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Cheating on Thoreau with Twain

This weekend, there is a Writer's Conference in Hartford, CT at the Mark Twain House and Museum.  2 days of authors, talks, workshops, discussions and just plain "trouble starting" (apparently in the Twain world, that's a regular in-joke)

https://marktwainhouse.org/event/writers-weekend/

I've already THOREAU-LY enjoyed one day of it (half) and am making note of a few things so far:

A) The sessions are wonderful, but the weekend seems especially small-like the size of a decent first-year attempt, but I believe this is not their first rodeo.  Personally, I LOVE that it is so small, bc I feel that I can get to know each participant, and there are not too many overlapping sessions. However, I'd rather make contact with MORE people and attend as many sessions as possible-noting the possibility of sneaking out of a dull one and into something better (the grass is always greener on the other side of the classroom wall-especially when you can hear them laughing!)

B) The vast majority of the attendees/presenters are female and 50+. SO much so, that I would encourage the organizers to rethink their focus for next year.  It's not a matter of Mark Twain representation-he only registers as a host in the mental conversation.

C) There were a few (2?) young African American women-but no corresponding African American women presenting.  Hartford has a decent population of African Americans and none/very few(?) were in representation within the sold-out Twain house tours.  Personally, I would LOVE to be taught by people coming from different experiences and especially the locals.

D) The Harriet Beecher Stowe house is right next door, but my friends and I had to wander over ourselves and take a tour during lunch (We had given up our lunch hour on the first day to tour the Twain house)

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