My first post was on January 8, 2003. This is post number 1,493, which equals just slightly less than one per work day over the six years. (I am compulsive about blogging.)

I don’t think I changed my approach to the blog much this year–I’m still serving up a mixture of commentary on politics (with a strong civic/populist lens), some light cultural criticism, and some links to civic projects. I’m pleased that there are more and more fellow bloggers professionally committed to civic renewal–please see my blogroll.

I continue to feel that there’s no tradeoff between blogging and other work that a researcher/academic does. When I’m working on an article, speech, or lecture, I usually post notes or excerpts here first. And sometimes a post leads to a publication. For instance, I was asked to turn this entry on the Kennedy-Hatch Serve America Act into a scholarly article; and I gave permission for this one to be reprinted in a high school textbook–in Canada, I believe. Thus, as long as I’m functioning, I’m confident I’ll keep blogging in ’09.