Member Blogs at The Aspiring Professional

Knowing only enough of what tomorrow may herald to be worried about its coming can lead a man to forget his hopes for today and, at the worst, many tomorrows to come.  Hope is among the strangest of human tendencies I've discovered.  It can blind us to reality in some instances.  More often, I think, hope serves as the only thing to get us through adversity in one piece. 

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John Steinbeck is without dispute one of the great American treasures.  A Nobel Laureate, Pulitzer prize winner, and prolific author, Steinbeck and his works are staples in English education and shining examples in American literature.  To date, I have read three of his books -- The Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, and now East of Eden -- and I intend fully to read the rest.

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When a movie or a book, a conversation or an idea or an event causes us to re-evaluate our perspective on life and our place within it, how are we to approach this momentous occasion?  What should we do if the change is so great it's staggering, challenging certain fundamentals we thought unshakeable in ourselves?

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Living in the northern US -- about as far as you can go before hitting Canada -- has its drawbacks.  Aside from having a sense of "island fever on dry land," to quote one of my bosses, the extreme cold, snow, and short daylight hours can wreak havoc on an otherwise perfectly happy person.  Like me.

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It's 1:45 AM and I'm sitting at my desk, about to spill a dark secret about my mother, my wife, her mother, and me.  This is why it's never a good idea to write tired, but there you go and here I sit.  You see, I have become only slightly obsessed with a certain female star of a certain movie that might be about a human-vampire romance.  Okay, okay -- it's Kristen Stewart, the leading lady of Twilight and love of my-life-that-doesn't-exist.

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As I begin to think of reaching out into the various academic and professional communities on behalf of The Aspiring Professional, I am struck by one thing: that there are far, far too many possibilities for TAP than I am yet prepared to confront.

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I'd like to wish a happy and prosperous new year to all who will eventually be a part of this community. 

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