pioneering the frontier of humanity

8 months of blogging, and only 10 posts to my name. yet i still wonder if this blog is interesting, or if people bother to read it? my purpose in writing was simply to keep in touch with my east coast friends as i began my midwest life. but am i following the cardinal rule of writing? am i "knowing my audience?" what is it an audience wants? more importantly, i must ask, what does this audience want? there are many places this blog could go... reflections of a first year teacher, humorous stories from high school halls, tales of the hearty prairie which exist for my east coast friends only in the words of laura ingalls wilder? it is from wilder that this blog gets its name. as a child i loved her books. devoured them along with any other historical fiction tale i could get my hands on. i see now what attracted me to her. it was more than simply laura's pension for writing the historical novels which interested me, it was her pioneering spirit which drew me in. it is this same pioneering spirit which brought me here. i am a new type of pioneer now, but i am hardly alone. our world is one which encourages thought. in place of rote memorization we encourage critical thinking. as modern pioneers, we do not seek to tame the land on a new frontier. our frontier is humanity. as a pioneer in 21st century south dakota, i do not wish to harvest the prairie grasses, or tame the wild buffalo. my frontier is humanity. my goal is solidarity. It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. - Laura Ingalls Wilder