In the end I had to go beyond serving as a wedding general. The person who was supposed to give closing remarks didn’t show up. I had spent the whole panel decorating my journal, answering emails, measuring my blood sugar, and texting with a friend about the Orthodox retreat where we are going on Saturday. Then all of a sudden, the organizer says, “could you please please please do the closing remarks because Gemma can’t get here?”
I had to come up with a way to connect two literary criticism talks with one on children’s picture books, and another on sociological research into experiences of foreign language teachers. And I did. On the spot. It was so good. Everything got connected to everything else and I fake praised the wokest talk in a way that demolished its woke premise. People were taking notes it was so good.
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