I had to leave INCS before it was truly over, thanks to the timing of American's flights - that is, I left fairly early this morning. Somehow I'd not taken on board the design of the (very new) Salt Lake City airport on the way in - to be honest, I was just struck by what a long walk it involved to get to the terminal. But flying out ... I was very struck by how closely it hewed to the theme of INCS this year, "Strata" - a theme that proved to be extremely generative and led to a whole lot of re-framing of peoples' topics.
An in-person conference after two years was a really wonderful experience - seeing people, yes, but also it served as a continual reminder of how much of the real fun of conferences lies in the socialising, from catching up with former grad students (as well as current ones) - I had something like 30 years' worth of them there, as though my career, stratified, was laid out in front of me - and hearing how people's institutions were or weren't doing, and hearing what colleges friends' kids had been admitted to or were favoring, and sharing photos of cats getting into our suitcases (and being ejected before we traveled). To be sure, there was plenty of academic discussion and planning and advising, but it all comes together in a holistic way that just isn't possible on line.
Also, Olivia Colman's Oscar dress appeared to be modeled on SLC airport.
And for good measure, here's a view of the Salt Lake from the plane.
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