The Virtual Symposium Returns: Let’s Pick A Topic!

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Our third virtual symposium, held in November 2014, brought out a wide variety of interpretations of the chosen theme! We had more participants than ever before, and the variety of voices made for some very interesting reading. I am very, very happy that people were exposed to each others’ work.

Ready for the fourth? Let’s pick one topic from those listed below, and on the morning of Saturday, Jan. 24 I’ll provide a central landing page which will have links to all contributors’ offerings. No matter which topic we ultimately choose, I hope folks will interpret it as broadly as befits their personalities. Essays, fantasies, poems, image collages, other artwork – the wilder the interpretation, the better!

On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 24, I’ll start a placeholder post, and as participants put their contributions up, I’ll look for their notifications and incorporate links into that central post. Participants are encouraged to note in their posts that they’re part of a communal effort: Doing so allows someone who stumbles on one such blog item to enjoy as many of our pieces as he/she wants… and further strengthens a sense of virtual community.

The only two rules are: A ) Please post as early on the chosen day as possible, to allow for maximum exposure (and, quite frankly, so I’m not glued to my desk all day), and B ) the posts should be entirely original, as opposed to commenting on other posts from the topic. Ideally, posts should be created beforehand, and put on the site on the designated day. (The comments sections, of course, would be fair game!)

A suggestion: Participants may want to refer to either the virtual symposium or the topic itself in their headline. Not a requirement – there are no requirements, save for originality and participation – but a suggestion which will let the wide blog community know what we’re doing.

And… this is not a contest. No souvenir mugs will be sent, nor ribbons or bling awarded. The idea here is for those interested to, on a single day, offer an interpretation of a single topic for the sheer fun of it.

By all means, encourage other bloggers to participate – and to let me know they’re doing so, either through this post or via email, so on Jan. 24 I can link to their posts. Oh, and consider this permission – nay, encouragement – to the symposium! We’ve had a two-month hiatus (for reasons not really worth going into)… but I’d like to make sure folks interested in participating have the opportunity to do so.

So what topic will we use for the fourth virtual symposium? I’ve listed four – I think they’re general enough that, whichever one we end up choosing, most folks should be comfortable offering reactions. Feel free to electioneer in the comments, below, for any you find particularly compelling.

Voting for the topic will close at end-day on Sunday, Jan. 18.

Thank you in advance for your participation! And yes, reading and enjoying counts as participation. Pick that topic!