Michigan Academy Annual Conference

Victorian Michigan Farm

(©photo by Rodney Campbell, courtesy of morgueFile.com from americanfeast.com)

Yesterday, I attended the annual conference for the Michigan Academy of Science Arts & Letters. Many great scholars from all over the state (and some outside it) presented very thorough research papers. My own work on Imperialism and its contradictions on the cultural history of Edwardian Britain in the music of Sir Edward Elgar was favorably received. I hope to gain more critical attention on my work during the International Graduate Historical Studies Conference at Central Michigan University. While driving to Holland yesterday, I journeyed past the beautiful "Bundee Hills" again, amid the rolling farm country and dense old woodlands of the Michigan countryside. Snow still lay on the ground; dazzling. As I sped past the ancient farm houses of wood and stone, the old country churches, and a few rustic inns on the byways of our Michigan roads, the words of the poet Longfellow wafted into my memory:

As ancient is this hostelry
As any in the land may be,
Built in the old Colonial day,
When men lived in a grander way,
With ampler hospitality.