Ahem... Is this thing on?

beginning a new blog calls for some sort of introduction, but i'm hesitant to offer up any grand visions of what this is or shall be. I think I know who will this blog will be: my family members and I will all be authors. I predict that my father will be the most active of these, but my wife Teresa and brother Steven are likely to contribute from time to time. Generally, we're all environmentalist liberals.

Other than that, it would be foolish to try to define what this will be. My old blog, "The Mighty Pen," suffered from a certain amount of neglect. When I did publish, I found eventually that the content strayed away from my original concept, which was to augument my own screeds with thought-provoking opinion pieces from other publications. So I don't want to begin this new blog by constraining it with a definition. I'm sure each of us will do their own thing with it.

The title, "Arboretum", appeals because it connotes life, variety and growth. It suggests a peaceful place, where growth and new life happen. It's also, of course, a reference to both the town of Ann Arbor and my family's surname. Works on a lot of levels, see?

Anyhow, this is our new blog and we hope to see y'all here often.