SBLAAR20: Day Ten

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom—Tenth Day of a 10-day online academic conference Two years ago, at SBLAAR18 in Denver, CO, I gave a presentation on the final morning of the conference. It is not a popular time slot and is usually filled with visitors on their way to the airport, luggage in hand. The virtual conference last…

SBLAAR20: Day Nine

Fatigue in a Virtual Conference—Ninth Day of an Academic Conference in 2020 My first two sessions have been assigned to me as SBLAAR20 Tech Assist. I am pleased to say that participating in an assortment of sessions that I might not otherwise have been aware of has been an excellent experience. In addition, I have…

SBLAAR20: Day Eight

Hermeneutics & the Hebrew Bible—Eighth Day of an Academic Conference in 2020 This morning’s session at SBLAAR20 focused on a specific area of biblical studies that intersects directly with my biblical research, Biblical Hebrew Poetry. The presentations sought to explore substantial evidence of blessing and curses within Hebrew Poetry. In addition, many of these presentations…

SBLAAR20: Day Seven

STEM, Science Fiction, and Religion—Seventh Day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 Today marked my earliest morning attendance for this virtual conference. The “wildcard” session on religious responses to the coronavirus showed up on my daily ATIV email, and I listened in even before my first cup of coffee. This was an exciting…

SBLAAR20: Day Six

Synchronicity is a Thing—Sixth Day of a 10 day Virtual Academic Conference in 2020 Expecting a live stream, I planned my day and family life around this SBLAAR20 scheduled event. You can imagine how disappointed I was to find the address was pre-recorded. The one social comfort of the virtual conference is that I am…

SBLAAR20: Day Five

Rest & Recoop—fifth day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 There are a few publisher sessions advertised on the conference app, but after dedicating most of this week to a virtual conference, I will take a break to help my family reorder the house, dress our Christmas tree, and mostly, to sleep in…

SBLAAR20: Day Four

Tech in a Virtual Conference—fourth day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 I responded to a request to serve as a “tech assist” during the virtual conference. This meant that I attended a handful of sessions as a volunteer representative of SBLAAR. Today, I am hosting two sessions; one was luckily in my…

SBLAAR20: Day Three

Coffee & Zoom—third day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 The adrenaline that helped me wake up early this week has now gone away, and it is sheer self-determination that draws me out of bed. Although I am excited to hear some of the paper topics, I think the real motivating factor is…

SBLAAR20: Day Two

Busy Just Sitting Around—second day of a 10 day Academic Conference in 2020 Scanning for name badges takes on a whole new meaning in a virtual conference. Half of the meetings I attended were set up as webinars, so scanning for important people was impossible. But, where I could see the attendees, I engaged in…