The May 2011 Cites & Insights, Volume 11, Number 5, will appear soon.
How soon? I’m not sure. Possibly tomorrow, more likely Friday, less likely over the weekend. Or, given unforeseen circumstances, some other time on or before April 30.
I’m wondering how many more people I’ll alienate with this issue. If, of course, I haven’t already alienated them with stuff on FriendFeed or with my stubborn manifestation of refusal to accept the “obviously correct” answer to the Monty Hall Problem.
(Interesting: The show’s back on, most decidedly without Monty Hall, but it’s not called the Let’s Make A Deal Problem… Is this implicit racism, given the skin tone of the new host, Wayne Brady? Probably not; the problem’s just been around for a long, long time. And, given the 15 minutes of “geez, I’m bored” daytime in which I’ve watched each of the two “how can you replace the original host?” shows, I have to say Wayne Brady does a lot better with LMAD than Drew Carey does with The Price is Right. But that’s not only just me, it’s also a digression. I do that a lot.)
As I was saying…
Those who read C&I regularly already know what part of the May issue is–the last “half” of the essay that took up most of the April issue.
My original plans was that this last “half” would be about two-thirds of the April issue, with some regular departments filling in for a nice, modest, 24-pager.
It was a well-laid scheme. It gang aft a’glee. (Geez. Websites that tell us that the classic phrase was written by John Steinbeck…arggh…)
That last “half” is now just over a third of the May issue.
Which means it’s a long issue. A llloooonnnnggg issue. 44 pages after all the copy-fitting and desnarking I was willing to do. More words than in my new ALA Editions book.
Solutions considered and abandoned
I thought about making it a May/June issue…but the chances of my going through mid-June, nine weeks from now, without doing another issue are fairly slender.
I thought about doing two issues…but the bigger part of the issue is something I wanted to get out there now, and doing two simultaneous issues (say, a May 2011 and a Spring 2011 issue) just seemed silly.
I thought about delaying the second “half” of the April essay (sorry for the scare quotes, but it’s a little less than 40% of the essay, especially after desnarking), but that didn’t feel right.
So, well, it will just be a long issue.
Not the swan song
A few of you may sense that I’ve been a little discouraged now and then, sometimes thinking I should really and truly retire–from the intellectual battlefield as well as from formal employment.
This issue could make a fairly decent swan song.
I don’t believe it will, although if it lands with a complete but silent thud, like a rose bush falling in an abandoned garden, as though it had never existed, who knows?
There are two “natural” stopping points for C&I in the relatively near future, if some possibilities still don’t work out and I finally decide to go away:
- The gross point: Issue 144, which would be the September 2011 issue barring new irregularities. Unlikely, even though that’s also the date at which I’m eligible for full Social Security.
- The sesquicentennial: Issue 150, which would appear around March 2011. A little more possible.
Or, who knows, it could keep going on for a while.
ALA
As previously noted, to some at least, I have sponsorship for ALA Annual (from a potential sponsor for the ejournal and/or blog–more when I know more), so I’ll be in New Orleans, to my considerable delights. (Yes, it’s hot & muggy. It’s also NOLA. I attended the first big post-Katrina conference in NOLA, and if you didn’t, that’s a shame: It was a great conference and a great help to the city.)
I’ll be there Friday morning through Sunday night (arriving via red-eye; leaving early Monday morning). I have no idea what my schedule’s likely to include. Suggestions welcome.
Part of me says it would be fun to have a 10th anniversary C&I celebration. The one time we did have a C&I meetup, in San Antonio, was fun, even though the dank historic bar at the Menger made it difficult to talk to everybody there.
I don’t know that it’s practical to plan such a celebration (I have no funding to sponsor one, for sure!), and I don’t know the bars and other not too terribly rowdy places well enough to suggest something. And, of course, the people who count all probably have lots of high-end receptions to go to…but, well, it’s a thought.
Meanwhile:
Coming soon. Maybe tomorrow. A biggie.
What’s the rest of the 44-page issue? A Zeitgeist piece.
Ask yourself: What would be worthy of a Zeitgeist piece at this time?
Do the number “26” ring a bell?
Ooh, an abecedarium?
Hmm. That’s an interesting idea. It would certainly be less controversial–well, depending on the entries. And, given the posts surrounding this one, I’d certainly have the W entry: Wrong.
I’ll take the NOLA bait. I can scout out locations, if you want. I live there. I need to know parameters. Near the Convention Center? (The Menger was a conference hotel…there are some bars in conference hotels that are OK, and possibly will be less noisy, especially if they are in one on the 2nd floor, or higher.) There are some bars in the CBD/Warehouse district which is what is adjacent to the CC. There will be places in the French Quarter, but they are likely to be louder, and it can be a walk to get there.
If you are feeling adventurous, I know I can recommend places off the St. Charles Streetcar line. It runs about 4 – 5 blocks from the CC. It costs $1.25 (each way/exact change only, please), but opens many more options. There are a few just the other side of Lee Circle, or further out. Feel free to email me.
Oh, and pick a day. I am building my schedule now, and expect to have lots of “options.”
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the offer–but I think the bigger issues are time and whether enough people are interested (without at least five or ten people, it would be strange…)
As to time, the obvious would be the least-crowded evening, Monday, but I’ll be back in California by then. Unless it’s after the LITA Happy Hour (which I may attend even though I’m no longer in LITA), on Friday, I’m not sure what’s plausible. I don’t think I’d expect people to skip free booze at vendor receptions to pay for drinks at a little C&I gathering.
The last time I tried to do this in NOLA, I used one of the quieter bars in the Riverside Hilton, but the event was too early in C&I’s life to work.
It does strike me that near the CC but not in the Quarter are probably the most plausible options. One thing NOLA is not short of: Places to get drinks.
If I see interest from others, we might pursue this. I’ll certainly keep you in mind.