Today is the first day of yet another semester here at Champlain College, and for some reason this picture made sense. First off, in some ways I've really dropped the ball on this blog, at least in regards to its initial purpose. When I started this a decade ago it was mainly designed as an apparatus for my family and friends to follow along on my adventures overseas. I quickly realized that none of them cared or even bothered to read the blog. In some sense this is to be expected, and it brings us back to Proust's discussion on divergence. Even now I doubt if my current SO could find this blog if her life depended upon it. Still, I blogged away if only for me (and, as I've noted before, I'm amazed when I go back and read earlier passages and discover that I have completely forgotten about them, both the original event and my later reflection, and it might as well have been written - and lived - by some stranger). The last year and a half the blog has evolved into more a literary and music blog, which is perfectly cool because if I'm supposed to change every five years then by definition my blog has to - and should - change as well. It does mean that I'm dreadfully far behind on blogging about my trips. I have, seriously, dozens if not hundreds of posts that I need to do to get caught up. Like Proust, I'm in a race against time and my own memory. Secondly, today is the first day of my latest course-embedded trip to Zanzibar, as my excellent friend Steve Wehmeyer and I are embarking on a year-long linked interdisciplinary course that will features two weeks in Zanzibar in January. It will be my fourth trip to Zanzibar, which defies logic. By the time we return on 14 January I will have spent five weeks of my life there. And finally, this is the beginning of my, I believe, 29th year of full-time university teaching; in addition, I gave my first lecture 35 years ago and taught my first course 33 years ago. Plus, I'm well into the last decade of my teaching career. If anything calls for a picture of a beautiful Zanzibar sun set it may be the recognition of time.
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Soon, my brother, soon.
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3 comments:
I want you to know I read your blog fairly regularly. Sal.
Wow, no one, especially someone living in a place as cool as OZ, should be that bored. Still, it makes me happy that you read the blog.
Your blog is anything but boring. It is insightful and interesting and a fantastic break from reading about Middle East News and the Cheeto-in-Chief. Both of which tend to be depressing and disturbing (even from as far away as Oz).
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