Five Paces
Originally uploaded by Charlotte Augusta

I’m shutting up shop. My blog and I are parting ways. My primary intererest has shifted away from autonomous language-learning and teaching. I am still interested in teaching and learning, but not within the field of autonomy.

Rather than adapt the blog, I’ll leave it here (for posterity, ya know), and create a new one.

Before that, I’ll take the opportunity to put my thoughts in order, and summarize as briefly as possible why I originally started this blog, and where I am now and why I want to change directions. This will be an exercise in mental self-discipline, best illustrated by the quote:

I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time.

(I thought this was Mark Twain, but Wikipedia tells me it is by Blaise Pascal,

Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parceque je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte,

although Wikipedia adds (rather unhelpfully)

This quote has been also attributed to Mark Twain, T.S. Eliot, Cicero, and others besides.

One thing I’ve learned from blogging here: I’m a lone ranger. I don’t blog in order to create community. I know it’s not politically correct to say so, but I couldn’t care less about community, frankly, tho I do care about the individuals who’ve dropped by here and taken the trouble to leave a comment. Thank you. I’ve learned a lot and enjoyed the company.

I write, selfishly, primarily for myself, to marshal my thoughts, and gain insight into what I really mean. As E.M. Forster wrote, “How can I know what I think till I see what I say?”