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The Virtual Burkeian Parlor created by Eddie Lohmeyer for KBS 2025 now has a permanent home here. All of the projects from the original exhibition are there, including a photographic tour of KB's place by Jack Selzer, a podcast on AI, video projects, and much more. Explore a while to see what you discover!

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Exhibition in New Art City, Virtual Art Space.

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The parlor is unending! Interminable! Everywhere!

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Conversations anchor inter-tribal leadership summit | NEW Media Inc.

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There were important themes within the keynotes from last month’s 2025 Seven Generation Inter-Tribal Leadership Summit. Whether intended or not, they collectively reminded me of something rhetoric scholar Kenneth Burke wrote about what is referred to as the “unending conversation.”

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It's on! KBS is headed back to Ghent in July, 2026. This CFP is "live." Proposals are due by October 31, 2025 .

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Call for Papers: Rhetoric in a precarious world. Moving forward with and from Kenneth Burke.

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International conference on rhetoric and Kenneth Burke, July 1–3, 2026 at Ghent University (in collaboration with the Kenneth Burke Society). Submit abstracts by Oct 31, 2025.

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"Each time I note the signs of the elite boom for Kierkegaard and Kafka, I am disgruntled. It should be Coleridge. Most assuredly, it should be Coleridge. And it is largely, I suspect, because we are all compelled to read his poems in high school, that those lesser figures are focusing attention at his expense."

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To prove that KB and Walter Pater are both communistic in spirit

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To prove that KB and Walter Pater are both communistic in spirit

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From Pater, Denys L'Auxerrois:

"Just then Auxerre had its turn in that political movement, which broke out sympathetically, first in one, then in another of the towns of France, turning their narrow, feudal institutions into a free, communistic life -- a movement of which those great centres of popular devotion, the French cathedrals, are in many instances the monument."

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What is the name for a group of Burkeans?

A cluster?

A ratio?

A motive?

Help!

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When GenAI tries to make a Burkeian infographic, it's "roten with perrfection.."

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When GenAI tries to make a Burkeian infographic, it's "roten with perrfection.."

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A cartoon-style image representing Kenneth Burke's concept of 'Entelechy' and the phrase 'rotten wit

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This was during the New Art City self-guided tour tonight. Avatars are geometric shapes. A whole bunch of Burkelers are huddled together at the edge of the parlor installation.

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Germane to our conference theme. Cf. also KB's review of Dewey's The Quest for Certainty ("Intelligence as a Good.").

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Why We’re Unlikely to Get Artificial General Intelligence Anytime Soon

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The titans of the tech industry say artificial intelligence will soon match the powers of humans’ brains. Are they underestimating us?

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Here's an animated KB critter meme that I made.

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Hi Everyone, one of our graduate students at the University of Nevada, Reno is planning to paint a mural at our Core Writing program office that caricatures many of Burke's references to animals throughout his writing (e.g., "sophisticated trout"). If you can think of any critter references, please reply to this thread with the animal, book title, and page number.

Also, you can check out our UNR panel of grad students and faculty, “An Art of Living”: Burkean Approaches to Storytelling and Censure," on Saturday at 1:45 pm, hope to see you there and I'm looking forward to your critter contributions!

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Katz_Some References for My Presentation Session H2

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That's a picture of the dust jacket of the first edition of Burke's 1931 Counter-Statement. And in just 6 years, it'll be 2031--and time to celebrate Counter-Statement's centennial. Come discuss how we might celebrate and how you might contribute to an edited volume to be published by Parlor Press, Friday at noon, eastern time, at https://bit.ly/kbs2025-zoom-counter. Hope to see you there!

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Here's an image of the flyer for KBS 2025

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Learn more here: https://kbjournal.org/kbs2025program

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Scott Newstok on KB at Humanities Last Chance

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Scott Newstok on KB at Humanities Last Chance

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Just published! Read what Scott has to say about KB's approach to Shakespeare via "ventriloquisms": https://bit.ly/437tB1t

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Here is the GitHub which includes many of the theoretical foundations, code, and mystory artifacts that I have been using to experiment with AI (including multiple LLMs) to develop an ethic of care. I will focus on one code “The EchoKey Manual” in my presentation on Friday, May 23 at 8:30 AM. This ethics of care is informed by various theorists; in this presentation, I will show how the ideas of Burke, Ulmer, and Vitanza help in providing a foundation. Rather than seeing AI as a tool, this ethics focuses on co-creating meaning. I will be glad to further discuss this project at harmonykeyhum@proton.me

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harmonykeyhum has 3 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

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“Conservatives and reactionaries have developed a most disturbing strategy. It would seem that they are no longer bothering to seek good arguments; rather, they are content to seek any arguments, if only there be enough of them kept running through the headlines, an avalanche of arguments, condemnations, prophecies of dire calamity, statistical proofs, pronouncements by private and institutional ‘authorities’, a barrage, a snowing under, a purely quantitative mode of propaganda.” (“The Virtues and Limitations of Debunking”)

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Pentadic Leaves (a lyrical sequence of poems based on Burke's work) was written for and delivered at the Kenneth Burke Society Conference, Saint Louis University, 19 July 2014. A video of the reading as well as the entire written text was published in the KB Journal at https://kbjournal.org/pentadic-leaves. This is section I of the poem (>Scene), which I here append to honor KB, and salute the conference being held once again thanks to the efforts of Dave Blakesley and his Clemson crew. Thanks, Dave! ~Steve

I> SCENE

Terministic Tree:
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter

It's green and moody.
Leaves rattle the air.
Trees rattle the clouds.

A breeze is moving
through the tree.
A wind is moving
through the clouds.

But nothing happens.

There is a tension in
the leaves; there is
attention between

this tree and
the next. The leaves
pale and thicken
like cloud.

But nothing
happens.

Now a breeze
rushes through
vowels that quickly
gather at the roots
like words. A wind
crashes through consonants
of rock and wood
like teeth and bone.

There is motion
in the tree. There is
causality in the cloud.

But transcendence?
Perfection?

A branch of sentence
flickers in the cloud,
breaks off, falls
down, absorbed
by the deaf
ground, freezes
without attitude,
without gesture, without
further sound.

Then everything happens.

~Steven B. Katz

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"I do not find [the promise of America] in advertising, or penny slot machines...or city atrocities" and "America has become the wonder of the world simply because America is the purest concentration point for the vices and vulgarities of the world (Selzer 1996, 130-131).

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A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing—a focus upon object A involves a neglect of object B.

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Introducing LiminalAI: Exploring the Frontiers of AI-Generated Dreams and Liminal Spaces

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Introducing LiminalAI: Exploring the Frontiers of AI-Generated Dreams and Liminal Spaces

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As a supplement to my upcoming flash talk, "Critical AI: Generating Dreams as Liminal Spaces," I am excited to introduce LiminalAI - a digital platform for exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the human experience.

LiminalAI is a virtual space where we can collectively experiment with AI-generated dreams, share insights, and push the boundaries of what we know about the human mind and its relationship with technology.

LiminalAI: A Dream Generator and Knowledge Companion

LiminalAI is an AI system that can generate a liminal dream scene, a surreal and symbolic environment that blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy. This AI can also answer any questions you may have about the intersection of AI, dreams, and the theoretical frameworks that inform our understanding of these topics, including the work of Kenneth Burke.

Ask LiminalAI anything about:

The symbolism and meaning behind AI-generated dreams

The implications of AI on our understanding of human consciousness and the subconscious

The connections between AI, dreams, and Kenneth Burke's theories on agency, scene, and purpose

The potential applications and ethics of AI-generated content in various fields, from art to psychology

Engage with LiminalAI and explore the frontiers of AI-generated dreams and liminal spaces!

https://partyrock.aws/u/taylor110/W0z1yb5j4/LiminalAI

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LiminalAI is a multimodal Q&A assistant that helps users explore the intersection of AI, dreams, and liminal spaces through interactive visualization generation.

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Photo by D'OtherPix. This is on the wall in New York's Penn Station near the NJ Transit ticketing area.

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The pond is plenteous
The land is lush,
And having turned off the news
I am for the moment mellow.

With my book in one hand
And my drink in the other
What more could I want

But fame,
Better health,
And ten million dollars?

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"Modernized, perfected, the form runs thus..."

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"Modernized, perfected, the form runs thus..."

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If I made a trailer for my film fest video, this would be the voiceover (an update to Burke's satirical poem at the end of "Definition of Man")...

If all the large language models

Were one large language model

What a great large language model that would be.

If all the private tech firms

Were one private tech firm

What a great private tech firm that would be.

If all the imperialist defense departments

Were one imperialist defense department

What a great imperialist defense department that would be.

And if all the disposable people

Were one disposable person

What a great disposable person that would be.

And if the great private tech firm

Signed a contract with the great imperialist defense department

Who used its great large language model

To exterminate the great disposable person,

What great INTELLIGENCE that would be!

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“However human this desire to grow wrathful may be, and however justified it is by the conditions all about us, the fact remains that [the main job of a propagandist is] to wheedle or cajole, to practice the arts of ingratiation . . . It is not his work to convince the convinced, but to plead with the unconvinced, which requires him to use their vocabulary, their values, their symbols, insofar as this is possible.”

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Burke - Revolutionary Symbolism (dragged).pdf

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Even if any given terminology is a reflection of reality, by its very nature it must be a selection of reality; and to this extent it must function as a deflection of reality.

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"The thing is, Malcolm, since Libbie cleared out, I have quit putting out my books. For two reasons: the second is that she helped me so much by having been a secretary; the first is that she helped so much by my being so crazy about her, I was driven to prove, prove, prove, only roundabout to the shitten world, because so directly every day and night to her I was appealing. Maybe she had to die before me because she knew she was magic to me; and though the rules weren’t her rules, I was not just assiduous, but also after a fashion brilliant. Few women have been courted, through all kinds of developments, as she was by the same compulsive pleader. If I could believe that she lives on, and is looking down on me, I could still be driven as I once was until 5/25/69 (the lilac time – and when I came back a week later this time, the lilac-bloom of death had died)". (Letter to Malcolm Cowley from Paul Jay, The Selected Correspondence of Kenneth Burke and Malcolm Cowley, 396)

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This Padlet acts as a terministic screen. Through Burke’s lens, what aspects of reality does it select, and what does it deflect? We can keep both design and content in mind.

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Man is symbol using, making and misusing animal!

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Here's where to learn more about the conference and the original CFP.

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The 12th Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society 2025 | KB Journal

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Listen to Suno's interpretation of the tragic and comic in Kenneth Burke's work. With a DB assist! Not bad!

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Kenneth Burke Action Figure by ChatGPT and DB.

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Okay, someone had to do it. ChatGPT did it with lots of nudges.

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KB Action Figure ChatGPT Image Apr 17, 2025, 08_01_57 PM

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Post your favorite KB quotations, stories, memes, images, videos, recordings, articles, and other curiosities here. Comment, like, elaborate!

This padlet is moderated. Please keep your posts engaged, civil, respectful, and germane to anything KB related.

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Created by David Blakesley with AC/DC assist.

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Thunderstruck