I must admit that I am rather partial to academic conference even when held on home grounds (which eliminates the “junket” dimension). In my limited experience the academic conference is a site pregnant with possibility – both intellectual and social – limited in large part by the disposition of the participant-observer. This recent international conference, “Worlds in Discourse – Representations of Realities” (21 – 23 Nov 2005, organised by the School of language Studies and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University Kebangsaan Malaysia), held in the Klang Valley’s bosom of suburban (Sheraton Subang Hotel), was no different in this respect. With a note book, a hunter-orange Lamy fountain pen and a flaneur’s gait, I strolled through the three days mostly sampling, sometimes devouring, and occasionally turning-up my nose at, the intellectual fare on offer. But I left with a resounding belch of approval, after all my plate was piled with morsels of my choosing. [March 1, 2006] … More on MyArtMemoryProject.com .. “Revenge Of the Native“.