Rare Bird Sightings: Observational Navigation from Lake Erie

Labyrinth navigation does not always serve as its own end. In his Framework, Gollesten indeed describes congression as the most authentic mode of navigation, but he also acknowledges a host of other meaningful navigational modes. In an oft overlooked passage in his more meditative, pastoral, and colloquial Book 12, "Earth, Sky, Creature, Weather: Restructuring Natural Boundaries in the Built World," Gollesten, in a moment of uncanny prescience, muses:

The authentic [author's emphasis] labyrinth is not inimical to the natural landscapes and organisms in which the boundaries and corridors are structured. In fact, we see in the Classical epoch of labyrinths, which, we may firmly assert, is a veritable Golden Age, that the architects commissioned were those men who dwelled closest to the habitats of labyrinth sites. Urban architects were deemed ill-equipped to establish edifices who could merge man's structures with sky, earth, creature, and weather. Thus, we witness a staunch effort in Classical Labyrinthology to fuse artifice with nature. The authentic labyrinth, then, preserves the natural order while altering Nature's physiognomy.

It is well known, and well mourned, that Modern Labyrinths did not value the fusion of artificial and organical. Rather, incepting in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, we behold the birth of new paradigm, the paradigm that man's structures do not merely rival nature's complexity, but in fact best nature's 'legerdemain.' Indubitably, this paradigm is predicated in the Cartesian project of the domination of Nature, as nefariously delineated by and fallaciously quantified by Aaldi.

Displacement was the modus operandi; some even argue it was the modus vivendi in this Dark Age of labyrinthology. Yet, inevitably, flora and fauna developed ways to thrive within and among the boundaries of the labyrinth, perhaps in that Darwinian fashion which is causing so much contention still in this day. It is reported by a British navigator in the early 1800s that the English Claret-Bellied Pheasant, purported to be hunted to its extirpation, was healthily living and propagating in the Derbyshire Amber Labyrinth. This was the first of a genus of reports documenting the conservative properties of labyrinths.

As man sullies the soil and burdens the beast, perhaps the labyrinth stands as a refuge. I speculate that we will grudgingly testify to man's destruction in the age to come, an age in which technology removes man further from his authentic being, and in which Nature becomes enemy. May a time come when the naturalist must navigate the labyrinth to observe the remaining survivors of a species?

And here we arrive at another mode of being the in the labyrinth: observational navigation [...] (Black Thicket, 501-503).

Gollesten's musings on labyrinth as refuge, as conservation sui generis, prove eerily correct. Today, many scientists have joined forces with labyrinthians to identify rare, endangered, and reputedly extinct species of flora and fauna within the boundaries of labyrinths. Their efforts, moreover, have engendered preservation campaigns that have successfully rendered a number of labyrinths as wildlife reserves.

Gollesten's musing, directly and indirectly, have also created a class of labyrinthians known, fittingly, as "Observational Navigators." Observational Navigators primarily walk labyrinths to study, explore, and wonder at the interface between the natural and the artificial in labyrinths.

While I am mainly a Metaphysical Navigator, I frequently enjoy Observational Navigation. In fact, one of my favorite holiday traditions involves birdwatching and bird counting in labyrinths across the country. As I mentioned in a comment to Alex's last thread, during this season, after visiting family in Cleveland, Ohio, I stole some time for myself to visit the Lake Erie Labyrinth northeast of the city.

My labyrinth birdwatching began casually, but, after descrying a number of rare birds, I chose to join the Audubon Society's annual Christmas Bird Count. This year marked the 109th Christmas Bird Count, in which thousands of citizen scientists count birds from December 14 to January 5.

The Lake Erie Labyrinth is considered a Class 2 labyrinth, or, more vernacularly, "of medium navigational difficulty." On this visit, my first in over 5 years, I came equipped with my binoculars. Natives, in recent years, have reported hearing the distinct mating call of the rare Gray Whooping Crane. However, no natives have yet observed the exquisite bird.

Before dawn, on a lightly pluvial day, which, I believe, is ideal navigation weather, I embarked in my waterproof brogans to trek the 6 miles of marshy grounds to reach the entrance of the Lake Erie Labyrinth. The labyrinth is situated in a lake basin and is built of softer rock compacted from glaciation tens of thousands of years ago. Given that the labyrinth was erected on wetlands, the boundaries have wide, thick bases that gradually taper to their crests. During two hours into my navigation, the sun rising just above the boundary ramparts, I espied a twiggy structure at a juncture, formed at the corner of the bases of two walls. On closer inspection, I beheld two blotchy eggs, at which time I realized I was observing a nest. Then, startled, I craned my neck at the sudden eruption of a stentorian "whoop" overhead.

It was the endangered Gray Whooping Crane.

I fumbled for my camera to capture this majestic creature, over 5 feet long and with a wingspan of nearly 8 feet. I was not quick enough, and, chagrinned, I continued my navigation.

After another two hours of navigation elapsed, I was approaching the center, which opens into a wet, grassy meadow of sorts about a mile from the Lake. Just when I thought my patient vigilance fruitless, I saw two cranes descending from the sky nearly a half-mile away. This time, my camera readied, I zoomed in and captured these tallest of North American birds right as they were alighting:

While the photograph does not make its namesake apparent, the Gray Whooping Crane is thusly christened for a narrow band of dark gray feathers that vertically line the anterior of its neck, which biologists believe is a either a geographical or sexual selection adaptation.

North American Whooping Crane populations number only in the hundreds, and the birds have only recently begun to breed naturally after man reduced them to near vanishing point. I was privileged, or should I say blessed, to have witnessed and photographed this exceedingly elusive bird.

I encourage all of you labyrinth enthusiasts out there to undertake Observational Navigation. What you see may help preserve some of this planet's most threatened beings. And ecolabyrinthians, continue your noble project.

And, we here at the CLP wish all of you a very Happy New Year. Bon chance as you begin to fulfill your Labyrinthian Resolutions in 2009!

Season's Greetings from CLP

Happy Holidays from all of us at the Cincinnati Labyrinth Project!

I thought some readers might enjoy this festive, rather poetic excerpt from Douglas Myerston's 1978 Nipigon Labyrinth navigation journal.

25/12/1978

The sun rose early, rousing us from our slumber in the Great Room. It was Christmas Day. As I surveyed the corridor around me, there was no doubt in my mind that this was truly one of Mezin Kobrin's finest labyrinthectural designs. For weeks on end now, the convoluted halls had driven several of our men very nearly to the brink - one man, Howells, bore deep bruising on his palms and knuckles, the product of the previous day's heedless search for third doors. The domed rock above us, a radiant combination of heliodor and blue basalt, was illumined as though afire by the myriad moss agate and malachite deposits which adorned the canopy. On all sides of us, geometrically arranged recesses and slits in the boundary walls allowed light, both natural and tourmaline filtered, to fill the room. Our own frozen breath appeared to us as the stuff of ephemeral, drifting vespers. We rose slowly one by one. Michaelson, the adolescent in my charge, was last to rise, him unaware of our proximity at last to the center. The light shifted around the room in kaleidscopic forms, all floating blocks of color and dazzling pulses of refraction. Looking reverently amongst ourselves, we walked forward towards the center - silent, and filled with that wonderful electricity that comes only in the final throes of ethical navigation.


Beautiful, inspiring stuff indeed. I urge all readers to search out Myerston's late 70's navjournals. They're presently out of print, but may be ascertained via certain rare book dealers for relatively modest sums.


We'll be taking the next few days off to spend time with family and friends. Look for more activity at the end of the week, plenty of exciting labyrinthological happenings to discuss.

Constructivism and Recursivism

It may interest our readers to know that after years without communication, I’ve recently been in dialogue once again with my dear friend Jules Poulsen, labyrinthian in residence at Bursa University. Poulsen is perhaps the preeminent Reede scholar in contemporary labyrinthology, and despite his constructivist leanings, I find the majority of his scholarship to be well considered and quite important within the realm of our current epoch’s labyrintholgical studies. His is a constructivism which eschews Aaldian reductivism in favor of a more disclosive, quasi-ontological labyrinthology that still hinges on interiorist principles. Poulsen has been researching the Valdis Reede archives at Bursa for the last five years, and working on what will surely be the definitive edition of Reede’s labyrinthology. Apropos of the heated exchanges we’ve been having at CLP meetings of late about the dialectic that exists between recursivism and constructivism, I decided to consult Poulsen on the notion of such an interconnectedness, one that, if it exits, synthesizes important labyrinthological positions of two schools of thinking which seem, on the surface, to be diametrically opposed. Poulsen’s response corroborated several of my ideas, and proved to be quite elucidating indeed:

"... I think there are elements of Reede's text which, if properly considered, go a long way towards ‘bridging the gap’ between modern constructivism and recursivism. I am sympathetic to your position re: the dialectic(s) that exist between disparate branches of contemporary labyrinthology. As Bruun said, ‘labyrinthology x, even if it posits conflicting views as labyrinthology y, may still be shown to be a subset of labyrinthology y, and vice versa.’ We find evidence of such an interconnectedness to exist between Reede’s middle period quantalogical interiorism and the circumambulatory recursivism of Desmarais and Duverger.

In Reede’s text, though there is an Aaldian skepticism as to the nature/existence of the corporeal, extra-mental labyrinth as such, we find an ontological, almost Gollestenian reverence for the being structure of labyrinth qua labyrinth. Reede’s text prioritizes neither center nor perimeter, progression nor egression. His is a labyrinthology which at once calls for a radical skepticism on the part of the navigator with respect to his sensible faculties, and identifies the pre-predicative elements (corporeal and psychical) which constitute and sustain the navigatory experience.

Recall that Desmarais, in Il y a Seulement le Couloir, posits a very similar system of labyrinthological perception, but for different reasons. For Desmarais, questions about the corporeal nature of the labyrinth are problems which have been created by the constructivists and, in his view, are best left to the New Interiorists. In short, the ‘problem of body in the labyrinth’ is not a problem for Desmarais. This being said, Desmarais is, like Reede, concerned with the fundamental nature of navigation and its relationship to the being structure of the labyrinth at large. Desmarais charts the pre-predicative navigational experience by way of the navigator’s sensible framework, and comes up with a system of labyrinthology which, if idealogy is bracketed, is almost identical to that of Valdis Reede.”

This is precisely the kind of progressive, non-factious labyrinthology that we here at CLP are excited about. Look for Poulsen, along with Philip Cunha, to be a big name in the field in 2009. Anyone else have thoughts about the 'common ground' that may be said to exist between these two disparate systems of labyrinthology?

In Memoriam: Philip Ambrose Walker (Part Two)

The  Years of the Bull: 1942-1945

The first installment of my remembrance of Philip Ambrose Walker left us at his arrival in Florence, Italy.  At his family's grave consternation and against their most lachrymose entreaties, Walker reached Florence in the late fall of 1942, when the nation, under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, was over two years into the hellish fires of the Second World War.  With Italian forces waging war in France, North and East Africa, the Balkans, and throughout the Mediterranean, it was a perilous time for a young Briton to study labyrinthology in a country that declared war on his motherland. 

Yet, Florence at the time was home to the premiere university for labyrinthological studies in the Western world: L'istituto Classico del Labirinto. But, for Walker, the greatest lure of the institute was the venerable president Francesco Zappatore, whose groundbreaking interdisciplinary scholarship in both labyrinth mythology and archaeology especially magnetized Walker.  Zappatore vehemently opposed the war, although he had to guard vigilantly his stance in public. However, in his country's fanatical patriotism and fascistic nationalism, Zappatore beheld the opportunity to undertake rare labyrinthological excavations. The preeminent labyrinth scholar, historian, and archaeologist persuaded Mussolini himself to fund excavations at various ancient labyrinth sites in the name of further fortifying Italy's 'position' as the greatest civilization of past and present. Walker refused to miss out on this venture, and thus, equipped with counterfeit citizenship, impeccable Italian, prodigious knowledge of antiquity, and the recommendations of Britain's finest labyrinthologists, Walker was admitted into the institute--and was given Zappatore's blessing to join the excavation team. (His pseudonym was Philip Camminatore.)

In 1943, during the middle of the second year of excavation, the team, under the protection of the Italian navy, sailed to the Greek island of Kefalonia, whose labyrinths were largely unexplored in that day. Excavations were fruitless, and Zappatore was considering abandoning the endeavor, until Philip Ambrose Walker made a discovery that, many argue, revolutionized the historical understanding of labyrinths. As he was digging in what the team identified as the center of the labyrinth, Walker's pick struck a long, thick, osseous remain. Further digging unearthed a bed of the remains. Walker, who was raised near pastures in his hometown of Exeter, knew exactly what he was beholding: the horns of bulls. 

Walker presented his discoveries to Zappatore, who believed the horns were the remains of the ritualistic sacrifices of bulls in pits at the centers of labyrinths. At the time, Zappatore was developing the theory that, before the mysterious extirpation of the ancient Minoan civilization of Crete, a group of seafaring natives emigrated to Kefalonia to form a new society. Zappatore argued that the Cretan emigrants sacrificed the bulls in a reenactment of Theseus' slaying of the Minotaur, an act to propitiate the gods. 

But, in a bold challenge to Zappatore, Walker agreed with his Kefalonian theory, but flatly disagreed with Zappatore's figuration of the sacrifices.  While the horns spanned over three feet in length, Walker knew that bull horns normally grew to even greater lengths. Both mentor and protege observed markings on the butts of the horns. Zappatore claimed that the markings resulted from the removal of the horns from the skull, while, based on his familiarity with bovine morphology, Walker declared that the markings resulted from deliberate truncation. (The team's resident biologist concurred with Walker's hunch, and, on the team's return to the Italian mainland, laboratory work confirmed the hypothesis.)  In a brilliant epiphany, Walker posited that the Cretan transplants affixed the horns to a ceremonial headdress, the truncation necessary to reduce the weight of the onerous horns. 

Despite their contention, Zappatore saw enormous promise in Walker's explanation, and thus chose to focus the remaining time and money for the excavation on the Kefalonian labyrinth, thereafter informally christened The Minotaur Abattoir. The team discovered a veritable graveyard of bull horns, all exhibiting the same markings; the team never discovered any other skeletal bovine remains, which further corroborated Walker's theory. However, the excavators did discover tailored hides and the fossilized remains of the tails of bulls. Walker quickly fired off his explanation, fleshing out his nascent theory: ceremonial garbs. Time and money were exhausted, but the team did not return to the Italian mainland empty-handed. With their discoveries, Walker formed the foundation of his Minotaur Cult.

The ceremonial bull horns Walker discovered, on display at the reconstructed Kefalonian excavation site at the Exeter Museum of Labyrinth Myths and History.

Soon after their return, the escalating hostilities of the War was threatening Walker's family back in England. Walker decamped back to his home, where he relocated with his family to Anapolis, Maryland, whose library housed one of the world's most comprehensive collections on Ancient Greek Island Civilizations. Walker immersed himself in research until 1945, where he celebrated not only the end of the War but the publication of his first (and many argue most important) masterwork: Becoming the Monster: The Cult of the Minotaur. Walker explains his thesis in this passage from the first chapter, entitled "The Androtaur":

For the ancient Minoan, the true threat that the Minotaur posed was not his ravenous demand for human flesh, which the civilization fearfully propitiated by their provision of seven youths and seven virgins. Rather, the true threat the Minotaur posed was his dual nature: a monstrosity formed of the body of the man and of the head and tail of the bull.  In the ancient Greek paradigm, the body of the man housed his heart, which was the seat of man's wisdom, and thus the Minoans could not reconcile how such an ill-begotten being could possess the capacity for virtue but arrantly and basely reject to actualize the virtuous potential that rendered man as man. Hence, Daedalus and his son Icarus were commissioned to fashion the Labyrinth, which not only immured the Minotaur, but which veiled the very existence of the monster that so challenged the Greek notion of humanness. Theseus may have nobly slain the Minotaur, but the physical death of the monster could not extirpate his existence in Greek consciousness. As long as such a being as the Minotaur could haunt the earth, the Greeks feared that man's perfectibility--and the concomitant telos of perfection--was a mere delusion. 

As archaeological and historical evidence now evinces, there dwelled in ancient Crete a group of heretical thinkers who held that man was not only condemned to but also must embrace his imperfectibility. In their paradigm, man's fundamental nature was dual: base and virtuous, bestial and rational, barbarous and civilized. According to this paradigm, man could never aspire to become wholly virtuous, rational, or civilized, but, on the other hand, could never devolve fully into depravity and animality. Some texts liken man's dual constitution to man's inhabitation of earth, lodged between the promise of godliness and the inferno of monstrosity.  This cohort, either by volition or by persecution, abandoned Crete for Kefalonia to establish a new society founded on their notion of duality. In reverence and homage to the unjustly slain Cretan Minotaur, they named themselves the Androtaurs: half man, half beast.

The Androtaurs assembled their new civilization near Kefalonia's modern capital of Argostoli, where they erected a colossal basalt labyrinth, whose center they believed was the real Axis Mundi.  Further, bulls were sacrosanct in Androtaurean culture; they did not feed of the bull's flesh nor drink of the female's milk. The Androtaurs did offer human sacrifices to bulls in return for their horns, their tails, and their hides. Priests conducted the sacrifices in the center of the labyrinth, during which they donned ceremonial headdresses made of the horns, cloaks fashioned from the hides, and tails painfully pierced into the small of their backs. But these sacrifices were of the most unusual character: the priests themselves were the sacrifice.  The priests donned the accouterments rendered from previous ceremonies, and, during the act of sawing off the new horns, skinning the new hides, and excising the new tails, the bulls battled the priests--and the priests only defended themselves until they accomplished the amputations, after which they surrendered their lives to the agonized creatures. Man was transformed into monster, and monster was transformed into man. The Minotaur was birthed anew, and the Androtaurs believed cosmic harmony was restored. And thus we have the ancient Cretan-Kefalonian Cult of the Minotaur (Black Thicket, Fourth Edition, 12-13) 

Upon the publication of this masterwork, the labyrinthological community hailed Walker as a rising giant, and thus Walker secured his position at the forefront of labyrinthological work. In the next installment, we will see Walker's transformation from mythicist, historicist, and archaeologist into labyrinth theorist. 

2008 ISCL Almanac Findings

The ISCL (International Society of Contemporary Labyrinthology) has just released its annual compendium of labyrinthological statistics. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the almanac, it is a chronicle published on December 20th of every year containing myriad facts, observations, and findings which endeavor to provide labyrinthians with something of an unbiased (though, in recent years the partisanship of the ISCL has been increasingly scrutinized by various labyrinthological factions) "state of affairs" with regard to all ISCL registered labyrinths and navigators. We here at CLP, as might be expected from a group of primarily New Exteriorist labyrinthians, tend to be most interested in the stats which pertain to navigational tendencies, rather than quantalogical intelligence. Here are a couple particularly interesting findings, broken down by continent, and some interesting observations that I've been pondering. Thoughts/interpretations are, as always, welcomed and encouraged.

Documented Occurrences of Misnav (misanthropic navigation):
Europe: 43
N. America: 36
Australia: 34
Asia: 31
Antarctica: 28
S. America: 17
Africa: 14

Consider this: Australia has only 5 ISCL accredited labyrinths. That misnav number is very high indeed. This is fairly alarming.

Documented Second Center Fatalities:
Asia: 23
Antarctica: 19
Europe: 15
Australia: 12
Africa: 9
S. America: 7
N. America: 3

Consider this: 1) Antarctica has only 2 registered labyrinths, both constructed by the late Belarusian labyrinth architect Mezin Kobrin. 2) Instances of SN in N. America have nearly tripled since last year.

Stephon Crete's 2004 Vector Theory Study

Allow me to welcome myself back to blog posting after an extended hiatus. For the past month I have been working on the finalization of my upcoming children's fiction novel "Logan Page: Labyrinth Hunter". I would like to take a brief moment to thank my editor, Sue Wells, for all of her incredible work in the past weeks as well as the super crew of associate editors at Oak Press in New York. Also much thanks to Bryan Parsons, an incredible artist, and a genuine pleasure to work with. All contingencies aside, we are looking at an H2 release in 2009 for Logan Page. I will certainly keep everyone apprised on the final publication date. I really believe that this book might inspire an entirely new generation of labyrinth aficionados. Also, no need to worry Mom and Dad, I think you'll find something enjoyable here as well! Many of the themes of contemporary labyrinthology are neatly tucked into Logan's adventure.

With that shameless plug out of the way, let me get into the meat and potatoes of my post this evening -- something I have been wishing to write on for some time. In 2004, Stephon Crete conducted (what became) one of the most controversial studies in modern labyrinthology at the massive Queen Isabella II labyrinth, just outside of Cordoba, Spain. Using a volunteer force of 40 international labyrinth navigators, Crete investigated his theory using the highest technology methods available in modern labyrinth investigation.

In a first for labyrinth studies, Crete employed the high definition Cablecam wire camera system. The camera was suspended over Isabella II, allowing him and his team to monitor (non-obtrusively) the navigators as they progressed and egressed the labyrinth over a 13 hour period. The volunteers, using wireless PDA devices, in fifteen minute intervals, recorded subjective estimations on proximity to center. Each navigator also recorded a contemporaneous measure of confidence in their evaluation. The proximity estimations and confidence measures were recorded in numerical form (0-100, scalar.) Each volunteer also carried an individual GPS tracking monitor, recording and broadcasting its exact position in the labyrinth over the entire study. The positional data was fed real-time into a computer program (designed by Crete, nonetheless.) This program formed the basis for Crete's groundbreaking conclusions.

Crete's objective was to form an empirical foundation for his most recent theory, which he had mentioned briefly in a 2002 roundtable presentation at Emory University: that principles of linear algebra are applicable to labyrinth navigation and that a century old vector formula could form the basis of a mathematical predictor of labnav. Crete's hypothesis is perhaps too complicated to boil down to one sentence. At the most basic, Crete felt that principles of vector and spectral theory, and the attendant formulas for predicting eigenvalues, eigenspace, and eigenvectors, could serve as predictors for the individual navigator's subjective (yes, subjective) sense of center. Crete felt that certain areas of the non-curvular labyrinth, where vectors intersect (think junctures and quadrants), create artificial nonzero vectors, which are subliminally observable to the mind of the navigator. These factors could, in effect, boost the navigator's magnetic determination of proximity to center.

To grasp this concept, imagine a navigator walking a corridor. At this point she is observing two vectors (at the junctures of the labyrinth floor and boundary.) However, as the navigator approaches a juncture, or (even more so) a quadrant, her observable vectors increase. Crete theorized that the observation of multiple vectors could form the basis of an nonzero eigenvector (x). Accordingly, he assigned a value "x" to each juncture or quadrant in Isabella II. This factor x would then be fed into the eigen formula Ax = λx. The result would be to identify an eigenvalue. Crete predicted that the eigenvalue, once identified, effected a linear transformation on both the navigators subjective estimation of proximity to center, as well as confidence. Ostensibly, the transformation would be to increase the linear estimation of distance to center. The eigenvalue could then be compared against the navigators responses.

The results were astounding. Volunteers who recorded subjective estimations of center while in the proximity of increased vectors within the labyrinth showed a marked increase in both estimation of center and confidence. Subsequent independent analysis of Crete's data revealed that the eigen formula corresponded to an increase in subjective proximity estimations and confidence at a staggering rate of 83.2%.

As is usual with much of Crete's work, critical response to the study was also staggering. Many pointed to the sheer lack of data produced. Notably, out of the 1,300 or so recorded responses from navigators, only 5.2% were recorded at points in the labyrinth with pre-set eigenfactors. Other critics noted that at least 43% of increases in confidence and proximity, as compared to the eigenvalue predictor, were small enough to be written off as negligible, or at least within the margin of error. Finally, many felt that the underlying assumption of the study was flawed: that the navigators actually observed these vectors. Crete has thus far responded to little of this criticism, apparently dismissing much of it.

Crete has always felt that the human brain corresponds to mathematical stimuli, and his 2004 study went far to promote this new theory. Additionally, Crete's study was later publicized in an hour long documentary on Televisión Española entitled, quite simply, "Laberinto". Although the show focused generally on the field of labyrinth study, the producers utilized Crete's Cablecam footage to explain basic navigational principles to the Spanish audience. However, nearly eight minutes of the documentary was dedicated to a brief explanation of Crete's vector theory.

It has been nearly four and a half years since Crete published his findings and he has never indicated publicly whether he would conduct a follow up study. Indeed, at this point it may be extraordinarily difficult to locate educated labyrinth navigators who are completely unaware of his theory. Certainly, any subsequent study would be subject to criticism on this very point. Regardless, Crete's vector theory remains one of the most challeging and dynamic labnav studies in the past decade. Stephon Crete remains a force in modern labyrinthology and we eagerly await any news of his future projects.

NASCLS 2009: Panel Announcements

Yesterday, I spoke with Dr. Stephen Holdern, organizer of the 2009 NASCLS Conference at the University of Manitoba.  He has solicited the assistance of some of your very own CLP contributors and labyrinthologists in the formation of a number of panels for this year's conference. Given the groundswell of labyrinthological scholarship over this past year, Stephen and I elected to devise a handful of panels which will allow participants to engage in dialogue on some of 2008's most challenging, provocative, and urgent topics. As Stephen was roundly impressed with the activity and community of the CLP, he gave me his consent to break the news and announce the first panels.  If you are thinking of submitting an abstract, you may also want to seriously consider partaking in the following panels:

Kafka's Corridors: The Self as Other in the Symbolic Labyrinth of The Castle

Panelists will discuss recent readings of one of Kafka's most seminal and unyielding works. Within the multifarious valences of the novel's featured structure, a growing body of critics identify an extensive symbolic matrix of a so-called "center-less labyrinth" in which the self undergoes the excruciating self-alienation through the navigational phenomenon of estrangement. 

The Indestructible Ontos

In this panel, labyrinthologists will discuss the controversial new theory of the indestructibility of labyrinth qua labyrinth. Recent research in labyrinth ruins, due either to the deliberate dismemberment of labyrinths in the waging of war or to the natural processes of erosion and weathering, argues that a labyrinth, regardless of decay or disarray, always retains its fundamental being as a labyrinth.

The Labyrinthological Imperative: Towards a Systematic Ethics of Internavigation

Philip Cunha is slated to moderate this roundtable, which will explore the persistent and perennial ethical questions that riddle internavigation.  Among the issues billed for discussion is the problematic of the labyrinthological imperative, a draconian theory which privileges arrival at the center over the welfare of fellow navigators.  

Await the announcement of more panels as soon as Dr. Holdern makes his finalizations.