Getting Started

As a first impression, starting a blog seems a rather unlikely thing for me to do for a number of different reasons: 1) I'm already sooooooo busy. Why would I want something else to maintain on a regular basis? 2) I'm a fairly private person for whom public declarations do not usually come easily. Why would I assert my thoughts into this relatively "public" space? Hmmm . . . good questions.

During a week of being housebound due to illness, I spent some time updating my technological skills (tinkering with my laptop as an alternative to dying of boredom). In that process I began visiting a blog (www.brendanloy.com) that my husband, Dave (pictured here with me), has been visiting for a few years. Brendan, the Irish Trojan, has great journalistic skills, and I find his coverage of the idiosyncracies of Notre Dame and South Bend life to be quite amusing. (He is a law student there, and I received my Master's degree there over twenty years ago.) As I regularly checked in on Brendan, I became quite impressed with the degree to which his blog also allows him to stay in touch with family and friends, as well as engage with other people about specific interests that are obvious passions of his. So, I must credit Brendan for being my inspiration.

I hope this blog accomplishes many of the same things that Brendan's does for him. My friends and family are on both coasts and everywhere in between. Often, my routine day doesn't allow me to touch base with even dear friends and family who are closest to me in proximity (my friends in East St. Louis and my own parents), much less my brothers (Scott in Philadelphia and Tim in Seattle), my sister (Susan in Carmel, CA) or the California Holdens (Kurt, Kathy and The Cousins - Erin and Jack; Grandma Vicki, if she'll ever touch a computer, again). Also, with each class of my college students whom I've seen graduate, I have wished for ways of staying in touch with them, letting them know how the projects we've worked on together are progressing.

Additionally, as a scholar of American life and culture, I am fascinated with the historic potential of blogs. They could actually be a rich source of cultural information for future historians, and, in my little world, something that my family can hang on to for a long time.

There is my rationale. I've chosen the name "esprit" for this blog, as it best describes how I always want to be, "lively of mind and spirit." (Of course, always remaining physically lively would be great, too!)

Ready? Here we go!