To "Meet me in St. Louis"?

March 18, 2010: The first full day of the annual Sigma Tau Delta Conference here in St. Louis, MO. Everyone arrived safely, and everyone successfully registered for the Conference and checked into the hotel. Our rooms overlook the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch. TCNJ is the largest delegation here at the Convention,with 21 students, 2 faculty, and 29 scholarly essays to be presented.

The Conference registration site has a bulletin board with 9 "outstanding essays" on the Conference theme of "Storytellers," and I was delighted to discover that one of these outstanding essays was written by our own Nicole Pieri! Congrats, Nicole.

I've attended both the Chapter Sponsors session, and picked up some good ideas -- let's celebrate Banned Book week next September -- and my first paper session -- at which Kristen Casabona read a super Toni Morrison essay on Beloved. In addition to the sessions, students are also planning to take the tram to the top of the Gateway Arch and visit the fabulous St. Louis city zoo and the Budweiser Clydesdales (who live here by the Anheuser Busch brewery).

More later . . . Diane Steinberg