Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Plans and Promises for Autumn

I have fallen out of my routine. My only excuse for doing so is the business of moving to a new city, looking for a job, applying to grad school, being accepted at grad school, finding a wonderful paid internship opportunity that I am anxiously hoping to receive, and just generally trying to settle into a new routine that is both much more productive and much more busy than the one I had (seemingly inevitably) slipped into while at home in the heart of summer.

This is an apology. To anyone who might have enjoyed reading my thoughts on Sundays and has missed that part of their own routine; and to myself, for disrupting what was quickly becoming a favorite part of my weekly schedule.

This is also a promise. Of renewal of the old routine, and the beginning of a new one. Next week, I begin classes as part of the MPA program at Northeastern. This semester, I am registered for 'Congress and Policy' and 'U.S. National Security Policy,' both of which I am very much looking forward to—on their own merits and in combination. No doubt, I will have something to say about these classes, and the reading and writing I do for them.

Thus, I will be writing more. These posts will be less formally scheduled, occurring upon the realization that I want to write them rather than in adherence to a scheduled interval. They also may stray some from the original foreign policy focus of this whole affair, seeing as how fully half of what I'll be thinking about will be regarding the very domestic business of Congress and the American government in Washington. I do hope you'll bear with me through this, and hopefully even embrace the widening of perspective.

I will also be posting my writing for the classes. I have no idea what form and frequency this will take – whether Northeastern classes tend towards having weekly writings like the response journals of Simon's Rock, or just a few substantial papers per semester – but whatever I hand in for class will be posted here shortly thereafter. I find myself tempted to put some sort of disclaimer here, along the lines of “as long as I'm proud of it,” but I think blanketing the statement can only have the effect of forcing me to hold myself to my own personal standards (and those of my friends from SRC) in my work at Northeastern. And that, I think, will be good all around.

Thank you. For sticking with me through the unintentional hiatus, and for continuing to read, think about what I have said, and add your own thoughts and words to the discussion. I look forward to beginning, in the coming months and alongside y'all, the fun of graduate school, professional life (knock on wood), and a very busy autumn—filled with wars, revolutions, presidential primaries, and all the other wonderful, awful, captivating, important, and regular business of the country and the world.

Cheers,
Jeff

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