In 2006 I founded a blog called In the Middle.

The site was created without much forethought during a time when I was trying to figure out how to change the conditions of possibility within the fields that mattered to me. I wanted to work towards a more humane sense of belonging rather than complain about stuckness, vanity and inertia. In the Middle was a good place to practice public scholarship and affirm a generative, generous, curious and creative ethos. I soon learnt that solitariness does not serve me well and so invited many others to write with me. In time the blog became a lively place. As of this writing, it has been accessed well over six million times.

But eventually I changed jobs and cities and disciplinary investments. I left the site in 2020. Hello ASU, and #ASUHumanities.

Six years into a position as a university administrator — and a new community, and a renewed life — I find myself at a crossroads that remind me of January 2006, when In the Middle commenced (in a rather boring way: it took me a few months to figure out what the space was all about). If all goes according to plan, I’ll use this space to experiment, engage, create … and with any luck cultivate a community likewise interested in affirming a vision for the humanities that centers the humane.

Welcome.