A year or so ago, The Atlantic published a story called “Is Google Making us Stupid?” The basic premise was that reading on the Internet has lessened our ability to read. We’re used to getting our information in short, easily digestible bits. We almost never read something entirely – we skim and scan, gleaning the most important parts. I clearly remember my experience of reading this article. I read along – paying close attention to each word, fighting with every fiber of my being to prove the article wrong. What I wanted more than anything was to skip and skim. I mean, I really did get the basic point of the article after a page – why should I finish it? But, I was compelled by the article itself to prove that I hadn’t become stupid. I would read the article in its entirety. And I did. And it might have been the last thing I read, entirely.

Since moving to Durham and getting a full time job, I hardly read anything anymore – sure I’ve read a few novels (skipping and skimming as I went) and I read bits and pieces of articles; book reviews, news blips, opinion essays. But, I don’t read. Not like I did. I’ve tried. I tried just a few weeks ago to re-read a chapter from one of my advisors books, as a way to remind myself what it feels like to be an academic. I failed. I skimmed. I happened upon some great nuggets in my skimming, but I couldn’t immerse myself in the words.

This is a problem.

Now that it is January 2010, I will start working again – actively working – on my dissertation. So, I need to remember how to read, how to write, how to think. To this end, I’m reopening Blue Stockings. I need to get back in the habit of writing about the things that I think about. Yes, there’s an irony there. An article about the Internet making us stupid has spurred my resolve to read and write more – and to put what I write on the Internet, where others might half read it. But, I like to think that I’m a person who can hold various things in tension. So, I’ll note the irony and move on. I hope that if any of my friends still read this, they’ll spur me on to be a thinker, reader and writer. I have some really smart friends (you know who you are!!) and writing here used to make me smarter, so I hope it still can.

Here’s to 2010, and to a dissertation that is actually under way…