They say that it takes ten thousand hours of work or practice to become an expert at any particular task.  Most recently I have heard this number in reference to Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, though I feel that I heard it in other settings before that book was published.  At eight hours per day, five days per week, it would take five years to hit ten thousand hours.  At an hour per day, five days per week, it would take closer to forty years.  So, at twenty-five years old, within weeks of receiving a masters degree from a major institution of higher learning, am I an expert at anything?  It seems that I am an expert sleeper, probably an expert eater, perhaps an expert television watcher.  I am an expert at being in school.  Pretty much, I am an expert at being alive in the twenty-first century United States.

This blog has those ten thousand hours in mind.  Over the last twenty-one years of school I have been trained, among other things, in writing, reading, critical thinking, and research.  And these are the areas that I wish to focus on as this blog develops.  Rarely will it be a simple journal, rarely will it be stream-of-consciousness thoughts and rants.  Regular readers will not likely see one main topic developing.  This is for me.  It is a space to do my own thinking and writing in a public arena where others can keep me accountable.  So I hope you read it, I hope you enjoy it.  I hope you find reason to both like me and hate me.  I hope to begin conversation either here on the site or out in the real world.  Most of all, I hope to keep ticking toward those ten thousand hours.