Saying Goodbye

Today was commencement, a bittersweet day always. It is a celebration of those wonderful students you were thrilled to spend four years with and equally a celebration of the fact that the ones you didn't think would make it through four years, somehow did. You look at familiar faces knowing it may be the last time you see them for a good long while, perhaps ever. People who were a regular part of your life will be no longer be there.

So it also is in the blogosphere. Today, we lost a great blog, Kerry's Subversive Christianity. Kerry went in with a finite period in mind and now that the time is here, it is a voice that will be missed greatly. Kerry's intelligence, patience, passion, and care for all were the hallmark of his writing. Too often blogs focused on religious or atheistic matters devolve into preachiness or confrontation. But Subversive Christianity was a place where those who had strong views could think (and disagree) deeply and smartly without ever fearing a lapse into ad hominem, sarcasm, or being patronized.

While our philosophical approaches and interests differ greatly, Kerry is more than a friend, he has been my mentor -- both officially in the college and informally. In years, past, he has done amazing work rethinking the pedagogical approach to teaching critical thinking and written wonderful books for non-academics. It was his example that led me to embark on similar sorts of projects. For this reason, it tickled me that he would follow Aspazia and me into the on-line world. That I could in any way serve as a model for him is humbling.

Of course, several of us are fortunate enough to still have regular access to the off-line Kerry and I do hope very much that he will continue his e-presence at here and at Mad Melancholic Feminista.

Fact is, for Kerry, a blog post a day was slacking. He is, shall we say, prolific. When Kerry joined the book of the month club, he didn't read the application closely and thought he had to write a book a month. Word on the street is that he is now hard at work on two new book projects. One is a non-fiction version of the Warren report and the other a book on non-materialistic investment strategies to be called How Jesus Helped Me Turn a Million in Real Estate Into $25 in Cash.

My friend, thank you for these months. Your blog will be missed.