nulla dies sine linea

That's "never a day without a line" from Horace in 658 BC, for those of us who don't read Latin. I picked it up in a composition textbook, and it's something I'm trying to do.

Make no mistake--I don't think of myself as a writer. First and foremost, I'll probably always think of myself as a teacher. Then a scholar, although I mostly do that to keep teaching. I love to read, and I truly believe it when I tell my students that I don't really know what I mean until I've written it. I have learned immeasurably from reading and working with writers of all stripes.

So, why am I doing this? Well, partly because Jen told me I should. She's a good friend, and she knows just when to push me into something. (Although I still don't know how to drive a stick-shift--instead we got a pickup with an automatic.) Also because I need someplace to let my mind sort out all the little bits and pieces floating around it. And mostly because I want people to respond.

I talk about the academic enterprise (at least, those parts of it I am most familiar with) as a never-ending cocktail party. You come in, you listen to what people are saying to get a sense of the conversation, then you find your own stance and start talking. People respond, and on and on, until you finally have to leave, and they'll still be talking with and about you after you're gone. It's this exchange that I crave, and I've spent 4 years at an institution where the exchange is stifled by the competitive nature of the PhD granting institution.

So bear with me, folks.