Ethical
College Admissions is taking a break for the rest of the summer (let me be
clear that I mean ECA the blog, not college admissions practices that are
ethical). I had planned to start the
hiatus a month ago, but waited for the Supreme Court to announce its decision
in Fisher v. Texas.
I’m
not spending summer in the Hamptons or the south of France, so if some issue of
monumental importance raises its head I’ll be prepared to comment on it. But this seems like a good time to step back,
recharge, and focus on some other writing projects.
I
started this blog last September not knowing if I would find anything to write
about, whether I could discipline myself to post on a regular basis, and
whether anyone would find it worth reading.
What I discovered was that all kinds of issues I couldn’t have
anticipated popped up, and after a week went by following a post I felt an urge
to sit down and address a new topic.
There
are two schools of thought when it comes to blogging. One is that the blogger should write for himself
or herself. The other is that blogging
is about a conversation with readers. I
accept both views. I have found that
writing has helped me clarify my own thinking about issues, but knowing that
there are people reading the blog, including people whose opinions I value
greatly, has proved fulfilling at a level I couldn’t have imagined. One analytical tool tells me that close to
5000 people have viewed the blog, with readers from 49 states (the holdout is North
Dakota) and 30 other countries. I am
particularly grateful to those readers who sent me e-mails or told me in person
that they enjoyed the blog. That means
more than you can know.
I
already have a queue of topics I’d like to address, but I’ll also be thinking
about how to improve the blog. My
original intention was to include both some short posts as well as the 900-1100
word sermonettes, but it will surprise no one who knows me that lengthy somehow
won out. The older I get, the preachier
I become. I am thinking about doing a
several-part series tracing the evolution of the affirmative action issue from Bakke to Fisher. I’d welcome
suggestions for how to make the blog better or topics/issues you’d like to see
addressed.
We
are officially on break. Back in September.
