So, long time, no posting!

Here it is, already mid-December, and I've not written since September 3rd! The lag is in part, of course, because once the semester starts I get too busy to do much of any "fun" writing - its also because I've been doing a lot of academic (and still fun) writing -- I've had an article accepted to the International Review of Qualitative Research, and one in a new book that will be titled Feminism, Fashion, and Flair -- and I've found it hard to go back and forth between the two types of writing. Also, FACEBOOK has been my downfall - I tend to post quick things there, rather than elaborating here.

But, to be honest, one of the real reasons I found it hard to find time to blog was that you all started making comments! Knowing that people were reading, and engaging, and commenting had the paradoxical effect of making me SHY and reticent to write. ARGH.

I don't write this to invite less participation from you - I write it to, ironically, invite more.

Tell me what you think: Why do we write? Why do we write publicly? How do we handle the vulnerability? Is it hubris to blog? When you read a blog, why do you do it? Why do you visit this particular one?

I had a friend say to me in early September that he was surprised I wasn't writing about more political things - that I was choosing to blog on the personal (Wyatt's first day of school, yoga, etc.) -- but to me, as a feminist, the personal is of course political - I intend to write a lot more about that, in the coming weeks - how we live our lives is a political decision. Its a spiritual decision, too. And often, I am so less than perfect - I'm in progress, to be sure -- I want to hear about you and your processes for becoming a consistent person, for living your values in your day-to-day life. That's what my blogs title is about: I value books, simplicity, and life (smillassimplelife!) - and I plan to blog more and more about those values, as 2009 dawns.

I'm going to come back here weekly, if not more often, and I really look forward to continuing a series of conversations about writing, living, reading, cooking, yoga-ing, teaching, loving, and praising. I hope you'll come back weekly, if not more often, and commenting away.