So, I'm getting ready to reactivate this blog in earnest, but I have to say that a lot of what previous animated me on this blog (evolution and science education) has moved to the back burner. I'm still passionate about having good science in the public schools, I'm still genuinely interested in a lot of philosophical issues about things like the interplay between religion and science, belief vs. non-belief, and so forth.
But, I'm coming up on the one-year anniversary of the car accident that led to a spinal injury that eventually required surgery, and which greatly diminished the quality of my life. It was easily my worst year as a teacher, and my church commitments suffered as well. About the only good thing to come out of it was a settlement from the insurance company that paid for the surgery and allowed me to also move forward with life goals. Physically, I'm healed. Psychologically, I'm altered in various ways, not all of them bad.
Sadly, I also lost my mother-in-law this May, a woman who lived with me off-and-on for most of the last ten years, and she won't be able to share in those goals. This loss makes me think about how much longer I want to work, whether I want to continue at a paid musician at my church, whether or not I see myself getting more education, and in what field. So many unfinished projects, so many things left to accomplish. So I've made a few decisions of late, and as part of that, I will be reactivating my blog. The picture below gives a hint as to where my future interests lie:
