One Week Until the Jane Austen Ball

"Come, Darcy," said he, "I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance."

The Jane Austen Ball, the highlight of everyone's social calendar, is just a week away. We are all anticipation. There are still observer tickets left although the dancer tickets sold out last week. Go here for more information:

http://www.rochestercontra.com

Your Co-Coordinator has been preparing for weeks by taking ball prep dance classes. (Your Coordinator will be on the sidelines admiring her and the other dancers.) And there will be an elegant tea, authentic Regency toasts, and a raffle/silent auction with items guaranteed to appeal to Austenites in particular and Anglophiles in general. Come and join the fun!

Fashion and Thrift

Your Regional Coordinator and Co-Coordinator announce, with blushes, that they are this week's models on the recurring "Thrifty Threads" feature of the "My Year Without Spending" blog (http://myyearwithoutspending.blogspot.com). Many thanks to "My Year..." blogger Angela Barton for the post. And those who are thinking of attending this year's Jane Austen Ball in Rochester (or a JA Ball anywhere, for that matter) should lose no time in following the links to your Co-Coordinator's guides to Regency fashion on all budgets for both men and women--or just going to the "Jane Austen Ball" page of the Rochester Country Dancers' site (http://www.rochestercontra.com/?page_id=97).

Easter Thoughts and Spring Reminders

"Colonel Fitzwilliam's manners were very much admired at the parsonage, and the ladies all felt that he must add considerably to the pleasure of their engagements at Rosings. It was some days, however, before they received any invitation thither...and it was not till Easter-day, almost a week after the gentlemen's arrival, that they were honoured by such an attention, and then they were merely asked on leaving church to come there in the evening." Thus Jane Austen describes Elizabeth Bennet's Easter in Pride and Prejudice. Fortunately, the acknowledged pleasure of a conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam about music--and the unacknowledged pleasure of a verbal fencing match with Mr. Darcy--are more than adequate evening rewards for having had to sit through Mr. Collins's Easter sermon in the morning!

A very happy Easter, late Passover, and spring to all CNY Janeites. First, there's some spring news about publications from the national JASNA organization. Persuasions No. 31--this year's edition of the hard-copy journal that is a major benefit of JASNA membership--will be mailed to members in early May. In addition, Persuasions On-Line 30.2 can now be accessed through the JASNA national website (www.jasna.org). This new edition of JASNA's electronic journal is a collection of papers from the "New Directions in Austen Studies" international conference held at Chawton House Library in summer 2009. The table of contents for Persuasions 31 can be viewed on www.jasna.org as well--and if you've never looked at our "mother ship" website before, do pay jasna.org a visit. You'll be glad you did.

Second, here are reminders of JASNA Syracuse's spring meetings. We do hope that all current JASNA members and would-be members in or near Binghamton will join us for our informational meeting this coming Saturday, April 10, at RiverRead Books on Court St. at 2:00 pm. See earlier posts and our "Events" listing for details; our guest musicians will be flutist Cheryl Spiese and keyboardist Charlene Thompson of the band Greenwood. And we equally hope that all current and would-be members in Syracuse and its suburbs will join us on Saturday, May 22, at Books & Memories on James St., also at 2:00 pm. Our topic there will be "In the Garden with Jane Austen" (again, see "Events" for details).

Finally, don't forget about the JASNA Traveling Lecturer's visit to Rochester on Saturday, April 17, at 11:00 am at the downtown Rochester Public Library. Professor Peter Graham of Virginia Tech will be speaking on "Jane Austen and the Labor of Leisure." There will be a $25 charge for this event, which includes lunch at the library's in-house branch of Simply Crepes. Registration for this event is open till April 14. If you're interested, go to the JASNA Rochester website (http://jasnaroc.wordpress.com) for a registration form.