How do people choose a name for their blog? ??Surely it's a recipe for procrastination as enticing as selecting just the right font for a report, or revising the best way to organise a bookshelf for maximum visitor-appreciation. ??(Just me?)
I've tried to be too clever with my title: A snowflake's progress. ??It's supposed to conjure up ideas of a snowflake having about as much chance of surviving a very hot 'hell' type place as I've got of getting through a PhD in one piece; but rather than just say that I've also referenced William Hogarth's infamous series of paintings from 18th century London: A Rake's Progress. ??The rake's fortunes decline through the eight panels, through the heady days of wealth and splendour to the depths of prison and Bedlam. ??The PhD journey is therefore laid out before me - the snowflake who prevails, but only by ruinously sacrificing health and sanity in the process. ??I believe this to be the standard route.
And a quotation from Voltaire, again from the 18th century. ??He puts the individual amongst the crowd, apparently helpless to affect the passage of destructive force which sweeps them all along. ??I know not whether Voltaire gives the humble snowflake the wit and the power to affect the avalanche, and he makes no comment in this snippet of what lies in its path. ??Suffice it to say that I think there's enough in that quotation to link people, crowds, events and networking - enough to tack my own rough scratchings onto the back of it.