"Austenmas" News Roundup

Your Regional Coordinator writes: 

First, of course, a very happy "Austenmas" (as Syracuse/Rochester Co-RC Lisa Brown calls Jane Austen's birthday) to all Janeites everywhere! At 237, Our Author is going stronger than ever!

As noted in the preceding post, JASNA Syracuse Region members and JABC-CNY members gathered at the Colgate Inn on December 8 to celebrate Austenmas in particular and the winter holidays in general. After we toasted JA's birthday, Lisa Brown regaled us with a holly- and yew-trimmed presentation on Regency Christmas customs--including some holiday sports and games that would definitely not meet modern safety standards. (Nevertheless, someone has had the temerity to demonstrate the game of "Snap Dragon" on a YouTube video, and Lisa hopes to post a link to this shortly.)

The elegant cake above (with a frosting inkwell and both a frosting and an actual quill) was served at yesterday's JASNA Rochester birthday luncheon at the Chatterbox Club in Rochester.  Alice Villasenor's description of JA's niece Catherine Anne Hubback and of Hubback's career as a novelist was fascinating. Edith Lank led us as usual in Kipling's epigraph to "The Janeites" as a birthday toast to JA. The team of "Bake and Jake" (a/k/a Rochester's own Lindsay Warren Baker and Amanda Jacobs) gave us an update on the progress of their Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: A Musical, and treated us to an impromptu performance of its newest song, Mr. Collins's hilarious paean to Lady Catherine. 

And on a much somberer but most salutary note, Rochester RC Celia Easton reminded us in her opening remarks of how necessary JA's six novels and other works are to us--as inspiration, not just as escapism--in the face of tragedies like the school shooting in Newtown, CT. We send our thoughts and prayers to all the residents of Newtown and of Connecticut, including our JASNA Connecticut colleagues. (On Dec. 8, I'd promised the Colgate Inn attendees to post a link to the website for JASNA Connecticut's upcoming "Jane Austen Summer Camp" on July 26-28, 2013. I'll do so in a future post.)

To quote from JA's correspondence with Cassandra, "[The rest of] This Letter is to be dedicated entirely to Good News." JASNA's annual Austenmas present to its members and the world is the publication of the winter issue of its electronic journal, Persuasions On-Line--and Upstate New York is well represented in the new number (go here for the link).  The paper based on my Brooklyn AGM breakout session about the Prince Regent is included in the section of papers from the AGM, and another meditation on Pride and Prejudice by our Rochester friend Leo Rockas (this time, a review of the similarities between P&P and the Juvenilia piece "The Three Sisters") is included in the Miscellany section.

Over at Jane Austen in Vermont, "Janeite Deb" (a/k/a JASNA Vermont RC Deb Barnum) has put up a long Austenmas post on "The Ten Best Reasons to Go to a JASNA AGM," in which she kindly includes my breakout under reason #6 and Lisa Brown's "Dressing the Miss Bennets" presentation under #9. Go here for the link. Thanks and cheers, Deb! (And, hey, I thought JA in Vermont was the best regional blog in JASNA even before she put up this post!)

Finally, as we look ahead to 2013, several local events are being planned to honor the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice--JA's "own darling Child"--in late January 1813. See the updated "Events" column at right for three of these.  As you can see below, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the Official Spokescat of JASNA Syracuse, is getting in the proper frame of mind by contemplating an Austenmas ornament filled with individual sentences from the novel. (The ornament is yet another creation of the multi-talented Lisa Brown!)
 

Slight Change in Christmas Meeting Plans; Rochester Birthday Lunch

First, there's a slight change to JASNA Syracuse's plans for a joint holiday gathering with the Colgate JABC-CNY at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton on Saturday, December 8: Instead of meeting at the Inn at noon for lunch, we will be gathering there for dessert at 1:00 pm. 

As the RSVPs for the 8th started to come in, we discovered that the Colgate Inn has a limit of 14 people for ordering individually from the Inn's lunch menu, and quite a few more than 14 people have expressed interest by now.  The alternative for lunch would have been a buffet that would cost $15 plus a gratuity per person.  But since there is no limit on the number who can order just dessert individually, the decision was made to go with the dessert option.  Lisa Brown will still be giving her presentation on Regency Christmas customs; we will still be raising a 237th birthday toast to Jane Austen; and, most definitely, we will still enjoy ourselves! So do plan to join us for dessert at 1:00 on the 8th.  If you haven't already done so, please give JABC leader Heather Elia an RSVP at this address by November 29, so that she can give the Inn a head count.

Also, a few of us Syracuse Region members always try to make the trip to Rochester for JASNA Rochester's annual JA birthday luncheon at the Chatterbox Club, 25 North Goodman St., Rochester.  This year's lunch will be on Saturday, Dec. 15, starting at 11:00 am.  Professor Alice Villasenor of Medaille College in Buffalo will be the speaker; she will describe her research on Catherine Hubback, a niece of Jane Austen's who wrote a completion of JA's unfinished novel The Watsons, as well as several other books.  Alice was a participant in the Young Scholars Panel at the recent JASNA AGM in Brooklyn.  If you'd like to attend, go to this link on JASNA Rochester's website and download the registration form from the link you'll find there. The cost of the luncheon will be $27.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

JASNA Syracuse/JABC-CNY Joint Christmas Meeting at Colgate Inn, Sat., Dec. 8

Your JASNA Syracuse Regional Coordinators and Jane Austen Book Club-CNY leader Heather Elia hope you'll mark your calendars now: A joint JASNA Syracuse/JABC-CNY holiday gathering will be held on Saturday, December 8 at noon at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton. We'll have lunch (in a private room with a roaring fire); raise a glass in honor of Jane Austen's 237th birthday (December 16, 1775); and hear JASNA Syracuse/Rochester Co-RC Lisa Brown discuss Regency Christmas customs.  Christmas, of course, was one of the four Regency "Quarter Days"--a topic dear to Lisa's heart!  

Lunch will be each-pays-for-him-or-herself from the Colgate Inn's lunch menu.  Heather (who is making the arrangements with the Inn) will need to know by November 29 whether you can join the  party, so please either email her at this address or contact JASNA Syracuse RC A. Marie Sprayberry (see "Contact Us" in the right-hand column") before that date. We hope to see you there!

The 11/3 Binghamton Meeting Is On!

Your Regional Coordinator writes:

I checked yesterday afternoon with our hosts at RiverRead Books (5 Court St., Binghamton), and they say that the state of emergency for Broome County has been lifted, the store is open for business, and they are looking forward to seeing us on Saturday.  So our meeting there (Saturday, Nov. 3, 2 pm) is on as scheduled!  As noted earlier, our topic will be parents and parent figures in JA's works; bring your favorite examples of "the good [if ineffectual], the bad, and the ugly" to share!

Also, we'll talk a little about the recent JASNA Annual General Meeting in Brooklyn.  And I have the usual assortment of little "freebies" from the AGM to distribute--so come and claim a small prize!

Reminder: All Hallows Meeting in Binghamton, Sat., Nov. 3 (We Hope!)

Here's a reminder of our All Hallows meeting Saturday, November 3, at 2 pm, at RiverRead Books, 5 Court Street, Binghamton.  Join us for a discussion of parents and parent figures--the good (but ineffectual), the bad, and the ugly!--in Jane Austen's works. Bring examples and quotes to share!

We'll also talk a little about the recent JASNA Annual General Meeting in Brooklyn, where both Regional Co-Coordinator Lisa Brown and I gave presentations (see the October 10, 16, and 19 posts on this blog). The Jane Austen's World blog has also just put up a long post about Lisa's session, with videos and photos, at this link.

SPECIAL WEATHER NOTE:  The Nov. 3 meeting will go on as scheduled IF Hurricane Sandy has caused no major complications along the Binghamton/I-81/Syracuse corridor during the week.  I will put up another post on Friday (assuming that power, if lost during the storm, has been restored by then!) with an update, after I check with our hosts at RiverRead to see what the situation is there.  (If I'm unable to post on Friday, this will probably be self-explanatory, but feel free to call me to ask. My contact info is at right under "Contact Us.")  Here's hoping we all make it through with no worse than a little wind and rain.

Finally, a special greeting to the folks who have joined JASNA in the last couple of months, and thanks to all of you members who have already renewed your memberships for the coming year.  (Remember that the new JASNA membership year officially began on Sept. 1.) If you're a member who hasn't yet renewed, we hope you'll do so--and if you haven't yet joined JASNA, it's never too late!  Go to this link for more information.

Laurie Viera Rigler Reading in Buffalo

On Thursday, November 15, at 7 pm, the Medaille College Write Thing reading series will be hosting Laurie Viera Rigler--author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, and an Austen-related web series--at the Medaille campus in Buffalo.  Alice Villasenor, a JASNA friend who recently appeared in the Young Scholars Panel at the AGM in Brooklyn (see the October 19 post) and who teaches at Medaille, sent us this news and adds, "It would be great to see JASNA members in attendance!"  For more information about the reading, go here.  And feel free to contact Alice here if you have further questions.

The 2012 AGM: Pleasant Moments and Memorable People

Your Regional Coordinator writes:

The 2012 JASNA Annual General Meeting in Brooklyn has been reported so extensively by the national media (see the October 10 and 16 posts for links) that I'm going to forgo my usual AGM post in favor of a photo essay focusing on my own favorite moments and people.  The photos were taken by either Syracuse/Rochester Co-RC Lisa Brown, Syracuse Regency Beau Ed Voytovich, or myself.

First and foremost, we had Jane Austen herself on hand offering good advice.

AGM Co-Coordinators Nili Olay and Jerry Vetowich, along with Special Events Coordinator Kerri Spennicchia (not shown), have been working like stevedores for the past several years to ensure that this AGM would be a success.  Three hearty huzzahs for Nili, Jerry, and Kerri!

Green "Statue of Liberty" caps identified all of the New York Metro Region's helpful volunteers (who were augmented by several reinforcements from the Rochester and Syracuse Regions).  Michael Levin, husband of Meg Levin (one of NYM's Co-RCs), models the cap plus an extremely dapper Regency waistcoat.

 NYM's other Co-RC, Linda Dennery, was the conference's mistress of ceremonies.

A small flotilla of volunteer models, dressers, and stagehands assisted in making Lisa Brown's "Dressing the Miss Bennets" the crowd- and media-pleaser it so deservedly was.  Here, Tom Grande of Rochester inflates one of Lisa's mannequins with the aid of a compressor.

Another of the hardest-working people at the conference was Jennifer Weinbrecht (second from left),  of Jane Austen Books, here chatting with a customer in the Emporium.  The customer is carrying one of the distinctive black and red 2012 AGM tote bags.

Some of the Emporium's more frivolous wares!

One special session that I thought should have gotten more attention than it did was an exhibit of items from the Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, Hampshire, that people were encouraged to handle and examine closely.  Here's a copy of a pamphlet describing the 1799 trial for shoplifting of Mrs. Leigh Perrot, JA's rich and eccentric aunt.

And this is the account book of JA's great-grandmother Elizabeth Weller Austen.  Elizabeth was first left a widow with seven children at an early age, and was then practically disinherited by her wealthy father-in-law in favor of her eldest son.  (Shades of Sense and Sensibility!) Elizabeth bravely went out to work--at a time when extremely few women did so--and saw to it that her other six children were brought up respectably.  Her meticulous accounts were a vital part of this effort.

Dr. Cornel West's Saturday morning plenary session--in which he linked JA to various major strands of Western civilization, in rousing African American preacher style--was probably the most electrifying I've heard at any of the five AGMs I've attended. 

The Young Scholars Panel, with (left to right) Rachel Brownstein as moderator, Gillian Dow, Alice Villasenor, and Juliette Wells, was well worth hearing Saturday noon. 

At my breakout Saturday afternoon, "Sex, Power, and Other People's Money: The Prince Regent and His Impact on Jane Austen's Life and Work," I got a very warm reception.  I'm most grateful to the members of my audience--which included many friends from the 2009 JASNA tour of England, from earlier AGMs, and from all the NY State JASNA Regions--for their support.

Meg Levin, who introduced me at the breakout, shows off not only the commemorative medals I brought to pass around, but her own elegant Regency attire!

And then it was time for the banquet, promenade, and ball!  Here, Jason Flay and Nadia Vedder of the Syracuse Region enjoy the banquet.

Mary Pinkes--also of the Syracuse Region, although now a student at Mount Holyoke College--accepted her first-place essay contest award at the college level during the banquet.

A drummer and a fifer led us on the promenade.

PHOTOCALL!!!

Dancers of all ages and skill levels enjoyed the ball, from our own dance expert Lisa Brown...

 ...to the littlest Janeites!

Finally, at Sunday brunch, we had the usual preview of coming attractions.  Here, Elaine Bander as Mrs. Norris deplores the quantity of butter and eggs that will be served at the 2014 AGM in Montreal. Leslie Eiser as Lady Bertram, accompanied by Pug, looks on bemusedly.

And Jerry and Nili prepare to hand over the AGM banner to Gail Parker of Minneapolis (second from left) for the 2013 AGM.  Iris Lutz, national JASNA President, looks on at right.