January 2 Thursday

This Thursday our group just spent the day traveling. Although it was the first day of the conference, we did not arrive in Albuquerque until sometime after midnight. Overall, I spent the evening and most of the day traveling and getting my paper ready for the conference.

January 3 Friday

Today was the first day of the conference. We decided to see a couple of presentations, especially on topics that we were interested in. On this Friday, two people in our group presented their papers. We had breakfast and networked with some really nice historians. After breakfast we went to one of the sessions where one person of our group was about to present her paper. Her paper was on sexuality from our History of American Sexuality class. We heard one paper on women and their portrayal in advertisements, which was really interesting to hear. We were proud for Cami, who was the first person in our group to present. Each person in this panel got asked one question about their papers.

After one session, the group decided to split up and visit sessions that we found interesting. Since I love social and gender history, I went to a panel on gay rights and homosexuals in a small town in Texas. I really enjoyed this panel because it was on a topic that I am interested in and have taken classes on. I also enjoyed how numerous people came to panel and asked all these questions. One paper was about a small town in Texas and how the gay community was developing, but also restrained by religion. Sessions, such as this one, got me interested in attending more conferences like this in the future.

The last session we attended that day was one on early American history in which another person in our group presented their paper. This was also an interesting panel because both papers were very different. One paper was an overview of early American history, which was nice, but I prefer papers that focus on a more narrow topic. Most people that attended this session were interested in the paper that our friend presented, which was on Chinese prostitutes. Almost everyone was interested in her topic and asked her around five questions, which was a lot for a single session.

After lunch, we decided to explore the resort, which is on a beautiful Indian reserve. We decided to walk the trails around the mountains and visit the Rio Grande. The history in that area fascinated us as did the scenery. We walked throughout the trails and then went to dinner. After hearing a speaker talk about the 100th anniversary of World War I, we stayed in the resort for the night and hung out with people around the lounge.

January 4 Saturday

This was the day that I was scheduled to present my paper on the alternative lifestyles of utopian communities. Since this was the first time at a history conference like this, I was very nervous and excited at the same time. I spent my morning after breakfast preparing for my panel. My session was at 10:45 so I spent the morning in the lobby doing work. I was second to present my paper. The first person to present wrote a paper on medieval religion, specially Zoroastrianism. I read my paper with ease, but then I got numerous questions because so many people were drawn into my topic on sexuality in pertaining to the Mormons and Shakers. I learned how to answer questions the best that I could. Some of the questions did not deal with my topic precisely and went beyond what I researched. Overall this conference taught me how to professionally present a paper and answer questions properly. After my presentation, I stayed and talked with people who were interested in my topic, and made numerous connections. Another major part of this conference that I did not realize before is the importance of networking.

After my session and lunch, I walked the trails around the resort more and even visited the stables. It was a lovely and cold afternoon. The last session we attended was one on America in the twentieth century where another person from our group presented her paper. This was another interesting session because the papers were so different and covered different topics. The person from our group wrote her paper on young adult college students and their sexuality in the 1920s. She did well and answered the questions in a nice manner.

Tonight’s dinner was an important banquet. Our group made a choice to sit at tables where we did not know people so we could network and get to know more people. It was a nice way to end our stay there. The speaker also talked about a great story that made the evening good.

January 5 Sunday

This day we spent the day traveling, but it was the longest day of the entire trip. Once we got to Texas, we found out that our flight to Orlando got cancelled. The airport was a mess with numerous cancelled flights and people not being helpful. Our group of four split up with everyone at the end finally making it to Orlando after a long day of finding different flights.

This conference was a great and beneficial experience for my goals of getting my masters and pursuing my love of history even further.