A Strategic Retreat Into Scholarship

There are some big changes coming both for the Texas Blue and for yours truly.

When the Texas Blue launched in January of 2007, I had just finished my first semester of graduate school at the University of North Texas. In the time since then I have been almost entirely consumed with those two things - the Texas Blue and my research. I have watched with intense pride as the Texas Blue has grown and as we developed what I consider to be a formidable body of work. With pretty much every other available moment, I was working hard on my education, studying the very interesting (and often depressing) subject of transnational terrorism.

Now, a year and a half later, I am deep into my thesis and other research that I'm very excited about. I view my scholarly work and the career I'm hoping to apply it to as a way of serving my country, and I could not be more excited about the opportunities I've been presented with to do that very thing.

I've also come to a point where my role at the Texas Blue must change, as I am ready to take off in search of new challenges and pursuits.

The Texas Blue has been many things to me. It has been a formative experience for me as a writer. It has been an incredible opportunity to meet extraordinary person after extraordinary person. And it has provided me with the opportunity to cover and comment on some of the most historic political events I am likely to see in my lifetime. I feel as if my work here has allowed me to be a part of history, and I am enormously grateful for it.

I suppose in a way I also view the act of writing about politics as a patriotic pursuit. A free and independent press, freedom of speech, and the potential for government to do good works are things I believe in viscerally. To participate in the conversation about those vital issues (as well as electoral politics in general, policy, and - if we're being at all honest here - the regular and dependable wisecracks) has been a wonderful experience, as it always has been for me as long as I've written about politics. To do so in an editorial role while working among so many richly talented people has been an honor.

I plan to continue writing about politics and contributing to the Texas Blue, but my role will change significantly from what it has been in the past, to that of Senior Editor. Executive Editor George Nassar will be taking over as Editor-in-Chief. His work and his insight have been just as much of a foundation for the Texas Blue as anything I've done, and I have every confidence that I am leaving you in good, capable hands.

So, in closing: thanks for reading. I encourage you to stick around, and to tell your friends about what we're doing here. Did I mention that we're taking part in historic politics every day of this election?

A long time ago, while preparing some materials for podcast sound tests, I wrote that 'the chronicling is important.' On the other end of this, I still believe that. I hope you do, too.

Denton, Texas
July 2008