sbl . . .

About a week from today, many of us will be converging upon Beantown for SBL. I've mostly pieced together my schedule for the weekend, so I figured I'd post it here. Perhaps I'll run into a few of you at these presentation/sections.

I'm going to list the papers that I'm particularly interested in (and the approximate time of that exact paper), but that does not mean I'm going to stay for the full sections. . . . I've also linked each paper title to the posted abstract.

Saturday, 22 Nov
9-11:30: Ugaritic Studies and NWS Epigrahy (305 CC)
Holmstedt - Syntax and Pragmatics of Pronouns in Northwest Semitic Texts (10:00)
Rainey - The Levantine Literary Reservoir in Judean Poetic Writing (10:30)
- I'm debating sticking around for this, but since I'm interested in the surrounding papers, I may as well, right? Unless, of course, one of you has a better offer . . . say, coffee?
Schode - Modal Prefixed Verb Forms in Phoenician: Pragmatic and Syntactic Considerations (11:00)

1-3:30: Ugaritic Studies and NWS Epigraphy (305 CC)
Getz - Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: Seeing Gods in CAT 1.90, 1.164, and 1.168 (2:40)

4-6:30: Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literatre (305 CC)
Gass - Newly Found Moabite Inscriptions: Linguistic and Historical Implications (4:00)
OR
4-5: Workshop on Publishing (for Students) (Beacon G Sh)

8:30-10z: Member's Reception (Constitution Ballroom Sh.)
10-11:30: Student Members Reception (302 CC)

Sunday, 23 Nov

9-11:30: Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature (Hampton Room Sh)
Nissinen - Wisdom as Mediatrix in Sirach 24: Ben Sira, Love Lyrics, and Prophecy (9:00)
Milstein - Expanding Ancient Narratives: The Phenomenon of Revised Introductions in Biblical and Mesopotamian Texts (9:30)
Lenzi - Invoking the God: Comparing Laments in Mesopotamia and the Hebrew Psalter (10:00)
de Jong - From Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy to Biblical Prophecy and Back Again (10:30)
Hilber - Egyptian Prophecy in Broader Ancient Near Eastern Perspective (11:00)
OR
9-11:30: Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew (310 CC)
Polak - Hebrew hayah: Etymology, Bleaching, and Meaning Potential (9:00)
Winther-Nielsen - Exploring Hebrew Stems by Class (9:30)
Webster and Zwyghuizen (I've known her for 3 years and still have to check on the spelling of her name . . . ) - Stative Verbs in the Psalter (10:00)
Benton - Transitivity and the Biblical Hebrew Niphal and Hitpael (10:30)
Eitan and Eitan - “Give” Structures in the Book of Numbers: A Case Study of Information Structure in Biblical Hebrew (11:00)

1-3:30: Israelite Religion in its West Asian Environment (300 CC)
Zevit - Seeing Gods in All the Right Places (1:50)

1-3:30: Paleographic Studies in the ANE (304 CC)
Pardee and Schloen - A New Alphabetic Inscription from Zincirli (3:10)

4-6:30: Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew (302 CC)
Krispenz - A Typology of the Nominal Clause in Biblical Hebrew (4:00)
Lyavdansky - Rhetorical Structure Theory and the Study of Biblical Hebrew Discourse Markers (4:30)
Park - Polarity and the Role of the Particle 'im in Forming Rhetorical Questions (5:00)
DeRouchie - Wa and Asyndeton as Guides to Macrostructure in the Reported Speech of Deuteronomy (5:30)
Shimasaki - Word Order in the Book of Ruth: Three Focus Structures and Discourse Analysis (6:00)

Monday, 24 Nov
9-11:30: Hebrew Scriptures and Cognate Literature (308 CC)
Johnston - The Torch and Brazier in Genesis 15:17 in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Literature (9:00)

9-11:30: Biblical Hebrew Poetry (305 CC)
Broyles - Memories, Myths, and Historical Monuments: Their Diversity and Development in the Psalms (9:50)
Clifford - Remembering in Community Psalms of Petition (Lament) (10:15)

1-3:30: Assyriology and the Bible (307 CC)
Greenstein - The Poetic Use of Akkadian in the Book of Job (1:00)
I may stay for the rest of this section just for kicks, but again, I can be convinced otherwise . . .

And that's it. I leave Monday evening since I have classes the next day (and really can't afford another night in the hotel . . . ).

As you can see, there are a couple times where I am as yet undecided, most notably Saturday morning. Both sections are extremely intriguing . . . the Ling. & BH is more up my alley, but the HS and Cog. Lit. section has some very good papers/presenters, two of whom are my friends. So, I ask your help . . . give me some pitches as to why I should choose one section over the other . . .

If I'm not in a session during the day, you'll probably find me wandering around the suq . . . er . . . book-selling extravaganza . . . probably not too far from the Eisenbrauns booth . . .
I'd love to actually meet you in person if you're going to be there. Let me know if you're going to be at any of these sections and we can meet up there or shoot me an e-mail . . .

See ya'll in Boston . . .