All publicity is good, right?
Well, this is not normally a blog about personal matters. But this is to apologize to those of you I have left unanswered. I’ve been excited about going to New York next week to give a paper, meet people, and attend a couple of meetings. First time in one of my favorite cities in years.
Well, first, Orbitz sends me a billet doux saying that the reservations I’d made weeks ago don’t work. I’m working on the recourse (ideas, anyone?) and alternative ways of getting there.
Second, notes start to trickle in saying that the NY Times has mentioned my talk but just happened to get my name wrong. Now I’m not one of those people who gets het up if I’m called Raquel instead of Rachel or Loudan instead of Laudan. I’ve traveled too much for that to bug me. But it was kind of interesting to google Rachel Landau, the name the NY Times used.
First entry was to a consultant in emergency medicine, second to someone working on excriminals being rehabilitated in Jewish religious communities, and (after the usual kind of garbage you get on web searches) the third to a third year creative writing minor who proclaimed himself or herself not to be a rapist.
Would that bring you rushing to a talk on culinary philosophy through the centuries? No, I thought not.
And being one of those Rachel Landaus, it’s really interesting to google myself and find out what people say about me.
(I was actually the third person mentioned — being misquoted by newspapers is always joyful.)
Well, greetings. It’s a kind of through the looking glass pair of names. Cheers,
Rachel