Zombies Running Amuck in New Mexico

The worst thing about being a zombie is you can't hold down your juice. 

Last week I presented a paper and participated on a panel at the Southwest Popular American Culture (AKA Southwest PCA/ACA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I would be a liar if I didn't admit to some disappointment about the event. I've presented at all kinds of conferences and was shocked at the number of presenters that didn't bother to show up to their own sessions. Audiences I can understand, presenters, however, are an entirely different matter.

Listen to me dammit

The panel I was on went well and we had an attendance of about 12 people, which at the time seemed pitiful, but in retrospect was pretty good. I knew things wouldn't bode well when I discovered that I was scheduled to present my paper in the only room on a different floor than the rest of the conference. I of many conferences knew that was a death knell for the hope of any kind of attendance. The other sign of doom was that two of the speakers and the moderator didn't show up.You know things are bad when even the moderator can't be bothered to attend. The two of us read our papers to an audience of five souls courageous enough to find our hidden room.

That aside, I did get to attend a crazy panel discussing zombies. One of the
presenters had written his dissertation on zombies, I kid you not, zombies have now infiltrated academia, where will they appear next? There was a heated discussion about the difference between Virus Zombies and Voodoo Zombies, which was a hoot. I didn't know there was a difference, but for the true zombie aficionado, there is a huge chasm separating them. Who knew? The panel and interested audience also pondered the lack of zombie animals, including cows and dogs. One attendee pointed out that there wouldn't appear to be much difference between a regular cow and a zombie cow. Hmm. Dog zombies could look kind of cool, though.

At least the weather was fine and heh, now I know more about zombies than I ever thought necessary. Maybe I'll write a book about zombies in love.

I'd love to kiss you, but neither of us have lips.