A Quick Note

I intend to get back to blogging next week, after I've recovered from all my travels and before the craziness of moving sets in.  I just wanted to give a head's up to the regular crew that we may be having some new visitors in the next few days, so give them a warm welcome and offer them a figurative chair and snacks. 

New folks, welcome!  A few orienting remarks - some of you may know me by my offline name, but here I'm Rana, so I'd be appreciative if you respect the pseudonym.  I welcome comments - especially wordy ones that open up or continue a conversation (hell, comments are the main reason I keep blogging) - and you can also send me email about things you'd rather not open up for general discussion. 

All I ask is that you read the post first (and make sure you either understand it, or are willing to ask questions about what you don't) and that you read the comments as well.  There are a lot of really smart, interesting folks who comment here (many of whom have wonderful blogs of their own - click on their names to find out) and you should consider this to be the equivalent of a group of friends and colleagues shooting the breeze around a table in an outdoor cafe, on a picnic, etc.  Feel free to listen in all you want; if you wish to comment, be sure that you're joining a conversation, not just grandstanding.  Disagreement is fine, but let's keep it civil, and in the spirit of mutual learning, not browbeating each other.

Now, heck, I've made this sound all grim and rules-y.  Here's the simple version:  be a decent, friendly human being, open to inquiry and new ideas, and pull up a chair!

Update: at the bottom of each post, along with the date, time, permalink (permanent url for just the post), and trackbacks (links from other blogs citing the post), are category links. If you click on one, you will be taken to a page of posts belonging to that category. If you click on "Writing the World" for example, you'll end up with a page of my more essay-like posts about things I've observed in the world; "Daily Doings" consists of posts having to do with the day-to-day mundanities of my life, and so on.

Comments

[Pilgrim/Heretic]

Welcome back, Rana! And hi, new folks! I brought some chips & guacamole.

[Keri]

Hi Rana! Love the blog!

[Rana]

Welcome, Keri!

Great guac, P/H! (I can see I have a lot to catch up on at your blog!)

[Christine]

Welcome Back Rana - you've been missed.

[Artist Friend]

Hi, Rana, this is Artist Friend. We met during our travels in SC. You remember--I'm tallish. I wanted to email this request, but can't figure out how. Briefly, in the fall I'm going to assign some selected blog posts to my students in order to stimulate some reaction, and hopefully some thinking. May I use "From the Heirarchical to the Ecological" for this? I could direct them to the post through the Web, or I could give them a link-dead hard copy if you prefer. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I'll pull up a chair on your blog now and then and have a chat.

[Artist Friend]

Hi, Rana, this is Artist Friend. We met during our travels in SC. You remember--I'm tallish. I wanted to email this request, but can't figure out how. Briefly, in the fall I'm going to assign some selected blog posts to my students in order to stimulate some reaction, and hopefully some thinking. May I use "From the Heirarchical to the Ecological" for this? I could direct them to the post through the Web, or I could give them a link-dead hard copy if you prefer. It was a pleasure meeting you, and I'll pull up a chair on your blog now and then and have a chat.

[David]

Happy to read again!

[Rana]

Good to see you again, Christine and David!

AF - you're welcome to send them to that post, if you think it will be helpful. Just so you know, I'll be closing the comments on it in a week or two. Usually I close the trackbacks too - but would it be helpful for you and your students if I keep them open?

[Artist Friend]

I do think it would be helpful. No need to do anything special--I'll just send them there and have them respond to the text. I assume the links will be active, so they can follow those if they're so moved. Thanks! It's a great post, and I see already that you're one of them people who can really write good. Very cool. I'll be around!