I do work, sometimes

Last week, I gave an invited lecture to a group of students and faculty at Kobe University. The third time was apparently the charm, since the presentation had been postponed twice due to swine flu in the Kansai region. Since S teaches at Kobe on Thursdays, all three of us took the Shinkansen and stayed overnight in a hotel at Shin-Kobe.

The presentation was titled "Feminst Ethics in the American Tradition" and covered pragmatist feminism (Jane Addams), care ethics, and ecofeminism. The questions were very good and I enjoyed a bit of professional interaction after spending much of my time this summer reading "Hippos Go Berserk," "Hey, Wake Up," "Peek-A-Who?" and that sort of thing. I should note that I finished writing the presentation in S's office at the last minute with a squirmy baby in one hand and the laptop in the other. I can bring home the (soy) bacon, too.

The lecture was followed by a very nice evening at an izakaya (pub) with an interesting assortment of sushi. J enjoyed lots of attention from the graduate students who accompanied us. The next day, we were joined by S's host professor for lunch on the 26th floor of our hotel (with a great view of Kobe and the harbor), a nice ride to the top of a mountain on a gondola, and a leisurely walk down through an extensive herb and rose garden. It happened to be lavendar picking day, so we were handed scissors and invited to take home 20 sprigs each, which are still gracing our kitchen table.

Kobe is an interesting city--very cosmopolitan and international, due to its extensive harbor. Much of Kobe is new, having been rebuilt after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995 (which killed over 6,000 people). On the note of earthquakes, I finally got around (over 2/3 into our time here) to packing an earthquake emergency bag to put by the door. Let's hope we don't need it!



Here are some pictures of the presentation (in case any of my colleagues are Jaybird followers and wonder if I ever work anymore) and our vacation day in Kobe. I'd like to spend more time in the herb garden, but the gondola was pretty scary (especially while I was thinking of the earthquake).