Responses to 'Prescribed Topics'

They are not more than that, I think. When I post responses to other people's thoughts, to things I've read, to the annual 'prescribed topics' list that appears like Athena from the head of Zeus, they are just my slightly mediated responses. They are sometimes close to immediate, but mostly they have some degree of mediation. Or even, remediation.

I do post what appears to be a set of ten canonical responses each year. But I must caution readers of those responses that they are my quick 'first-sight' responses to questions that are pretty deep. It disturbs me when soon thereafter, all over the Turnitin universe, chunks of those responses begin to appear.

My responses are worth something, I do like to believe, but they should not be worth that much. They are only stepping stones to thoughts that each person has the right, and ought to have the desire, to develop against the onslaught of a given question.

Some examiners, seeing this blog cited in some essays, are not happy that a pesky blog should be honoured that much. I agree. Take the thoughts if you want, but change them, maul them, reshape them and make them your own. That would honour me a lot more.