City of Brotherly Love

I've returned from my brief trip to Philadelphia for the Eastern Sociological Society meetings. I really like Philly a lot. It has a cool urban vibe to it. It definitely has its share of urban problems as well, but it has great downtown and historic districts that make it a more vibrant and less hopeless city than Detroit. Although I've been there several times, it's been a while since my last trip so I had plans to do some exploring. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and a nasty little snow/sleet storm kept me indoors for most of the weekend. Luckily I was still able to venture out to the suburbs Saturday afternoon to visit one of my college roommate, who I haven't seen in years.

Despite the weather, the conference was pretty good. In fact, this is becoming one of my favorite conferences. It's more intimate, and less intimidating, than the American Sociological Association meetings. I had the opportunity to hear some great sociologists speak and I met up with some of my favorite sociology friends. I also like the sociology meetings because they give me a chance to think about social issues other than crime. While criminology is my main research area by choice, there are other things that I find equally interesting. I made a point this year of not going to any sessions about crime so that I could think about these other things. I listened to Michele Lamont talk about her new book on how academics define "excellence," I heard an interesting panel on sociologists' views of Freakonomics, and I was engaged by Arlie Hochschild's discussion of her career and tips for professional success.

I also look forward to conferences to recharge. They are a break from the normal routine of the semester and I often get inspired by the work of my colleagues. While this trip was a good break for me intellectually, I'm not sure it recharged my energy levels. I'm still swamped with work and this week is packed full of meetings. Only two more weeks until Spring Break!