I swear it has nothing to do with the Lakers-Celtics rivalry, but Trinity and I will not be part of this year’s AAJA Boston convention. Its a total departure for me, seeing as how I’ve attended nearly every convention since 2000 — save for Minneapolis and now Boston. Our absence is not necessarily about money, otherwise I’d apply for a convention stipend (although, I think as co-president, I don’t think I should be qualified to be awarded one). It’s more that there are other events this year that we have to focus on, and priorities are priorities. Plus, a bunch of the people we want to see — Belinda, Shruti, Marc — won’t be there either. It kind of lessens the attraction when your friends can’t be there.

But the really bad news is the gold sponsor of the convention, the Boston Globe, may not be around for the convention either.

According to WaPo’s Howard Kurtz:

The New York Times Co. said last night that it is notifying federal authorities of its plans to shut down the Boston Globe, raising the possibility that New England’s most storied newspaper could cease to exist within weeks.

After down-to-the-wire negotiations did not produce millions of dollars in union concessions, the Times Co. said that it will file today a required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

As it stands right now, despite the economy, AAJA says they are moving forward with the convention as planned. But I don’t know what will happen if the paper of record in the convention city folds before then.