My life is undergoing some major transition so I thought my blogging presence should as well.

My two years as a missionary in Mthatha, South Africa are concluded so I’ve also concluded the blog I had about that time. You can still read through it, however, if you’re interested in overseas mission, HIV/AIDS, life on a garbage dump, living as an ex-pat, learning to speak another language, the Indian Ocean, or any of the other fabulous, exciting, frustrating, and transforming experiences I had these past few years – http://mthathamission.blogspot.com.

Before that, I worked as a news reporter for KNOM AM/FM in Nome, Alaska and was also a volunteer EMT. You can read about my life in Alaska at my old Alaska blog – http://nomeak.blogspot.com.

Many readers of my South Africa blog asked and encouraged me to continue blogging in this new phase of my life at Yale Divinity School and those requests are the prime reason for this new blog. (That, and I like to write.) I see it as a way to keep writing and reflecting on the transition back into lower-48 culture after several years away, keep my friends and family updated on life, and let my mind wander across goings-on from Nome to Mthatha and everywhere in between.

However, I want to note up front that what made my blog from South Africa interesting was that I had great material to work with. The people and stories I encountered there are so unusual and so far from the norm of middle-class U.S. that they naturally made for great reading. I expect to have lots less of that kind of material to work with at YDS.

Nonetheless, I’ll give it a shot and see what happens. My guiding principles in the earlier blog were to criticize only myself and focus on relating isolated instances and individuals. We’ll see how well those transfer to this new endeavour.