For the first time

I have been coming to SOA for five years, willingly and
pleasurably. Besides being a 'flaneur' around the world,
teaching is my other life-blood - to pass on knowledge, to
move it into another realm, to learn to 'lose one's
head' (in the Zen sense - see 'On Having no Head' by
D.W.Harding) and to leave the question in any student's
head - what is worth knowing? - is to me one of the
most important acts we can achieve.

Of course knowledge and learning is always in the stage of
'becoming'; it must be to be valid. But remember Derrida's words
when asked if Seinfeld was 'Deconstruction': "Deconstruction
is not a sitcom; please go away, read more, do you homework.'
He said it with generosity not arrogance.

All of us must do this. The sight yesterday of the beginnings
of a lively (literal) bulletin board was delightful and reminded me
I was possibly in a vibrant school of architecture; it felt like
'coming home'. Please continue intelligently.

Getting important, relevant issues (those outlined below)
to the strategic levels is important, as the note from Rhizome
indicates. Generosity toward the 'other' is as important as
stubbornness. To see how ideas shift and indeed should
shift when their time comes, consult Thomas Kuhn's 'The
Structure of Scientific Revolutions'.

Keep re-framing issues, keep looking for how to pass on
what you have learnt to those yet to learn. Learn how to
'lose one's head', and above all, respect others. Keep reading,
keep doing the homework: stay intelligigent, things will come to you.