1. printculture: I, too, sometimes feel burdened by the need to post every two weeks, the deadline sometimes coming up on me at the worst times. If I were really prepared, I would write my posts early, on the weekends, but I’m an inveterate procrastinator, especially when it comes to writing, so it's rare that I start writing a post more than 24 hours in advance, even if I'm mulling over a topic in my head for several days. But, even when I experience the blogging as an “interruption,” as E put it, I feel a strong commitment to hold up my end of the collective agreement where each of us has a day on which we're supposed to add new content, even if it means posting the kind of navel-gazing ruminations you're reading right now.
Why is that? Well, I like that printculture is a collective enterprise, and that it was born out of a need to connect, not just to each other, but to some larger conversations going on around us. As consumers of culture, we have things to say about it that I think are worth reading about. And I suppose the pleasure I get out of reading the work of my printculture cohorts outweighs the pain of having to come up with my small contribution twice a month. That the blog is different from others out there makes me want to nurture and sustain it even more.
But the other personal motivation for me is that printculture gives me the pressure I need to write something other than administrative e-mails and comments on student papers, which comprise the bulk of my writing life these days. Writing requires a withdrawal from the world that I find hard to manage with any consistency. I'm always drawn first and foremost to the immediate tasks at hand, and multi-tasking seems to come more naturally to me than the sustained focus that scholarly projects require. It's what makes me a good administrator and an engaged teacher, but an undisciplined writer. But when I do manage to sit down with my disparate thoughts and try to fashion them into some coherent shape, I feel like the “life of the mind” is something I can still cultivate without having to write a book. That's why I still want to keep this humble blog going, I guess. It's an area of my life that doesn't have any direct bearing on my career, or making a living, or maintaining my relationships, or being an active citizen, but it's the virtual perch from which I can reflect on all those things and on the wider world that occasionally comes into focus. Its impracticality is what makes it worthwhile for me.
2. Moving: Several printculture folks, including me, are on the move this summer. When I know I'm going to be leaving, I think I tend to withdraw a little more, too, although I also feel like I need to make efforts to spend time with the people I'm going to miss most. I start to prioritize my time slightly differently, I guess. Once the semester is truly over and I've turned my final grades in at this school, I'll have to get down to the business of packing. The first thing I do is take down the pictures from the walls and pack up the photos on the shelves. The bare walls signify to me that we're really moving and the packing has begun! It makes the physical space slightly melancholy, and I suppose that's a way to get into that psychological space of uprooting.
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