12/04/2024 – 2024 AAR San Diego

Come join me on my trip to the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in San Diego. Check this out. This is TenOnReligion.

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I traveled to the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting in San Diego from November 22 to the 25th. Since I already live in southern California, I went by rail. I started my journey by taking the local commuter train system in the Los Angles area, called Metrolink, to Los Angeles Union station in downtown L. A. The trains are nice and it took a little over an hour to get there. Part of the train goes right next to the interstate 10 freeway. As we arrived into town, the train slowly made its way next to, and then over, the Los Angeles River, and then slowly pulled into the station. The architecture in the main waiting hall is nice and holiday decorations were up. I walked through the underground passage and then up to the platform to wait for my Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train to San Diego. The Amtrak train I was on was coming from farther up north. It slowly pulled into the station. Amtrak uses special California cars for the Pacific Surfliner route which can only be found in California. I went upstairs and found a seat by the window. After we left, we slowly pulled out and again went alongside the Los Angeles River. I realized I sat on the wrong side of the train because the right side will have the better views by the ocean later. You can see downtown L. A. in the distance as we headed towards the suburbs. I like the Fullerton station because it has a small train museum of old train cars you can visit. We passed by the area of the San Clemente landslide from May of 2023. You can see construction crews still working on reinforcing the landscape here. The ocean was on the other side of the train. We cruised along the Interstate 5 freeway for a while and eventually made our way down to the San Diego Old Town station. We then slowly creeped in to the San Diego Santa Fe station next to a Coaster commuter train. The Amtrak ride was less than three hours.

I got off and walked the platform into the station and then walked about a half mile over to the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel. It was about a 15-minute wait to check in, and then up to my room. I enjoyed the hotel room except for the connecting door. The view of the neighboring shopping area and bay was nice. I also liked the size of the desk area, which I used throughout the weekend. You can see it’s good weather today. There’s a military ship in the navy base and the Embassy Suites hotel, which I’ve stayed at before. I then walked another half mile over to the San Diego Convention Center. This is the main hub for the AAR Annual Meeting with the Exhibit Hall, many of the sessions, and the registration area. I grabbed a lanyard, and a badge holder for my preprinted badge that I brought with me. I picked up my free tote bag and then headed back down the street to the Hyatt.

My only session today was with the Raimon Panikkar consultation group at the Hyatt. Panikkar is an important figure in the academic field of religion and I have several episodes discussing his ideas. After the meeting we left the hotel and walked over to a Chinese restaurant for dinner together. The chicken fried rice was good and the tofu vegetable sizzling plate was great. I had a good convo with my new Hindu friend Shruti who’s studying in Scotland at St. Andrews University. After a long day, back to the hotel room for sleep.

It’s Saturday morning. Woke up and got ready to go. Down to the lobby on these smart elevators. To start off, I’m taking a stroll by the waterfront past part of the marina. Saw the Midway aircraft carrier exhibit. Walked around the construction by Broadway pier. I walked here because I’m checking out the Holland America Koningsdam cruise ship, which as you can see, is in San Diego today. There’s the Broadway Pier and the Midway that I just passed and a Coast Guard ship. This is the Port of San Diego Cruise Ship Terminal. The reason I’m here looking at the Koningsdam, aside from it being a beautiful ship, is that my family has an Alaskan cruise planned on this ship next summer leaving from Vancouver, British Columbia. So, when I found out it was going to be in San Diego on the same day as I was, I had to take a 15-minute walk over from my hotel to check it out. I think we’re going to happy on this ship next year. It looks great. One last look at the port and the ship. Now on to find a breakfast option. Walked over past the Santa Fe train station and got a better picture. Walked just past the station and found a bagel shop. What to get? My western bagel with egg, cheese, bacon, peppers, onions, and chipotle mayo hit the spot for breakfast. I walked back to the Grand Hyatt to get some stuff, and then started to head down the street towards the convention center. The famous San Diego red trolleys are doing their thing this morning. I walked past the San Diego Marriot Marquis Marina hotel. Never stayed here, but it looks nice too. Across the tracks from the Convention Center is the Hilton Gaslamp Quarter hotel and the Omni Hotel. The San Diego Gaslamp Quarter is a touristy street with shops and restaurants with a very convenient location for convention center attendees.

It was definitely active this morning as I got inside the convention center. I went upstairs. You can see the Omni hotel is right next to Petco Park, the baseball home of the San Diego Padres baseball team. I’m looking for Meeting Room 28D. And we found it. Oooh, no one’s here yet, and I’m not that early. Finally, the panel speakers showed up. This was a session on rethinking religious studies programs for departments and programs that are trying to navigate the current treacherous path of humanities programs that are struggling. After that, it was back down to the main level for my first look at the book exhibit area. I got a little hungry and grabbed an overpriced chicken sandwich and fries from the convention center café. They weren’t that good and I never went back there to eat. I went back upstairs to Meeting Room 25B to hear the panel on German scholar Perry Schmidt-Leukal’s new book, The Celestial Web comparing Buddhism and Christianity. And then it was back over to the Grand Hyatt for a session on Theology Without Walls, led by philosopher Jerry Martin. It wasn’t the Wabash Center but the room on the left. Then time for dinner a few blocks over at Tacos El Cabron where I had eaten once before five years ago. They had a mini salsa bar and the green tomatillo salsa was good as were my two tacos. Good on the budget too. After that, I wandered inside this Cali ice cream place, but didn’t eat there. I instead went to Chocolate SD for some salted caramel gelato and it was goooood. Then over to the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel for the AAR Presidential Address on “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Margin” by Jin Park whom I interviewed on this channel a few months ago. After leaving I wanted to get another look at the entrance to the Gaslamp Quarter at night, which has the famous “gaslamps” as you can see here. Then back to my hotel room for some much-needed sleep.

It had rained a little bit overnight. I woke up and headed over to Richard Walker’s Pancake House and waited in line for about 15 minutes as they prepared the outdoor seating area for customers. I got a short stack of Georgia pecan pancakes which got my day started right. I had a nice stroll back to the hotel. Here’s the trolley, Marriott Marquis, and the Grand Hyatt. Holiday decorations were now up in my hotel lobby. I went up to my floor and decided to quickly check out the pool deck. The pool had steam coming from it so it must be heated. There’s a nice view of Seaport Village from up here as well. The fitness center is also on this floor and it’s a good-sized space. Back to the room and finished getting ready for the day’s activities and then down to the lobby. Outside and down the street towards the convention center. Here’s the Gaslamp Quarter across the street. Inside and to the book exhibit hall to grab a book I wanted to buy. I went up to Meeting Room 25B to quickly chat with Ben Chicka before his session to see if he’d be interested in an interview on this channel and then I headed over to the Hilton Bayfront across the street. It was a nice day outside today. I was going to a session titled, “What’s a Religion or Theology PhD to Do? A Workshop for Graduate Students, Administrators, and Faculty.” The meeting room was a little hard to find in a back corner of this floor. It was a good convo with some folks from various levels in the academic system. Afterwards I stepped out onto the balcony near there which had a nice view of the convention center and harbor area. Then back down. It’s very blue in here. Then to the street level.

I went back in front of the convention center and across the street. Then walked a few blocks over to a Subway. There it is. And lunch it is. I walked back over to the convention center and tried to get a couple of shots before walking back across the street. I was on the Upper East side of the convention center this time and I was looking for Meeting Room 6D. It’s down this short hallway. This was a session on the book, Challenging Modernity and Its Contradictions: Religion in the 21st Century from the late Robert Bellah and some of his colleagues. Before the session began, I had a quick talk with Anna Sun, an expert on Confucianism. A few years ago, I did an episode on her first book and she told me she’s writing another one. I invited her to interview on the channel, but she wanted to wait until the new book was finished in a year or two. In this session I learned about Carolyn Chen’s popular book, Work, Pray, Code. I talked to her briefly after the session and I might try to get her on the channel also. Then it was back up the street to the Grand Hyatt. My last session of the day was with the Theology Without Walls group. I talked with Jeanine Diller whom I interviewed this past summer, and met Jon Paul Sydnor from Emmanuel College in Boston who wants to be on this channel as well.

After this session I was hungry so I walked up Fifth Avenue into the Gaslamp Quarter and next to Ghirardelli’s was The Melt. This place had good reviews and I have to say it did not disappoint. I got the original Melt burger and parmesan garlic fries. Very tasty and I’d eat here again in a heartbeat. I walked next door to Ghirardelli’s but was too full for ice cream and resisted buying any of the chocolate. I went down the street in a souvenir shop for a San Diego hat and t-shirt and then back to the hotel for the end of a football game before sleep.

Monday morning, I woke up and got ready. Then headed out of the hotel after dropping off my bag with the bell hop. The sun has a nice glow on the buildings this morning. When crossing the trolley tracks, I got a good picture of the Grand Hyatt hotel’s two towers as well as the Marriott Marquis’ towers. Then into the Gaslamp Quarter to Starbucks. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I do like their breakfast sandwiches. I got it to-go, and headed back to the convention center across the street. I went upstairs to the second level and took at look at some of the sessions being offered today. Then I found a perch to chillax and eat my sandwich. I went to a session on podcasting religious studies and forgot to take a picture there. I did get a few more contacts of people to potentially showcase on this channel next year, so stay tuned. Then time for lunch. I walked back over a few blocks past the Subway I ate at the day before because I found a taco place with good reviews called City Tacos. Here’s the menu outside. I got a taco and a vegetarian bean dish and both were great. It had a nice industrial vibe to it and I would definitely come here again. While walking back I got a picture of the Hilton Gaslamp Quarter which people said was a nice hotel also.

Back across the street, and into the convention center, and upstairs one last time for my final session of this year’s AAR Annual Meeting. This session was on David Congdon’s book, Who is a True Christian? I talked to him afterwards about being on this channel and he’s down for it. One last quick look at the book exhibit hall and then I started on my way back to the Grand Hyatt hotel. I talked to quite a number of people at this year’s meeting, some of whom I already knew or have met before as well as people I talked to for the first time. It was one of the better networking events for me to hopefully help grow this channel a little bit more over the next year. Now it was time to go back into the Hyatt for one last time, grab my bag, and start walking over to the Santa Fe train station. I walked by Kansas City Barbeque where one of the scenes from the original Top Gun movie was filmed. I was going to get another bagel sandwich but it was too late and they were already closed. So, into the train station. Sorry for my fingers here. I was pulling my suitcase in one hand and holding my phone in the other trying to get video clips. I found the line outside to wait to board the Amtrak train back up to L. A. It finally pulled in on the last track. After all the people deboarded, it was time for us to board. Again, Amtrak uses special California cars on the Pacific Surfliner which are unique to the system. It was a little bit of a walk a few cars up towards the front of the train. I stowed my bag at the end of the car in a luggage rack and then found a window seat on the ocean side. Soon we headed off past the marina and the airport. It was tricky getting video because of the dirty window and the sun setting on this side of the train. Here’s Mission Bay. And the ocean. After about three hours we got into Los Angeles Union Station and I grabbed a Subway sandwich because there weren’t many other great options open. Then I walked back down the underground passageway to track 10B for my Metrolink train back to my home station. I was a little early so I ate my sandwich on the train platform. The doors finally opened and I got in and was home about an hour later. I really enjoyed traveling by train to this year’s meeting.

Next year’s meeting is in Boston and we’ll see if I’m able to go because its quite far for me. I did go the last time it was in Boston in 2017 where I stayed at this hotel, and ate this, and this, and this. And also bought a small lobster from this store. Anyway, that’s it for now. To start off next year in 2025 we’re going to have episodes on Construction-Deconstruction-Reconstruction, another great episode on Feuerbach, and hopefully some great interviews with religion scholars doing some fantastic work. Until next time, stay curious. If you enjoyed this, support the channel in the link below. Give me a Super Thanks. Also, please like and share this video and subscribe to this channel. This is TenOnReligion.