Welcome!

This is A Person First, a blog about language, science, education, philosophy, religion, and art.

What does the title mean?

In this blog, I will try on many roles. I will write as a linguist, an academic, a modern Stoic, and an exvangelical. But I am a person first.

Just like you, I am trying to make sense of this unique and amazing human adventure. I am trying to be the best person I can be.

I am a fellow traveler, and so I am no one in particular. But I am hoping that something I say resonates with you, that we can make some human connection through the power of language and writing.

I invite you to share your own unique perspective in the comments. I cannot promise I will always respond, but I read the comments, and I value any connection you try to make as well.

On Schedule and Content

This blog will likely be inconsistent, I am sorry to say. I plan to publish at least twice a month, but I know myself well enough to know that my other responsibilities and interests compete with and sometimes outweigh my desire to keep a consistent blog posting schedule. But I do know that writing regularly is a priority for me, and so you can probably expect something here at least once a month, even if it is short.

I write about, as the tagline says, language, science, education, philosophy, religion, and art. It is a wide scope! I have consolidated these topics from several blogs I had created over the past few years. I have migrated much of the content from those past blogs to this central blog, which you can read in the archives. It’s likely that the general themes and structures from those past blogs will persist in A Person First, so here is a brief rundown of what to expect in terms of types of posts:

• commentary on and reviews of books and articles I am reading, which are mostly nonfiction on the topics of this blog

• reflections on Stoic theory and practice

• secular reinterpretations of Christian art that I grew up with

• personal stories with relevant commentary on the topics of this blog

A Final Thought

Thank you for reading. It means a lot that you took the time to listen to what I have to say. As C.S. Lewis said, “We write to know that we are not alone.” That is, in part, why I am reaching out in this way. And I hope that something you read here will remind you of how much we all have in common.