Thanks to all the people who wrote in response to my first attempts at blogging. As Josh will testify, I was a bashful bride who had to be wooed with flattery. But I am glad I did it. I learned something about the vitality of this medium. It is an important replacement for the vanishing soapbox, union hall, and neighborhood pub. I hope you support this site, as I do, by occasionally clicking the “contribute” button at the bottom. It’s free to view this site, but it’s not free to produce, and Josh shouldn’t have to depend entirely on advertising to support it. (I suspect it will also get harder to attract advertising after the elections are over.) I now leave you in the able hands of my friend and sometime collaborator, Ruy Teixeira.