Saturday, June 2, 2007

Getting started

So this is my blog. Welcome. My guess is that if you're reading this you already know me to some extent, so I will dispense with introductions. For the uninformed, I just graduated from Claremont McKenna College, a small liberal arts school outside Los Angeles, with a degree in Government. (That's kind of like a Political Science degree, only better.) I'm moving to Manhattan in a few weeks for a summer internship with the New York Post, and after that, it's anyone's guess.

I decided to start blogging for several reasons. The most immediate reason is that I figured it would be healthy for me to keep writing on a regular basis post-college. Of course, writing regularly is only a healthy exercise if one has something useful to say, and my hope is that I do. What I'll talk about will probably vary widely from post to post; I enjoy discussing just about anything, from good books and current events to theology and the latest episode of The Office. Some of my thoughts may be incomplete, and this may be intentional. I know that very soon I'll start to miss the all the wonderful intellectual banter I've left behind at CMC, so I welcome all comments on my posts, and comments on comments, and so on. Nothing would make me happier than if an actual discussion broke out once in a while. And if you don't feel like making a public comment, I always appreciate emails.

This blog will also be how I keep all of you--whoever you may be--updated on my life. I'm in New York for at least the summer, a location which is sure to produce its share of amusing observations and stories. I'll do my best to keep my posts personal without making them too personal; I will not be pouring my heart out all over the internet, and you will not become my closest personal confidant simply by reading what I've written. Call me old-fashioned if you must. If you really want to see me cry, you can come to my apartment and show me the baseball standings.

The long and short of it is that I'm experimenting here. I don't know yet what this blog will become. I won't be getting private or touchy-feely, but by the nature of the medium I'll be sharing a lot of myself. It's something I'm excited to try, but as a fairly private person, it's not something I'm used to, so I ask for your understanding.

Speaking of personal stuff, it's going to be relevant here that I'm a committed Christian of the Roman Catholic variety. As per my above promise, I won't be using this blog to explore my deepest spiritual struggles, but anything short of that is fair game. From time to time I might post a passage of scripture that I find particularly interesting or meaningful, and you'll probably find that questions about God and the Christian life intersect a lot of my thinking on lots of other topics. We'll see how that plays out once I get writing.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my blog. I'll try to post again within the next few days. I just finished reading (and loving) F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and it's gotten me thinking about the relationship between literature and philosophy. Stay tuned.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi John, good to hear from you! Congrats on graduation and have fun in New York. :)
Best,
Lina

ALee said...

Good luck on the blog John.-AL

Br. Nick, OP said...

Hey John -
I used to have a blog (actually I think I still have it) and I said that I would update it once a month to keep people informed about me. That pretty much turned out to be a complete lie and I haven't posted anything in forever. I wish you better luck.
-Nick

Brittany said...

Your blog is so pretty! I haven't read it and I need to get ready to go to church now becuase my dad's getting antsy, but I promise I'll read it later! BK

Lydia said...

I'm excited for what's to come...

Unknown said...

hey John! blogging looks like fun... visiting you in NY looks funner! let me know when you get settled in. miss you cuz.

~Kara

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ryan J. Stoddard said...

Well, if nothing else, the name is promising.

I look forward to reading what you post here, and refuting most of it.

:-D

Candy said...

Congratulations on a successful first post. Can't wait to see what you'll come up with.

-Candy

Anonymous said...

Blog tip #1: POst very rarely. That way people won't complain when you put up something controversial. Because they won't be reading it.

Adam S. McHugh said...

Thanks for the link to my blog, John. I will return the favor, which I'm sure will send hundreds of readers your way. Or maybe one or two.