(1) the empty pattern
The wonderous story told by Burke and others about how a conversation
continues in parlors or AERA antechambres without necessarily the
same speakers seems so hollow and formal when compared to real parlors
and real AERA conferences. It doesn't catch the real thing...
(2) the rebellion
My first contact with this type of figuration (Norbert Elias calls
these dances by this name) also left me with teh conviction that I
would never be, never like to be atleast, part of this...
(3) the trespasser's error
Of course, I have not experienced the assault of a dame-lusty old fart,
and also I cannot say that the advances that I found somewhat like
harrassment happened in an academic setting. I remember vividly one
aged Jazz pianist in a smoke filled beer site, but that's quite
another story...
(4) the re-centering
Also, I must say that I sum it up differently. Those guys in academia,
with their style of mimicking *their* elders in the first three quarters
of any gathering, are they any different from other guys with other elders?
And aren't women also quite ennerving with their ways of forming those
marvelous events: called conversations, not needing specific persons
to live on for a short while ?
Arne, white-bearded (=male) dwarf-hawk