I'm writing a boring introduction to this blog, so read on if you need some help falling asleep. This site is an experiment in two ways. I am trying out a suggestion from a recent faculty seminar, when we were told that blog sites make a good way to do asynchronous class discussions because they are simple to use and present a better user interface than some bulletin board sites. The other experiment is to see if this mode of writing might facilitate my writing in general. The hardest part of academic research is the discipline to set aside time for writing. Perhaps I can put some fragments down in this setting that will help me work on the larger projects that I keep putting off.

My primary audience will be students in my classes, but others are welcome to post, too. I will moderate all outside posts to try to keep the discussion focused on matters relevant to the courses at hand, but I hope that other interested parties may actually strengthen the discussion (keep it brief, please) by shedding light on points of view which differ from what I have written.