Back to School

It's never too soon to begin getting in a "back to school" frame of mind. Granted, when you and I were young students, there wasn't a soul on the planet who wanted to rush the end of summer vacation; summer vacation was sacrosanct until the passing of Labor Day. Now, school can begin at any time.

Don't look now, but August is almost here, and class is liable to start any time after that. While moms already may be scurrying to purchase the requisite school supplies—or maybe even uniforms, if those are still part of the school scene—I'm thinking about a different type of return to school: advanced registration for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

Incredibly, though the event doesn't occur until mid-January—and registration for the classes just opened earlier this month—several of the classes are already sold out. Yes, the event's organizer, the Utah Genealogical Association, bills itself as a purveyor of fine "high-intermediate to advanced-level courses," but apparently there is a high demand for the finer educational offerings in genealogical life.

Never one to be the first in line for opening night, I naturally didn't consider that mode when SLIG2017 opened the doors for advanced registration. Like last year, I snoozed, so I lose. Looks like it will be the waiting list for me, regardless of which of the six closed courses I might have opted to take.

Not that there aren't any other choices. SLIG2017 has a magnificent lineup of great speakers scheduled to instruct their classes next January, including Cyndi Ingle, D. Joshua Taylor, John Philip Colletta, Judy Russell and Thomas Jones. I could take up the entire school year, just learning from those luminaries. But, of course, that is not who I wanted to learn from, come this January. Guess I'll just have to add my name to the waiting list and see if I get an early Christmas present.

Above: "On the Shores of Bognor Regis," 1887 portrait of the William Halford family by Alexander Rossi; courtesy Wikipedia; in the public domain.