Tuesday, December 04, 2012

I will be speaking in Wichita in January




I will be speaking at the 8th Day Institute's 2013 Conference in Wichita, Kansas on January 24-26, 2013. The theme is "Dostoevsky: The Divine & the Demonic." My main talk is titled, "Dostoevsky or Tolstoy," and my breakout session talk is called, "Who killed Anna Karenina: Tolstoy or Hollywood?"

If you're near Wichita, stop in and see me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought a train killed Anna. Maybe she was pushed.

Lee said...

It's been a while. but I actually finished up my music degree in Wichita, at Wichita State. That was back in the Seventies. Wichita State at the time, perhaps still, was in a fairly rotten part of town, and I was poorer than a church mouse. I can't really say I enjoyed my year there, did not own a car, life consisted of walking back and forth to the music building and practicing trombone four hours a day. And going to other classes when I felt the need.

One thing I took away from Wichita though was the knowledge of what a good steak tastes like. Back then, there was a restaurant right across from the stockyards named "Doc's Steak House." Ate there once in the mid-Eighties on my way through town. In the Seventies, you could get a large T-bone steak with the trimmins for about $5. I used to splurge for one about once a month. I googles it; it appears to still be there.

Doc's introduced me to a local delicacy called garlic salad. It's basically cole slaw with lots of garlic chopped up in it. Good stuff, used to get a double order.

Another local delicacy was red beer. You couldn't get liquor by the drink in Wichita except for "near beer" -- 3.5% alcohol. (Or at a private club.) But at a near-beer joint, you could order beer that was cut with tomato juice. Was actually pretty good, you didn't get drunk as fast.

Yet another was W.L. Weller's Special Reserve bourbon. I know it's actually made in Kentucky, but for some reason it really caught on in Wichita, more popular there even than Jim Beam or Jack Daniels. I learned to like it very quickly. Can't buy it in Virginia unless you special-order it. Weird that in Wichita you can't get a so much as a real beer at a bar or restauraunt but can walk into a drug or grocery store and buy whiskey by the crate.

Here in Virginia, it's the opposite. You can get anything by the drink, but you can only
buy wine or beer at the grocery store. For anything stronger, you have to buy it from the benevolent state government.

The music school at Wichita State was pretty good, and I'm grateful for the instruction and playing opportunities I had there. But was there for only a year, finished up my degree (transferred from another school) and left Wichita in the rearview mirror. Might be a nice place to live if you actually have an income. But I hope you like flat terrain. Wichita State was on "Hillside Drive" and I struggled mightily to perceive the so-called "hill."

David Cullen said...

Now, now: no need to be snarky about Wichita's hillyness. Take a bike trip around town and you'll find plenty of hills. And we finally accepted the end of Prohibition. Doc's Steakhouse is still doing business; the double order of garlic salad is as good as ever. Marty: you and I did our MAs at the same school. Email me if you might have time for a glass of beer during your visit as I'm unable to attend the 8th Day conference.