Me, a Grande Dame!
Wow! According to Ralph Luker at Cliopatria, I'm in the in the ranks of Grandes Dames of History Blogging! One of the things that really pleases me is that it seems I actually have met IRL at least a couple of the people who have been blogging even longer than I have. WOw.
You know, this does make me stop and think, though. This blog has changed a bit over the last 4+ years. Lately, I've been feeling the same sense of obligation that many other bloggers feel, and I wasn't sure why. Maybe because I've been doing this a while? I'm not saying I'm slowing down even more, or stopping, but maybe doing this pretty regularly for a fairly long time has something to do with it?
Mostly, though, the diminished posting has something to do with the stresses of a T-T (or equivalent) job, something I didn't have when I started this blog. Before, when I wrote a book review or a paper, it was because I wanted to, and I was re-learning my craft. There was no obligation, though. I was teaching at community colleges where presenting and publishing were appreciated, but not part of the evaluation process. Now, I have to publish and present, I'm on an accelerated track that gives me three years less than most newbies to do so, and I'm (again) teaching all new or drastically revised preps. It's also a permanent job, so I feel the need to be a bit more circumspect about the campus at SLAC, the politics, etc. -- although I think some of my departmental colleagues know about the blog. I think this means that I need to re-think the way I blog here in order to keep up with some kind of regularity of posting. Some of my posting energies are also going elsewhere, because I'm trying to post about actual research in a password-protected blog with some other medieval types.
And speaking of research, I need to go drive about 75 miles to Big U to get some research done. Ugh.
While I'm doing that, don't forget about Glorifying Terrorism!*
*No, I don't have any financial stake in this, but I know that the people who do are taking a big gamble. I'd like them to be able to recoup the costs. Free speech is kind of important.
1 comment:
I think that an autobiographical genre is bound to change as one's life changes. I've been noticing a change in my own blogging patterns, topics, etc., which I realize have everything to do with how different my life context is now than a year ago.
That being said, it's interesting how many bloggers (including me) get stuck in a certain definition of their blog. It's almost as though we decide what the genre looks like when we first start and then feel the need to remain in that particular niche. But the glory of an ongoing medium is that the genre can -- and perhaps should -- change.
All of which is to say, please make of this blog what works best for your life right now!
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