[15 years ago this week, I started this here public scholarly blog. There have been lots of twists and turns since, and the best ones have been aided & abetted by wonderful folks. So for my 15th (!) anniversary series, I wanted to pay tribute to a handful of those moments and people, leading up to a special weekend tribute to my first and best reader!]
I’ve written
many times in this space about my Saturday Evening Post editor
Jen Bortel, and what working with her on my Considering
History column for the last 7.75 years (8th anniversary in early
January!) has meant to me. No matter how far along we get in our careers, it
seems to be the case that most of our opportunities come by necessity from our
own initiative; so for Jen to reach out to me to recruit me to write for the Post
remains one of my absolute career highlights. And that’s not even the best thing
Jen has done for my career—for that, I would point to her consistently
thoughtful editing work with my column drafts, not only to improve my style and
voice in the ways I discussed in yesterday’s post (although that for sure), but
also and especially to keep me thinking about the Post’s audience and
how I can best reach them. Public scholarship requires us to really engage the
public, any and all audiences we can find, and there could be no better editor
for that process than what Jen has been for me.
Last
anniversary tribute tomorrow,
Ben
PS. Please
feel free to say hi and share any blog responses or ideas in comments!
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