Better late than ever [sic]?

I do apologize for my lateness. I will attempt to be more punctual and do ask for forgiveness.

I will now close in prayer:

Let us bow our heads as we begin upon a journey that may corrupt every fibre of good intention. We now stop in contemplation and hesitate as we are about to breach the waters of an endeavour that may swallow our friendships.

As our heads are bowed I must insist upon some ground rules as without rules the flies have no lord and the words we write become only for the author. The first rule I propose is that we must look first to re-read Barthes and immediately proclaim that within the walls of this forum the author lives¹ and will continue to live in the minds and text of future authors of these pages. The words painted on this tabula rasa will be continuously wrestled with, referenced and critiqued. Without such dialogue we run the risk of subjecting each other to a tedious monologue of vanity. The pride we take in our articulation should never override the interests of dialogue. Dialogue should be at the top of our manifesto as without it there is no community and more importantly – there is no revelation.

We may now lift our heads but I must argue for a further sitting on rules and regulations.

Amen

1 the author can live (at least tentatively) in these pages as we have a reasonable understanding of the background of the writer.