My first post

I’m going to try to get the ball rolling with a quick post about how I will use this blog. For me, it’s basically a clearinghouse for different ideas running through my cluttered mind. This is also an opportunity to start writing about politics again after a long break (nearly 10 years!).

Some of the political topics that I will write about are authoritarianism and political institutions, an outgrowth of my doctoral studies at the University of Chicago. Unfortunately, history has not ended and the world has moved definitively toward the topics that I was studying during that period of my life. Authoritarian rule has become more seductive, and militaries are gaining prominence in political life across the global. The ideas and research that I was grappling with in grad school have only become more relevant.

I’ll also write posts about American politics and culture, particularly about the evolution of American conservatism over the past few decades as the conservative movement moves undeniably toward a more authoritarian outlook. And since I perform a lot of survey analysis for my job, there will probably be posts about changes in American culture based on my exploration of different surveys like the General Social Survey and the American Community Survey, perhaps with maps and other visualizations if I can find the time.

Moving from political science to fitness, while Chris is the climber, I focus more on running and lifting. I guess you can call me a ‘hybrid athlete’ with this attention to both endurance and strength. If I do begin writing fitness posts, they will most likely be about my efforts to run a sub 20-minute 5k or how I approach strength as someone who is on the other side of 40. I will also complain about how Chris destroys me in our periodic climbing adventures.

Other topics that my posts will touch on are soccer/football (because I’ve been really getting into tactics and how the game is like a chess match), music (because it’s long been a passion of mine), and books and TV. If you’re looking for a TV show to watch, my recommendation at the moment is This Fool available on Hulu.