Helene Blowers evoked the Phoenix during her keynote presentation at a recent conference. Merriam-Webster describes the Phoenix as “a legendary bird which according to one account lived 500 years, burned itself to ashes on a pyre, and rose alive from the ashes to live another period“.1
What a powerful allusion! Imagine a long-lived entity, with the wisdom and strength to destroy aspects of itself that had outlived their usefulness, and then carry on in another form.
As I think about the persistance of libaries over thousands of years, I imagine there have been numerous periods of rebirth. Are living through one right now?
