What follows is a summary review of some highlights from the 8th annual Milton Convention, Convocation and Convolution

Agenda:
- Induction of New Miltons
- Presentations in the Vein of the Four Miltonian Verities
- Keynote address - John Milton and the Birth of Freedom

Disambiguation:

Accepted for admittance this year:
Milton Glaser: Graphic Artist extraordinaire- “Make it clear”
Milton Avery: Prolific and taciturn American Modernist – “Why talk when you can paint?”
Nilton Neves: Brazilian skateboard legend
Milton Austan: Paterfamilias of an irrepressible annikee- Instilled love of love, truth and justice.

Milton Friedman - Deferred by quorum vote of the Board of Electors

Excerpted from the induction hearing transcript on M. Friedman

M. Friedman: How can you let Nilton in and not me, he's not even a Milton?

Chairperson’s remarks: Have you seen him skate? That lightness, that brightness, that's Miltonian Virtue. You on the other hand became obsessed and over-ridden by a bad idea. You misled people by perpetuating the view that a top-down wealth model is viable. Milton Dummkopf!! That's who you are.

M. Friedman; Well excuuse me, I’m only a lowly Nobel Prize winner.

Chairperson: …Infamous for spawning Reaganomics, and saying, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Well, at this meeting, lunch is free, but not for you…

Abstracts from Presentations Honoring the Founding Members

Don’t think of a Crazed Elephant - The author examines Milton Erickson’s inspirational influence on NLP, which in turn gives foundation to the work of George Lakoff, and the notion of ‘Framing’ in political dialog and debate.

Lessons learned in the isolation tank - Milton Trager – While afloat in a highly concentrated saline solution the author discovers the precarious nature of balance, how every part is connected, and how the slightest shift of a pinky can send the whole body reeling. Really.

One can’t spin and play at the same time - Milton Bradley - The author looks at the Milton Bradley game Twister as a successful gestalt of the four Miltonian Verities – chance, grace, alertness, levity.

Laugh and the World Laughs with you… - Milton Berle - When Cribbing is a no-no.
“Condi and Gandhi walk into a Bombay bar…” Stop me if you’ve heard this.

Keynote address- John Milton and the Birth of Freedom.
(Excerpt from Milton Klonsky, author of Blake, The Seer and his Visions)

It is widely known this most famous of Miltons’, author of Paradise Lost, was an English poet of profound talent and influence. Less known is that his political tract, the Areopagatica, is one of the primary documents which inspired the founding fathers, and created the rhetorical and essential underpinnings of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill O Rights, and innumerable outbreaks of Western Freedom.

Milton’s central concept is that censorship is an abomination. To this day his words have resonance and relevance.

Endnotes:

For a complete transcript, visit the Milton Frontier Foundation.