This year's SCSECS meeting will be held February 21-23 in Austin, Texas, the "live music capital of the world"; the theme will be "Frontiers of Friendships, Close and Distant."

Our conference aims to explore how people in the long eighteenth century conceived of and experienced friendships. What philosophical changes developed with regard to the idea of friendship? How did class and gender affect attitudes toward friendship? What personal, political and societal virtues supported friendship? In SCSECS's tradition of friendly openness, we welcome papers on other topics as well.

Our presenters typically come from a variety of disciplines covering the period of the "long" eighteenth century, 1650-1830.

DEADLINES: Please send proposals directly to the panel organizer by December 10, 2012. If you wish to propose a paper that doesn't seem to fit in with any of the proposed panels listed on our Call For Papers web page, contact this year's SCSECS President directly: Frieda Koeninger, fol_fck@shsu.edu.

The current panels list can be found at http://www.scsecs.net/scsecs/2013/callforpapers_2013.html

For the banquet on Saturday night, February 23, our plenary speaker will be Caroline Crimm, historian of tejanos and the southwest. Speaking on "Romantic Interludes in Eighteenth-Century Northern New Spain," she will bring to light her recent archival research in Texas, Mexico and Spain. For our entertainment and fun, the delightful group from Oklahoma, Ladies at Play, will perform music from their English country dance and regency repertoire, and perhaps will even inspire some to kick up their heels and toes for an 18th-century hoedown.

The SCSECS conference organizers have negotiated a conference rate of $174/night with one of Austin's most attractive and luxurious of hotels, the Courtyard Marriott. Located in the heart of ever-lively Austin at 300 E. 4th Street, this top-level accommodation is very conveniently located, across from the Metro Rail, near the Metro Bus line and within walking distance of downtown Austin. Those eager to make early reservations should call the Marriott Nationwide Reservation number 1-800-321-2211 or, better still, call the helpful staff directly on the property at 512-236-8008.