It was obviously a quick trip in and out – Just a little less than 24 hours. Travel notes:

* Co-pilots, please check the water in your radiators before you head to work. Our flight from DTW was delayed an hour because the fellow’s truck overheated on the way in.

* If you would like to know anything about the comparative perfomance of Guess stores in southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio, feel free to ask. I can tell you all about it, being as I was surrounded by excited store managers, on their way to a confab in Atlantic City for the hour we were on the ground and the hour+ flight.  Shoes are hot. Especially shoes with matching bags. Everyone is really excited about Marciano. And that store that just closed over in ________? Really nasty in the backrooms. Oh, and the stock split last week, so keep that in mind.  I tried reading my Trollope. I really did, I swear.

* Whenever I’m in the Philadelphia airport, I always think of going to Rome, because that was the origin of our USAir flight – and the site of the very talkative Joseph’s constant friend-making with the unsuspecting.

* The Philadelphia airport either actively allows or turns a blind eye to the homeless camped out in the baggage claim areas at night. Interesting, and a good thing, IMHO.

* I didn’t check my bag, of course, and it was totally manageable on the way there, but laden down with the 1,000-pound book I was given in appreciation for being on the panel…not so manageable.

Which brings us to the Jesuit Swag:

The participants were gifted with this gorgeous (1,000 pound) book The Jesuits and the Arts, edited John W. O’Malley and others (this edition was preceded by editions in Italian, French and Spanish edited by Giovanni Sale) It’s gorgeous and fascinating.I’m very grateful to have it. Detailed description of the contents here.

And more informally, on my part:

I sat next to BIll McGarvey of Busted Halo at dinner, and we had a great Flannery-centric conversation. He gifted me with his CD’s, which I’ll be listening to as soon as I wake up enough to find the CD player.

The Lapped Catholic gave me a CD recording of Archdiocesan Boy Choir of Philadelphia, which also looks great.

As I said, the panel was very enjoyable. We spoke on the promise and pitfall of the internet thing, what blogging does to the Catholic conversation, what it illuminates, what is obfuscates. There were countless issues we could have explored in great depth, but couldn’t, but the general consensus – that a more open communications landscape does have its risks and benefits, rendered particularly unique by the traditionally closed system that is the Catholic way. The popularity of Catholics conversing and sharing information online (I’m trying to think of a way to put that which goes beyond blogs, because it’s greater than that, and has been, back to the, er… glory days of Listserv and AOL and Compuserve message boards and forums) presents a challenge to both the secular media, regularly caught flat-footed by its failure to understand even the rudimentary aspects of the religion story, and also to the institution, accustomed as it is to a slower pace of response to events – when there’s a response at all.