I never thought I would be the sort of person who had a blog. When I think blog I think either of the semi-professional types who have particular insight (think Daily Kos) or the sort of personal journal that has inane details of someone's personal life (think the worst Twitter stereotype with no character limit). I recently read a couple of personal blogs that made me change my thinking. They were structured more like the kind of topical essays I used to love but haven't written since college. The sort of essays that might be published in Harper's or The New Yorker but without the competition and editorial review. The sort of essays that get turned into This American Life episodes. The sort of essays I have been meaning to write, and even have drafts of hiding in a file on my hard drive. I hope creating this will give me incentive to write more often. I hope that it will help those family members and friends I just moved away from stay in touch a little better.
A note about the title: When I was growing up, my father wrote a column for the local paper, which he called "Down Our Road." I have gone down a pretty different road, but I would like to think I am continuing that tradition. Depending on your age and connection to popular culture, you can call it an homage or a shout out to my dad.
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