Time to begin again

The blog has (obviously) been defunct for a while. It was a natural result of the end of a transition -- after a year in Marinette, the move from life in Seattle was no longer at the fore-front, and I found that the work of my academic and home/garden lives took up almost all of my time. It had served its creative and communicative function and I was okay with letting it languish.

In the last month -- even before the cancer diagnosis -- I had been playing with the idea of reviving the blog. I started an entry and then deleted it. I though about my theme and purpose -- as a professor who teaches lots of writing, I am worried about such things as coherence, purpose, sense of genuine engagement, etc.

Well, for better or for worse, the surprising news of melanoma -- and the attendant experiences -- has given me a very good reason to dust off the once-beloved blog. Obviously the theme has changed (although the url and title will remain the same for simplicity's sake). I toyed with the idea of renaming it something darkly humorous such as "adventures in cancerland" but realize that the joke might be lost on some. However, I do forwarn that this blog will be the site of my own creative/intellectual/emotional process. Yes, it might make people squirm. And it might be too much for others. I absolutely recognize this, and encourage you to take care of yourselves. However, having only spent 10 days as someone with cancer, I already know that I need to let go of taking care of others.

And, I hope that this will not become strictly a cancer blog. It is an Amy-blog, and one of the (big) factors of my life right now is cancer, treatment, philosophical meditations, etc. However, I fully anticipate that I will also be writing about all the other things that make my life rich such as my relationship with Rhonda, life in Marinette, food and cooking, knitting, Buddy, books, movies, friends and family, yoga, and many other random things.

I am keenly aware of how important humor and good stories are and will continue to be for me. I plan to use this as a site to tell lots and lots of stories.