If I had a hammer...

On this past Wednesday, the 7th season of tapings for Central Authors began with a swell talk by Professors Katherine Hermes and Karen Ritzenhoff of the CCSU departments of History and Communication, respectively, about their new edited volume, Sex and Sexuality in a Feminist World. (I, as "producer," schedule the speakers and host the tapings at the CCSU Bookstore.)

It was an engaging and informative talk about their wide-ranging volume that includes traditional scholarly articles (from across the disciplines), essays, poetry, student contributions, and even a dvd.

I had known that Kathy's contribution to the book, "Getting Nailed: Reinventing the European- Pacific Encounter in the Age of Global Capital," was an examination of the recurrent stories about English sailors' trading sex for nails. My initial thought (which is rarely academic and almost always light-hearted) was to bring a bunch of nails to jokingly wrap things up (after the taping was finished, of course), but I was told by several gentlemen to whom I had mentioned this concept that that would've been a bad idea...indeed quite "culturally insensitive."

The good news is Professor Hermes brought her own nails as props (so my instincts weren't as off as some feared)!

The better news is that, by not bringing my nails, I avoided supreme embarrassment because the size of the nails that Kathy brought were bigger than any I have currently in my house and indeed far bigger than I had ever used (or, for that matter, ever imagined a need to use)! Not a lot of hammering goes on at Chez Perry/Gigliotti.

Was I envious of her nails? Not precisely, but, it was obvious that, if I had been a sailor in the South Pacific, it would have been VERY important for me to deliver a large quantity of nails to counter my obvious lack of size.