiac, Mike Hughes, assistant director of the Law School Library, and we went around the corner for lunch at Jack Dempsey's. On the second day, I had lunch on the same street at nearby Foley's, which was truly a find. They served real Irish scones from the late and much-lamented Shane's bakery in Woodside, and the shepherd's pie was the best I've ever eaten. Some of the conference highlights included a talk about John Finerty, whose digitized book in our collection is the most popular thing we've put up. The presenter, Mimi Cowan, mentioned that A John F. Finerty was one of the defense attorneys in the Rosenberg trial, but she wasn't sure if he was the son of the author. I had to work Sunday, so I looked it up and found out that he was, indeed the son. Also, on Friday there was an excellent talk about Samuel Beckett's work with Buster Keaton. There was also a fine program on Irish music, where I ran across my old colleague from St. John's Bill Keoghan.

AFter two intensive days of this, I am getting ready to work the reference desk on Sunday and get back to the realities of life in America.