On Thanksgiving my parents showed a video of our graduation to my grandparents. I didn’t watch most of it because hearing that speaker once was more than enough for me. I don’t even remember his name, some politician, I think? I did watch Nathan Miller’s speech because that I actually enjoyed during graduation. Anyway, it made me think about all of you and where we are all at now. It seems like ten years since that graduation ceremony. I remember, after all of the graduation parties and family obligations, going home and setting up this blog. Bryan and I sat with dueling computers: I looked up the e-mail addresses on Groupwise, he typed them into the invitation (you can only invite three people at a time, so it was a bit tedious). Although I invited every person in our class, it turns out that only about half of the invitations went through. Sorry about that. Anyway, we stayed up late setting up the blog and talking about its possibilities, and I honestly thought that maybe it would last through the summer until people got too busy, forgot about it, etc. Incidentally, I ended up oversleeping the next morning and LifeVoice went on tour without me. I had to be driven to our first concert by Krista, several hours late. But that’s beside the point.

The point—and yes, I have one—is that the fact that this has lasted as long has it has says a lot about the distinctiveness and closeness of our class. We desire to remain connected. I guess all of that talk about community over the four years at Crown actually made some sort of impact. But now, it has been a week or two since anyone has posted, so I’ve decided to just put an end to it and delete it altogether…just kidding. I just wanted to get Steve all riled up. No, I don’t think that the blog is in as much danger as Steve likes to pretend that it is. Once we go a few months without a post, then we can think about letting it die with some dignity. But for now, let’s just let it run its natural course, and see how long it lasts. There are several people who post semi-regularly, and I know there are many, many people who read/check the blog on a very consistent basis. The purpose of the blog is to keep those who wish to participate—whether that is posting or reading—up to date on each other’s lives and no matter how few the participants get, that purpose is fulfilled, even if only one person continued to post. The bottom line: I’m not worried.

Okay, now that that is out of the way. Let’s see, here’s a brief update on my life. 1.) Grad School: nothing exciting to report. I love my classes and will graduate in May. I have decided not to apply to Ph.D. programs until I have decided if teaching is something that I would like to do long-term. Which leads me to…2.) Teaching: There are aspects of it that I love, and some that I could do without. I really enjoy getting to know my students and developing (appropriate) relationships with them; I don’t enjoy shoving grammar down their throats. Next semester I am teaching Writing and Lit, which I think I will like quite a bit more. They are wanting me to commit for next fall, but it seems so far away and there are so many things up in the air right now. Okay, that’s enough for now, this post has already gotten too long. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!