{"id":7636,"date":"2012-05-06T10:24:34","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T14:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2012-05-06T10:24:34","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T14:24:34","slug":"leaving-lethbridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2012\/05\/leaving-lethbridge.html","title":{"rendered":"Leaving Lethbridge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"What is a blog for, if not expressing one\u2019s appreciation? I want to publicly thank everyone who participated in the Research in Religious Studies conference<\/a> at the University of Lethbridge<\/a> this weekend, not just for making me feel welcome but also simply for being part of this wonderful event. Special thanks are due to: Jim Linville, his wife Mary, and all Jim\u2019s colleagues at the University of Lethbridge; to Anne Moore of the University of Calgary for providing transportation and interesting conversation as well as being herself a key contributor to the conference, forging bonds of collegiality between her institution and Lethbridge and getting her students to attend; and (overlapping with the previously mentioned people) I should thank all the science fiction fans who attended, without whom some of the inside jokes and references in my talk would have fallen flat.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be leaving Lethbridge today. Due to when I was able to book my flight (and the need to get back to Indianapolis to finish grading and get ready to take students to Israel in a little over a week), unfortunately I am missing the morning session today, and so I do want to apologize for that. The papers that I attended yesterday were really interesting. There is vibrant undergraduate and graduate study and research in religious studies\u00a0going on in this part of Canada. The students who presented are doing high-quality work even at an early stage in their academic careers.<\/p>\n

While I was here I kept hearing about interesting recent local events related to Star Trek in particular, such as Leonard Nimoy\u2019s visit to Vulcan, and one event that caused quite a bit of chaos as more people turned up than could be allowed into the building: the reunion of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation just over a week ago at the Calgary Expo<\/a>. SF Signal just shared a video (the first of five) from one of the sessions, and so I\u2019ll end this post by sharing that<\/a>:<\/p>\n