Stella!

Greetings from New Orleans, the setting of this year's American Library Association Conference. I have arrived a few hours ago after a fairly bumpy ride with several librarians. (One of whom said to me while waiting in the line for the restroom on the plane, "if this plane goes down, there won't be many librarians left in the Boston area.") Have met a few people so far including a few ladies who work at the Boston Public Library, as well as flying in with my friend. Re-met another librarian who I met a few years ago who is now working on the south shore (also on our flight, of course). Needless to say, this was probably one of the most literate flights I ever took, and yet I think most of us were taking advantage of the free tvs on the plane. (yours truly watched I Dream of Jeannie on TV Land while sneaking in peeks of the current Newberry Medal winner). After a quick lunch (where we were recognized as librarians!), we headed over to the conference center where I now am, and need to figure out my conference. I have a spreadsheet of all of my events that I would like to attend, including several at once so I need to get that straightened out. There are some on conducting business reference, several on readers' advisory, information literacy, working with patrons, and some young adult interest, as well. What to do! What to see!
As for New Orleans, I haven't been here long enough to appreciate it, but it is very different. I tried to gauge from the air how Katrina had changed the city and I couldn't. Bourbon Street has a lot of great architecture and reminds me of Main Street USA from Disney World, if Disney World sold alcohol. I have a lot of great leads about restaurants, etc. so I hope to check them out. My main goal is to find a terrace so I can yell, "Stella" in honor of Tenessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.