A Long Belated Update

Hello dear readers, if any of you still happen to exist. I’m very bad with endings–in fact, I often just let things sort of fade away as I did with this project. Though the work I did on Churchgoing was interesting and, I think, useful for quite a few people, it was also a bit more engagement than I have time for anymore. I haven’t been to a church for anything more than a wedding since the last time I posted here. Well, the truth is, I did have to go to FIVE different weddings last year, but really, there hasn’t been much for me to write about otherwise. There are sports icons flaunting their religion while people die in floods around the world and all of that, but really, that’s not my usual area of discourse, so it’s best to leave it alone. 

 

For those of you who were wondering, I’ve been busy working and building a business for myself as a private tutor for most subjects you can name. I study the physiological and neurological side of education (as best as one can without a PhD in the subject) and use those discoveries to help my students succeed. It’s a tough but rewarding job and I’ve seen a lot of students off to some really good colleges in the past two years. I will be blogging about education for the foreseeable future at this site here. Also keeping me busy this year was a more intellectual pursuit: I had the wonderful opportunity to work at Stanford, helping neurologists design websites to show off their brilliant and life-saving work. My first client was the wonderful Dr. Monje-Deisseroth who is pushing to cure a deadly form of pediatric brain cancer. You can see the page I created and learn more about her work here: http://neurology.stanford.edu/labs/monjelab/ 

 

You see, I didn’t really abandon this project so much as put my time and effort into the things that I believe in. Where Christians might pray or attend church to calm their nerves or find some sort of edification, I sought out the things that would make me a better person in my own way. I donated some of my tutoring hours and I got to visit with some extraordinary people like Dr. Monje and Dr. Han (another Stanford doctor who works on Multiple Sclerosis) instead of arguing about the non-existence of deities. It’s a nice change, to be honest. I even took a chance and applied to Stanford’s PhD program in education myself, a rather lofty and (probably) unattainable goal, but it never hurts to hope.

 

It was a big year for Atheists last year and next year can only be bigger. There’s a planned march on Washington for the sake of all things secular and, though we lost Christopher Hitchens, the spirit of his argument still burns within millions of us around the world. In the end, I hope that this entry, though off topic, can help those searching the web for someone to relate to. I hope that it can remind the religious among us that no matter the heat of the discourse, Atheists are people with lives and aspirations, too. If you’re wondering about their feelings or reasoning, ask them–politely–and they will probably enlighten you. On the other hand, if you’re questioning your beliefs, don’t operate under the false impression that you have to be the next Richard Dawkins to step away from a place your heart no longer lies. There’s a spectrum here with us, as everywhere else–something I learned from my church visits. No matter who you are, find someone like minded and enjoy his or her company, but occasionally, step outside of your comfort zone and see how the other half lives.

 

For the time being, feel free to read the back entries, comment and keep the discussion going. Feel free to spread the work I’ve done here around. If you’re feeling ambitious, feel free to invite me to come to your church. Who knows, I might just take you up on the offer.