After much thought, I’ve decided to take a short break from posting. In the recent months, I’ve taken on more responsibilities at my job while still getting adjusted to living in Philadelphia. Essentially, I’m working on creating a life here and it takes away from my regularly scheduled posting.
Additionally, I’m at a bit of crossroads about the direction I would like my website and posts to go. For the most part, I try to keep a lighter, optimistic tone in all my posts and in doing so, I believe, I’ve steered clear of weightier issues that are important to the profession. Now that I’m “in the field” I’m seeing things, good and bad, that compel me to comment on the issue. But, I have tended to shirk away from the idea. It took a lot for me to muster up the courage to write Embracing Change?: NARA in the 21st Century. I watched the listservs for days to follow the reaction to this post. It was…stressful to say the least.
This fear is because my name is emblazoned on every page. In graduate school (when I started this website) I was an outside observer commenting on things that I knew a little something about. Now that I’m “in the profession,” I’m right in the thick of it. I must now approach topics tactfully because my name is attached to it. To publicly comment would be critiquing the policies and procedures of institutions, situations, and people I care about.
And yet, I’m not the type of person who runs away from a challenge.
Stay tuned.
