Thursday, May 01, 2008

Chesterton Conference

The latest issue of Gilbert reminds me of a sad reality,

The back cover has an ad promoting the 27th Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference, June 12-14.

In red.

So you can't miss it.

Alas, I will miss it. Again.

You see, every year they schedule these conferences for June.

I am a principal and a teacher.

June is final exams and graduation.

I'd have a hard time justifying to the trustees suddenly taking off for four days or so right in the midst of all that.

A death in the family. Surgery. Okay. But I only have so many relatives and body parts I could use as an excuse.

("How many grandmothers do you have?")

Uncle Gilbert .... Hmm.

Anyway, once again, I can't be there.

It would be nice if the organizers could occasionally rotate the date. I realize that consistency is nice, and that no matter when they scheduled it someone would be inconvenienced. But it would be nice if we educators could catch a break once in a while.

And I don't want to wait until I retire. Some of my fundamentalist friends tell me the Rapture will happen before then. Should they be right, I suspect most of the regular conference attendees will get called home, cancelling the conference anyway.

So have fun everyone. I'll be thinking of you as I grade exams and fill in report cards.

One question for organizers - should any of you visit this site.

I have been known to scribble clerihews. I know there is an annual contest at the conference. Do you have to be there to enter? Or can you e-mail entries in? Or send them along with someone who is attending?

2 comments:

Mark said...

It's also a bit hard for parents - not all schools are out by that time. It might be easy if you live in Minneapolis, but if you're a long way away....

I'll be there, though. But when graduations come in a few years, that'll not be an option either.

As for being called home - that's the best of all possible scenarios. You'll be able to attend the Chesterton conference which never ends - and Chesterton himself (among others) will be there.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very, very much. I'm a schoolteacher whose school doesn't get out until the 13th. You cannot take those last days off. It would be a great move and one that would work better for many of us.