so long twin cities . . . for now

Music: David Helping: Sleeping on the Edge of the World (1999)

I'm sitting in Debbie and John's dining room as Debbie launders and John naps, here in beautiful about-to-be-spring West Urbana. I departed from Minneapolis yesterday afternoon with some sadness. I had a great visit and got some quality time with people I miss with some ferocity. For my birthday my advisor Robert Scott took me to see Shakespeare's The Two Gentleman of Verona at the Guthrie, which was very well done (in a 1950s idiom). I also got a little research done (and Ernest Bormann's history of the department saved me a heap of time). And I got some great feedback on my book project (I shared the chapter on EVP and backmasking).

My only disappointment: grads don't apparently go out after seminar for happy hours like we used to. I really didn't get a good sense of the graduate corhort (though I loves me some Jon and Kristine and Tim B; props!).

While in airports and on planes, I've been reading The Origin of Speech by the UT psychologist Peter MacNeilage. It's quite well written and interesting. He really goes after the "Universal Grammar" people and a goodly number of structural linguists, hammering away at a Neo-Darwinian theory of speech as a consequence of adaptation. I find it quite persuasive, but was wondering if anyone else out there is reading this book?

Well, this post is really just a delivery device for photos I wanted to share of my Minneapolis trip leg. The gallery is here. Come back later in the week for UIUC imagery!