CFP that might be of interest

C'mon you folklore people. I know you've got something dusty sitting around that could work for this...

Call for Papers: Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth
Abstract/Proposals by 15 November 2004

Southwest/Texas Popular & American Culture Associations 26th Annual
Conference

Albuquerque, NM February 9-12, 2005

Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
330 Tijeras
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: 1.505.842.1234
Fax: 1.505.766.6710

Proposals are now being accepted for presentations in an area designed
to explore Joseph Campbell and his ideas about the Power of Myth in
literature, film, and popular culture. Presentations are not only
welcome for studies and applications of Joseph Campbell's work, but
also are encouraged for derivatives of or precursors to his work.
Ideas include but are not limited to the Heroic Journey, Comparative
Religion,Contemporary Myths, Jung's Collective Unconscious, and Archetypal
Psychology.

Scholars, teachers, professionals, and others interested in Joseph
Campbell and the Power of Myth are encouraged to participate. Graduate
students are also particularly welcome with award opportunities for
best graduate papers.

Inquiries regarding this area and/or abstracts of 100 - 250 words may
be sent to Dr. Leslie Goss Erickson at the email or physical addresses
below by November 15, 2004. Please include a current curriculum vitae
and a working bibliography for your paper.

Leslie Goss Erickson, Ph.D.
Western Iowa Tech Community College
P.O. Box 5199
Sioux City, Iowa 51102-5199
712-274-8733 ext. 1801
712-251-5948
Email ericksl@witcc.com

Rants

So I finally caved to the insane demands of American Sunbelt and ordered Direct TV service. All I want are the local channels, but my antenna doesn't pick up anything, and by signing an exclusive deal with Broadband Communications, Am Sunbelt (hereafter referred to as Satan's Landlord) has deprived me of Insight Communcation's $13 basic cable, and is forcing me to upgrade to a $40 package that I don't need.

But, because I need my weekly dose of The Apprentice, I caved. Which means that I had a metal box deposited on my doorstep yesterday with a complex list of instructions for me to install. Now, I'm not completely daft when it comes to installing electronics, but this thing is insanely complicated! And after I get everything hooked up, I still don't have access to the tv channels.

Also, this thing requires both a plug and a telephone outlet, so we now longer have a common phone for the apartment.

Anyway, this is long way of saying that I hate and loathe American Sunbelt and Broadband Communications.

ARG! ARG! DEATH AND DESTRUCTION SHALL BE HEAPED UPON THEIR TINY LITTLE HEADS!

There. I'm still tv-less, but I feel a bit better.

On a subconciously-related note, I had a dream last night that my roomate had a baby cheetah shipped to her from Amazon.com. I answered a knock on the door to find a rustling cardboard box with an obviously nervous animal inside. As I carried it inside the apartment and felt the cheetah's claws slicing through the cardboard, I thought, "This isn't a good idea." And then I handed it to my roomate and went back into the lounge to watch a blank tv, while she squealed with delight and then yelped with pain as the thing bit her. And I wondered how she was a) going to hide the cheetah from American Sunbelt and b) how we were going to deal with a cheetah in the apartment once it got bigger.

Anyway, I just figured out that my dream was entirely inspired by the Direct TV incident (the TV box thing was delivered to our door in a cardboard box). So on a metaphorical level, the dream sort of makes sense, if you read "cheetah" as "cool object that you normally would desire but which will turn out to be more trouble than it's worth."