Tag: self-reflection

I have done a lot of back and forth with myself over the years about whether blogging is something I can actually keep up with regularly. I’ve never been much of a diary writer (except for a brief time during my teenage years when there were just too many feelings to process). Haven’t been much of a letter writer, either. I have thoughts going through my head about all kinds of things, all day long, but rarely take the time to write them down (aside from tweets).

I have realized, though, that a centralized place might be a good way to get out some of my more “professional” thoughts on things that doesn’t necessarily require me to go on at length on Twitter and that don’t merit writing an op-ed for some outlet. I envision this being a space where I can reflect on things I’m learning from teaching or mentoring or something I watched or read. A place to unpack what bothers me and what (intellectually) excites me. A place for all the casual “sociologicalizing” that my mother hates. A place to do some writing simply for the enjoyment of writing instead of for the purpose of furthering my career and “making a contribution.”

I can’t promise that I will update this regularly. I also can’t promise that anything I write here will be any good. But I keep thinking about connection(s) and solitary-ness and being lost in my own head in the midst of finally having a break from teaching (and the other social responsibilities of this job) for the first time in nearly a decade, in the midst of a global pandemic. It is my hope that it might be easier to commit to the sage academic advice of “writing every day” if I don’t have to be writing something for publication. Maybe at the end of this sabbatical I’ll have established some better approaches to my writing… or maybe not.

So, let’s give this try.