Karen Duncan, aka "Anonymous is a Woman," is leaving the Virginia blogosphere.Readers may have noticed that I've been posting less and my posts have not been as overtly political as usual. I won't be coy about it. I have been slowly disengaging from blogging because it's time to close up shop.I will definitely miss Karen - her keen intelligence and insights, her superb writing ability (I don't know of a better writer in the Virginia blogosphere), her strong progressive voice, her civility, her sanity, her fearlessness, her integrity, her energy, her enthusiasm...well, you get the picture. :) I was going to say "I'll miss her friendship," but I sure hope she won't be a stranger, even though I'm sure she'll be extremely busy in her new job.
I did this once before because I was getting burned out and wanted to move on to try different forms of writing. But once I had taken a much needed break, I realized how much I truly missed blogging and came back. This time is different.
First of all, I'm not burnt out. And I already know that I will miss it. My reason for leaving is much simpler now than it was the first time I took a break. I have a new job that would make blogging a conflict of interest. I won't go into the details about the job, but please believe me that it would present a real conflict for me and my employer if I were to be running a blog and publicly sounding off about politics and other controversial issues.
Speaking of friendship, one of the things I've really appreciated about Karen over the years is that, even when we didn't support the same candidate(s) in Democratic primaries, and even when those primaries became heated (e.g., Clinton vs. Obama), I feel like we never let it interfere with our friendship. Of course, we always supported the same progressive ideals - equal rights for all Americans; environmental protection; government that works effectively and for the common good; strong labor unions and the ability of workers to organize freely; quality health care that's affordable for everyone; a strong public education system, etc. And although we didn't win every battle for our candidates or our progressive ideals, it has always been great knowing that Karen was on the same "team" as I was. So today, although I'm very happy for her great job/career news, I'm also going to miss her a lot. Good luck, Karen, and thanks for all you've done to make Virginia a better place!
P.S. Also, thanks to Karen for her contributions at Raising Kaine/RK and here at Blue Virginia!
