My PhD Plans

Dear Readers,

This is a brief personal note to inform those of you who care about such things that I have decided to start my PhD in politics at the University of Cambridge this October. I plan to continue blogging, though I don’t know yet what effect this will have on the frequency of my posts. I can tell you this–I expect that resolving my PhD decision will put my mind at ease and lead to more posts between now and then, but beyond that it is harder to say. I am a quick writer when motivated, so if there is time available I expect at least some activity, even when I’m working on other projects. In recent weeks there have been gaps in my posting because I have been visiting several potential PhD destinations, meeting excellent people at all of them. I’m very pleased to have gotten into Cambridge’s PhD program and look forward to my time there. If all goes to plan, I will finish the PhD by mid-2018 and have my doctorate at age 26. I want to thank you all for your continued readership–I began this blog in the summer of 2012, before the start of my third year in undergrad, and it has continually been a dear companion to me ever since. I have been pleased to see the blog get Freshly Pressed three times and to see it be named one of WordPress’ recommended blogs. When I started, I did not expect any response at all. To my surprise and delight, the blog audience has grown almost continuously since the day I started it, and the blog serves as an excellent archive of my ideas and my development as a political theorist over the last few years. Going forward, I hope to continue to have the time and inspiration to write more posts at or beyond the quality level to which you and I have grown accustomed.

Thanks again for all your continued support.

–Benjamin

Internet Troubles

As usual, when something is obstructing me from blogging, I like to let my readers know what’s going on. Over the last week, my internet access at home has been totally out of service. I’ve had few opportunities to get online at all, much less invest the time and energy necessary to write a piece on here that’s worth reading. I’m hoping that regular access will be restored sometime in the next couple of days. If it continues, I’ll update readers with any new information.

2 Years of Blogging

Once a year, I permit myself to write a self-indulgent piece about the state of the blog near the date that marks the anniversary of my first post. I began this project on August 4, 2012, so that time has arrived. To date, I have maintained my promise to only do this once annually. I have no intention of regularly subjecting my readers to my banal self-reflections. Continue reading “2 Years of Blogging” →

Blog News

Apologies to readers for the dearth of posting recently–I am wrapping up the last two papers I have to write for my MA at the University of Chicago (one on inequality and democracy in the United States, the other on Aristotle and the vulgar craftsman). These papers must be completed by June 4, so by that date or before regular posting will resume. I will be spending next year waiting to hear back about PhD applications, so once these papers are finished my schedule will open up considerably and blog volume will increase. Thank you for your patience in the meantime. I appreciate all of you who take time out of your busy schedules to follow my writing.

Blog News

When my run of posting starts to become rather thin, I think I owe readers an explanation as to what is going on and when they can expect things to return to normal. In this case, I am presently working on a draft of the MA thesis I am writing at University of Chicago, provisionally titled The Return of Depression Politics and the Coming Cataclysm for Democracy. This draft needs to be completed by Friday, April 18, and so I have had to give it precedence over my other projects. Sometime during this week the draft will be finished, at which point the blogging pace should begin to pick up. However, a full return to the very-nearly-daily pace I maintained for much of 2013 is not in the cards, at least not until I finish my MA, which I expect will happen de jure in June, de facto in late May. I thank you, the reader, for your patience as I complete these urgent projects.