Blog Introduction

In communist countries people have duties, both official unofficial, and usually voluntary, to society. Having come from Beijing directly to the capital of the former Soviet Union, I feel strongly that abstract sense of duty, of social responsibility, which I’m translating into an introduction to this blog and an explanation for its delayed debut.

I conceived of the blog as a solution to my nascent inability to keep in touch with friends and family in the traditional ways and as an alternative to the infamous mass email. The blog is, of course, nothing if not a mass email but with the significant distinction of providing you the choice to visit or not to visit. No such freedom exists with a mass emailing, which presents its entire self with its imploring eyes directly in your email inbox.

Plans for the blog, however, stalled for several reasons, including that pesky nascent inability to keep in touch with friends and family. Other reasons include the general inaccessibility of the internet for travelers and the censorship of the internet that a certain communist country practices.

That said, the concept and motivation for the blog still exist, and soon the means to put concept into practice will, too, at which time you’ll receive periodic invitations to visit the site and read up on what it is this consummate loafer is avoiding now. Please feel free to comment on, contradict, rebut, or otherwise engage any of the entries. Nothing about the blog excludes two-way communication. On the contrary, I hope it engenders it.

Best wishes to all,
Nathan Rhead
nrc4@hotmail.com