Back from Belize

I'm back now, from the first two-week vacation of my adult life; our plane landed in Montreal at 12:40. Had an absolutely wonderful time, scuba dove into this remarkable thing, read lots of books (about which I'll be blogging). Eastward-facing balcony overlooking the Caribbean and the reef made for spectacular sunrises. Hey, wanna see my slide show?

Happy to go, happy to come back. It makes a real difference how pleasant your hometown airport is, doesn't it? Trudeau is clean, bright, very efficiently planned and laid out, and has enough immigration officials to get you through in a matter of minutes. (By contrast, Miami, where our connection was, has the dumb layout dreaded by international travellers everywhere-- you have to go through immigrations, collect your baggage, and get it through customs, even when you're immediately connecting onto a flight that will take you out of the country again. Also: all the commerce is in the main terminal, almost none on the concourses. Very bad.) Missed Montreal, missed my house, missed my dogs.

I think Open University may be closed for the week, so I'll probably do some blogging here instead. But of course there's also a syllabus to finish, some hundreds of e-mails to read, and a few items on my 2006 to-do list that are now looking endangered... and I'm tired, and it's the holidays!

So here's an amended repost (now with titles) in lieu of new content.

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American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy Annual Meeting
American Conservative Thought and Politics
Conference co-chairs: Melissa S. Williams and Sanford Levinson
Washington DC, January 5-6 2007, in conjunction with the American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting.


Friday, January 5, 2007

3:30-5:15 pm: "American Conservative Thought and Politics: Perspectives from Political Science"
Washington 4, Exhibition Level, Marriott Wardman Park

Paper: Nathan Tarcov, Professor of Social Thought and Political Science, University of Chicago
"Leo Strauss and American Conservative Thought and Politics"

Commentator: John Holbo, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, National University of Singapore
Commentator: TBA

Chair: Melissa Williams, Professor of Political Science and Director, Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto

6:30 pm: Wine and Cheese Reception
Washington 3, Exhibition Level, Marriott Wardman Park


Saturday, January 6, 2007

8:00-9:00 a.m: American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy Breakfast
Marriott Salon III, Lobby Level, Marriott Wardman Park

9 am- 10:40 pm: "American Conservative Thought and Politics: Perspectives from Law"
Marriott Salon III, Lobby Level, Marriott Wardman Park

Paper: Richard Garnett, Associate Professor, Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame University
"“Two There Are”: Church-State Separation and Religious Freedom"


Commentator: Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
Commentator: Elizabeth Harman, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University

Chair: Sanford Levinson, W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair,
University of Texas Law School; Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas


10:50am- 12:30 pm, "American Conservative Thought and Politics: Perspectives from Philosophy"
Marriott Salon III, Lobby Level, Marriott Wardman Park

Paper: David Sidorsky, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Pluralist Perspectives "

Commentator: Patrick Deneen, Associate Professor of Government and Markos and Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Chair in Hellenic Studies, Georgetown University
Commentator: Elizabeth Emens, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia University

Chair: Jacob T. Levy, Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, McGill University

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In order to join the ASPLP-- paying a year of dues now carries the benefit of receiving the volume of Nomos on "American Conservative Thought and Politics" in about three years' time, and dues are lower than the cover price (for graduate students, very much lower)-- please click here.