Gifts and Awards

Well, this weekend was quite eventful for Amber and I. Actually, we're still pretty tired from all the eventfulness even after sleeping in today and taking a nap this afternoon! On Friday after class, I drove to West Chester, PA (about 4.5 hrs from Pittsburgh. ) for a philosophy conference I was scheduled to present at on Saturday at the University. I was set to stay with a friend of mine's in-laws, as he was also scheduled to present. So, after a long trek on the Turnpike, a brief drive through Lancaster (which, consequently is a much bigger city than I had ever imagined), seeing three Amish buggies (with flashing lights on the back!), and getting lost once, I was there. Unfortunately, I got there a couple hours before my friend, Greg and his wife. Not that his in-laws were scary or unfriendly or anything like that. Its just that there's only so much Bill O'Reilly I can take.

Anyways, on Saturday, I presented at the conference a paper which happened to be a further development of two blog posts I had written (see the posts "What is Hospitality?). In other words, this was not a paper I had written for a class but one on a topic that I was simply passionate about and decided I might as well try and turn it in as a submission for a conference. Well, needless to say, it went over extremely well. During the session in which I presented (if you don't know, philosophy papers are usually presented in groups of three, 20 minutes to present and 10 min of Q&A for each presenter), of which I was the first to go, the room was absolutely packed - which is saying something for a philosophy conference to begin with! There were even a handful of professors from the university sitting in. Now, let me point out that in all my other experiences of presenting at a conference this is, indeed, not what happens. In fact, the last time I presented, I think there were maybe eight other people in the room, three of which I personally knew.

So, I presented the paper. Yup, at philosophy conferences you just sit and listen to people read papers. However, I've realized that my previous experiences of preaching and speaking to people gives me the added benefit of knowing that projecting my voice, using hand gestures, and making eye contact are enough to turn a simple reading into a good presentation (afterwards, my friend Greg said, "wow, that was actually moving." Who knew a philosophy paper could be that!?). Even the Q&A time was quite different than my previous experiences. At the end of my paper, numerous hands shot up, all the questions were extremely relevant, and there was a lively discussion afterwards. But what was really odd was that after my Q&A was done, more than half the audience left before the next speaker got up. They all came to listen to me? I totally wasn't expecting that.

After the other presentations during my session, we went to a different building for lunch and the plenary session. Before the main speaker was introduced, they were set to announce an award for the best philosophy paper at the conference. While we were in line, I jokingly said to Greg, "Well, it would be nice if I win the award and the $100 that comes with it because I need the cash to pay the Turnpike so I can get home!" And well, twenty minutes later, they announced my name for the "Distinguished Philosophy Paper" at the conference. To be honest - I know this sounds ridiculous, perhaps even bizarre, but I actually had a feeling that my paper would be the one awarded. Perhaps it was the fact that several people came up to me and said that I really liked the paper or that several professors showed up for it...who knows... Nevertheless, it was nice to have enough money to get home (you should have seen the lady at the toll booth when I paid with a Ben Franklin in my beat up 95 Honda at 11:15pm)!

I guess the moral of the story is, write and do what you're passionate about not necessarily just what is asked of you or you're supposed to do in order to get a grade. Not that doing what you desire to do will translate into awards or that that should even be your motivation (although it is nice to get some affirmation every now and then that confirms that you're doing what you ought to be doing in life), but its a whole lot easier to be who you are and not someone else. And you'll probably do it better to boot. I, for instance, know that there are a whole lot of people a whole lot smarter than me, people who can talk about calculus and generative metaphysics and use symbols from logic to explain their work. On the other hand, I know I'm too intellectual for the common person or for what the stereotypical church expects from their pastor. So... I'm not sure where that leaves me or what that will lead me, but at least I'm enjoying it while I get there.

On the other side of things, Amber was thrown a baby shower at our church on Saturday. Yeah, she wasn't too happy my conference was the same day (I swear I told her the date!), but marriage is full of miscommunication (so you learn to be forgiving) and winning the award seemed to make things better. Anyways, she got a carload of baby stuff - clothes, baby toiletries, toys, and so forth. No diapers though, which we could definitely still use (and from what I've heard, LOTS of them). Our baby room is getting more and more ready by the day, but now we've got a bunch of stuff that we're not quite sure what to do with. Looks like we might have to finally purchase a real piece of furniture to store all this crap. So I'll have to post some pics in an upcoming blog of the baby room.