Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Genesis Revisited


A year ago this week, I started the blog "Conversations with Philemon". It began, at least in part, as a New Year's Resolution designed to get me writing more since I had noticed a sharp decline in the amount of writing I had been doing from the end of college to the present. In that capacity, it has succeeded marvelously. I haven't counted but I think I've probably written somewhere in the vicinity of 75,000 words over the course of the year. The 52 posts from 2009 didn't quite reach the 100-post goal that I intended, but I'm neither disappointed nor am I surprised. The exigencies of life often get in the way of the things we'd like to do. This blog has also been an exercise in the theory that people do their best (and most) work amidst the busy-ness of daily life. I posted less in my off-time over the summer and winter break than I did in the comparatively hectic spring--during which I was working overtime, preparing to move out of Michigan, and getting everything together to start graduate school--and fall, which was my first semester of graduate school. To be fair, not everything I wrote was original material. In fact, close to 1/3 of the total posts, and probably a rather higher percentage of total words, were previous writings that I edited for posting. Most of these, of course, were history papers of some sort, but since this blog is at least partially devoted to history, I think this was an acceptable modus operandi.

Has this process taught me anything? I'm sure it has, but I'm not entirely sure what that is yet. Do I write more now than I did a year ago? Most definitely. But has this blog gotten me into the habit of sitting down to pound out my thoughts in written form? Maybe. The necessities of graduate school and of my future academic career have assured that I'll never be in want of writing anymore. Right now, that has turned into great fodder for some extensive blog posts, but I have a feeling that as the years roll on, should I keep up with this blog, it may very well turn into a more personal journal. Or, conversely, it may become a place only for posts of my papers and research. Frankly, I'm hoping to avoid both. The diversity of this blog has been one of my favorite aspects, and although my interests obviously gravitate toward history, I enjoy that looking back on my posts, I've written on topics ranging from particle physics to probability theory to socialism to poetry to synchronicity. If I have anything like a new goal for this blog for the coming year, I'd say it would be something like "introduce even greater diversity into my topics." I think, on occasion, I'd also like to be able to post shorter works too. One of the reasons I think I only made it to 52 posts is that I spent the better part of a week working on some of them. Another goal may be something along the lines of "it's OK to write twice as many posts that are half as long." Not really my style, but it might break up the monotony of some of these posts (even I find the contents dull sometimes).

It's hard not to look back on the year of blogging and think about the year in general. It's difficult for me to think of another year in my life that was as eventful as 2009. I moved twice, lived in three states, worked in (not the same) three states, witnessed the inauguration of America's first black president, applied to, was accepted to, and began graduate school, visited New York City for the first time, rediscovered my love of hiking, and read more than I think I've read in any single year of my life. Despite some minor economic hardships in those last months in Michigan, it was a pretty good year. It's also hard not to look back on the decade. Over two-thirds of my life, so far, was spent in the Aughts or the Naughts or the Naughties or the zeros or the 2000s or whatever the hell we're going to call them. I began the decade not even as a legal adult. Thus, my entire adult life, so far, and the most momentous events of my life occurred in that decade. I graduated from both high school and college, moved out of my parents house, lived several places, owned three cars, traveled to Mexico and all around the US, met some of the best friends I will ever have in this life, and fell in love with Kirsten. It's hard to top that last one. I think most people look back on their twenties as the best time in their life, and I probably won't be any different. This decade encompassed most of that age and even though on the whole, this decade probably does not rank terribly highly in American history, I will always recall it fondly.

What are my new goals, my New Year's and New Decade's Resolutions? My immediate New Years' Resolution is to become, by this time next year, proficient in reading French and Latin. I'm halfway there with the French, and I just started learning Latin over winter break so I'm kicking it into high gear. May 2010 be the year of languages! In terms of the decade, I suppose I have some personal goals and some professional ones. I certainly hope that, sometime between the age of 27 and 37, I get married and start a family. It would also be nice to own my own home as well, rather than continuing to rent from tiny apartments, though both of these, essentially, are contingent on my accomplishment of the professional goals. By the end of this decade, I would like to have completed my PhD in either history or the history and philosophy of science and be gainfully employed as a professor at a university. By the end of the decade, I also hope to have published at least one book. And if I have time, it might be nice to be the drummer in a band. Haven't done that in a while. So, there you have it. Ten years of goals and aspirations. Wish me luck. Ave atque vale!


1 comment:

  1. This is a neat post and I have lots of things to say...

    I like that you are trying to keep your blog diverse. I struggle with that myself. At times, my blog is very clearly and English teacher & writer's blog. I like that, but I have other interests and I do try to force myself to post about them from time to time, but it's hard, so it's good to know that someone else has at least thought about it.

    Also, word on the last decade. It is odd to be past your "coming of age years". Now it's just, "okay, what can you do."

    I envy your French progress. I was almost fluent with reading when I left high school. Now I am, um, not. I would like to get back to it. Maybe I will have time one of these years, but I really like the language and culture and I don't want to just leave it behind.

    Last, one day, when we are old and have enlarged prostates and time, we will should recruit a bass player with a PhD or MA in the sciences and have the most well-educated band in the land.

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