Jeffrey Gibson's suggestion that those of us on the B-Greek List who are
attending the SBL meeting in San Francisco get together seems to have
struck a chord of approval by several people (eight by my count, including
myself). While finding "a time when nothing else is going on" [thank you,
Ginger!] is impossible., it seems to me that we might at least be able to
gather briefly to discover if there is a time most of us might meet with
each other.
After studying the program carefully, it looks as though the only time that
ALMOST nothing else is going on is 11:30 am--12 noon on Saturday. So I
propose that those of us who can do so, meet at the GRAMCORD booth(s)
[1912-1918 in the Grand Ballroom, Hilton] as soon after 11:30 as possible,
to set a later time when we can all meet and get acquainted with each other
"in the flesh". Since Dale Wheeler will be there, demonstrating the
intricacies of Greek and Hebrew morphology-on-computers, he will know our
decision, so that any who come by later can ask him the time and location
for our gathering.
I hope this is agreeable with all. I know that meeting a few of you last
year in New Orleans meant a lot to me, and in one case began a real
friendship. I have been a member of SBL since 1948; if I had attended
every year, this would be my fiftieth meeting. In the first 20 years of my
membership, there were only about 200 who attended, and I knew everyone;
even becoming a president meant a lot less than when we grew to thousands,
most of whom I do NOT know (especially those under 50--and MOST especially
those under 70!).
Edward Hobbs