Snowy Day at MLA

This was one of my favorite books as a child, but today is not a snowy day to remember fondly through the rose-tinted glasses of childhood nostalgia. In fact, I'm currently sitting in my hotel room afraid to go outside--and not for the usual MLA reason, the desire to avoid the hordes of anxious, wild-eyed interviewees who can make your stomach tie itself in knots as you remember the single most embarrassing interviewing experience you have ever had ... What? That isn't the first thing that pops into your head at MLA? Maybe that's just me, then. It's about 1,356 degrees below zero right now and snowing hard, up to 6 inches before we're through, and I have no boots and I am seriously considering ordering myself a $16 bacon and eggs platter and watching TV all day. But I won't. I will be a good soldier and trudge over to the main conference hotel and even possibly attend a session or two. Why? Because of my devotion to learning and scholarship, my eagerness to discover new areas of important research in my field? No. It's all because of my devotion to you, our conference blogging readers. You see what I will put myself through for you? I am willing to trudge through mountains of "lake-effect snow" and face the bitter Chicago winds just to find material to blog about, so you can sit in your warm home and enjoy. What I wouldn't do for you... There. Now it feels like childhood.