Birthday greetings, especially in the form of animated e-cards, but in any case, from old friends, friends from two cohorts: my generation (now in our 80s or close to them) and the generation after mine, my daughter’s generation — people I could gently characterize as being in late middle age, but in fact this is the age of mature accomplishment and recognition. (I do have friends from two generations before mine, and some from three, but they’re not sending me presents.)
Two Jacquie Lawson animated e-cards to come; in between them, a reminiscence from 1974.
The JL birthday e-card “Buon Compleanno”, from Bonnie Bendon Campbell (a friend since the early 1960s) and from Virginia Transue, my sister-in-law-in-law (a friend since I hooked up with my man Jacques Transue in the 1970s), the two of them survivors with me of what was once a complex network of family and friendship in our generation, so these relationships are especially precious.
Bonnie and Virginia managed to find a profoundly silly JL card, a new one in her catalog.
(#1) The description of the model artwork for the card, from the JL site
(#2) The portrait is built up bit by bit, then goes off the rails, ending up as above; Buon Compleanno!
Interlude: the 1974 Linguistic Institute. Birthday wishes from Lise Menn (at the University of Colorado), who wrote
I’ve known you for 50 years now (the LSA Amherst Linguistic Institute, 1974)
Indeed, when her Joe and my Elizabeth were little kids, oh my.
That was the international summer school, the Linguistic Institute sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America, the 50th one, and it was especially memorable. From Martin Haspelmath on Facebook on 8/27:
Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1974, “grammatical relations” were born in western Massachusetts. I hope my account is historically correct – I wasn’t around, but it seems clear that a lot of great linguistics must have been happening at that LSA summer school.
Details followed, along with recollections from those who were there. Including my brief note:
I was there, I was there. Teaching two courses. Wonderful times. (And we got to watch Nixon resign on the tv in the house a group of us had rented.)
The JL e-card “Flamboyant Fox”, from Rod-n-Ted (Rod Williams and Ted Bush) — friends for a long time, but from the generation after mine. A card the J: site describes as “a colourful collage of flora and fauna”, with original music by Mike Hughes-Chamberlain:
(#3) A fox plays an accordion tune as a landscape of fantastical plants develops around him
What remains is something of another order entirely: this year’s birthday card from (among other things) digital artist Vadim Temkin, another old friend from the generation after mine; this year’s card is both playful (as always) and X-rated, so I’ll give it its own posting, with a look back at a couple of his earlier cards for me.
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