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Scholars, activists, and those who dabble in a little of both found themselves in disparate climates for the annual gatherings of the American Studies Association and Modern Language Association this academic year—the former in sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico, in November 2025 and the latter in drizzly Toronto in January 2026. Did the environs shape the banter, gossip, and shade thrown at each conference? Was ASA, next to a beach, radiant, and MLA, next to an aquarium, chilling? Or has the environmental turn invited us to resist overappraising our climatological surroundings’ impact on discursive productions? See if there’s a correlation and if you can guess which gem was overheard at which conference!
- “I have to go swim with turtles now.”
- “He went to town on Walt Whitman.”
- “I’m too late for late-stage empire.”
- “I took in too much theory, and now I’m too tired for materiality.”
- Person 1: “Sorry I’m late—security took my water bottle.”
Person 2: “The surveillance state is always already here.”
- “Are you left of anything?”
- Person 1: “The keynote conflicted with my sleep politics.”
Person 2: “Just say it was past your bedtime.”
- “If I have to hear the word ‘quotidian’ one more time…”
- “I thought I hated conferences, but it turns out I just hate them when it’s cold.”
- “There’s just a lot of identity.”
- “I have so many panels left to attend, so I’ll order a mojito.”
- “I’m too afraid to go to [other professional organization’s] conference.”
- “I’m basically a badge queen.”
- “I’m not saying it was colonial, but I’m not not saying it was colonial.”
- “We need a cap on capitalism.”
- “It’s a very orthogonal geography.”
- “Did you hear about the furries at SCMS a few years ago?”
Answers: 1. ASA; 2. MLA; 3. ASA; 4. MLA; 5. ASA; 6. MLA; 7. MLA; 8. ASA; 9. ASA; 10. MLA; 11. ASA; 12. MLA; 13. MLA; 14. ASA; 15. ASA; 16. ASA; 17. ASA 
