I decided to start a new form of writing on this newsletter: I call it Editor’s Note! Rather than a polished piece on substantive topics, I want to use this format to talk directly to subscribers about my thinking on writing and other issues that fall more in the “housekeeping” category. Enjoy!
Purpose of This Newsletter
When I started this blog, I had a number of motivations for doing so.
One motivation was that I wanted to practice writing. At each point in my educational journey, major writing projects were left unfinished. Some projects were submitted with teeth-gnashing and with major revisions needed. Other writing projects were never started. My thinking in starting this newsletter was that if I practiced, I would get over this aversion to writing. However, as you will see by looking at the front page of this newsletter, I haven’t stuck to this practice. I’m going to pick up this practice again this year, and try to bring value to the subscribers who I have (which is more than I had thought I had, thank you readers).
Grad School & Career Change
As some of you may know, I am a doctoral student in a social science. I attend an American university because I was born and raised in the US. Well, I am leaving my program at the end of April. I say “leaving,” but there is probably a word I’m not thinking of that captures what I want to say. I can’t recall a word that captures departing from an institution not solely by coercion, but others are certainly showing me the door. Part of my motivations for this newsletter were career-oriented, but I’m unsure where to go next. One question I asked myself is “am I qualified to write a newsletter about sociology if I’m not in a program anymore?” Yes! In fact, the human capital I gained in grad school is what qualifies me to write and I hope readers like you (thank you) will lend me your ear.
New Directions
Even though I will continue to write about social science and meta-scientific topics beyond grad school, I want to spruce up this newsletter a bit. I want to visually change my newsletter and I want to change formats of writing. Previously, I would only post if I have a logical essay in hand, but this contributed to my writing aversion. If I give myself permission (and you lend me your ear), then nothing stops me from writing things like this “Editors Note” or even a paragraph pointing readers to an idea. However, I commit to maintaining a standard. I shouldn’t send something out if I don’t think it is worth a subscriber’s email storage. I’m not sure how I will balance this commitment with the renewed permission to “mess up.”
TikTok Ban
On this newsletter, I have written about some ideas that help me understand TikTok and its place in our world. Please check those out[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] !
I wanted to provide my thoughts briefly here because I want the newsletter to focus on things out of the news cycle. I have a feeling that because so many things are in the news cycle now (across the world), the TikTok ban might not be top of mind for readers. However, I don’t want to add to that noise when it might feel overwhelming for readers. On the ban, I was in favor of TikTok going offline or being sold to an American company. On all fronts — be they social, political, financial, etc — I believe that TikTok is a net negative for society.
Thank you readers and subscribers. As I have mentioned, there are more of you than I remembered and it is exciting! Please leave comments on my writing. I want to pen-pal with my readers!