It was two years ago that Swords into Plowshares got its start with this post. It has been a good outlet for some of my not-quite-fully-formed ideas, some of my instantaneous reactions to events of the day, and some of my gleanings from books, newspapers, and the Internet. It's hard to know what might have taken the place of blogging if I had not been doing this for the past two years, but my sense is that this has complemented my teaching, research, and (more formal) writing rather than competing with it. And, of course, I've enjoyed it. Otherwise, I probably would have walked away from it a long time ago.
Thanks to those of you who check in from time to time. The best thing about doing this has been staying connected--or in some cases reconnecting--with the friends and former students (and those are overlapping categories) who read and make comments.