So here's the short of it, 
I met a great scholar today!


And here's the long.

Today was the second day of the Facing History and Ourselves Workshop in Chattanooga.  I haven't been able to go to much of the training this year because I have so much to do to get the year finished up!  But today I had a chance to sit in for a few minutes to hear Dr. David Patterson speak.  I feel so privileged that I got to spend just a bit of time with him.  He's speaking tomorrow morning - and I'm obligated to be in a meeting across town!  I'm pretty disappointed.  I hope I have another occasion to hear him. And I am certainly planning to purchase some of his books.  


Now I was only able to spend 15 or 20 minutes in the workshop, but it seemed that every other sentence that he uttered made me want to do research that would take up a significant piece of time!  I was especially enthralled with his discussion of the importance of a person's name, and the Nazi requirement that all Jewish women take the name Sarah and all Jewish men take the name Israel.  He's written a book Wrestling with the Angel: Toward a Jewish Understanding of the Nazi Assault on the Name (2006),  I know I'll want to read that one!  He was just beginning to speak about propaganda when I had to leave for a meeting, and I missed that.   


I hope that he'll be invited to another of the seminars they'll be doing and I'll be able to spend more time hearing his expertise.