While I was working on my PhD, back in the early to mid-2000’s, there were several moments where I struggled with who I was and who I thought I was going to be when all that hard work was finished. I had visions of leaving the pedestrian “day to day grind” of public school teaching and moving on to the “intellectually stimulating” halls of academia, sitting in an office, drinking coffee, writing books, becoming famous. That sure as hell didn’t happen.

What has happened though; in the years that have passed, as an elementary school teacher I believe, has been more meaningful; a contribution to society, while not momentous, I think out weighs anything “that guy” in his office drinking coffee could ever have accomplished just sitting there writing. This blog has become the place where I have been able to figure things “like this” out while becoming more and more comfortable with who I am; a husband, a writer, a teacher.

If I’m honest with myself, all I’ve ever wanted, as “a writer,” was to find my voice and for that voice to be heard. I may not have a lot of RSS subscribers and my weekly unique visitors may only number in the “double-digits.” That really doesn’t matter. What does matter is what I believe this blog to be for me. It has become the place; the tool where I have been able (and will continue) to cultivate my voice. That cultivation comes from sitting here writing, revising, iterating, writing revising, iterating. “It” projects forward, “into the wild,” when I feel that that cycle is complete enough and I gather up the courage to click; “save and publish;” to be heard.