Georgia From Georgia

The conference has been going well. I had a great introducer who ended up being a very cool lady named Georgia and from Savannah. My friend and I talked to her for multiple hours after my paper reading portion had been finished and she had some very cool things to say. We talked about everything from Froyo to serious issues such as this . What was great about it was the ease with which this academic felt that she could converse with us undergraduates. She was smart, funny, willing to listen, interested, and positive which are things that not all professors feel are necessary qualities. For me it made the idea of being part of the academic bureaucracy more approachable because it was another example of how being smart doesn't mean stuffy or singularly focused. It also doesn't mean needing to give up the other things that interest you. While this great lady was definitely interested in her specific academic topic, Ancient History, she made sure that it identified with the issues of today. This connection between past and present is what makes studying history and archaeology so important and why I like studying the topics I do. I feel that academia can exist for its own sake but that it is better if this search for knowledge is coupled with an interest to use it to bring all people towards a better understanding of the world around us.