Daily Cal and (another) Intro

Welcome to all 7 of you who found this blog from the Daily Cal article "Blogging Berkeley". Yes, please read on in good health and humor and feel free to leave comments and feedback, although I must caution that all of you simply must control your raging Firefox browsers, as bandwidth doesn't grow on trees, y'know. Hippies, yes. Bandwidth: no no no.

I had thought being plugged in a newspaper would feel somewhat more momentous then it does now. But I shan't complain. I'll instead give some background for this blog and this author's ideation.

I started "The Catalytic Triad" in July 2006 as a response to what I've experienced in blogging communities both here in Berkeley and afar, and as a chance for personal growth. Blogging offers an open forum for folks to circulate different perspectives regarding all kinds of issues, and reading these can be as educational as it is enjoyable; there is a wealth of good writing that can be found within many blogs, offering insightful analysis, witty humor, and a powerful voice.

I’m fond of the different perspectives and styles I’ve read from bloggers whom I admire, and so I thought I’d also contribute my voice and perspective to the forum. Writing has also been a great way to sort my thoughts and stances on various issues, and to push myself into being more informed of issues that interest me.

The title of my blog espouses some of my motivations for writing: I believe that science, education, and progressive policy will most effectively promote the formation of a technologically-sound, socially-just, free-thinking society, one that isn't afraid to address questions of where we came from, nor one that acts myopically in its treatment of different cultures and norms. As a student, I choose to act on these by first educating myself, and then by educating others. My blog is one venue for that. My job on Hall Staff is another.

And in the nearby future, Teach For America will also be one. After graduation, I’ll be beginning my summer training to become a teacher, since I will be teaching secondary biology come this September. By that point there will be a million more ideas that I will want to write about. Consequently, this blog has taken up permanent residence for the foreseeable future.

One of my favorite memories of blogging is also one of my worst, because it involves a news story that broke my heart—the tragic story of Melinda Duckett. Writing of her account and the media pundits that disgraced her was a cathartic experience for me: writing gave me a way to express my grief, while the power of blogs allowed my thoughts to reach out and persuade others. The whole experience reinforced the importance of having a persuasive voice in a public forum, and of taking an ardent stand on subjects one feels strongly for.