The odd thing about this blog is that, while I write it as a way of exploring life outside of school’s mandated activities, my weekly publishing is one encouraged and supported by that very institution.

Beyond the Binder would not exist if there wasn’t a binder to begin with and I am governed by the schedule of the school. As such, when summer comes and I stop seeing Easthampton six days a week, I turn my attention to many other parts of my life, from my trip with the Hings to Italy to my new internship at The Daily Hampshire Gazette.

I don’t want to leave this blog for the whole summer though. I feel like if I step away for even a month I’ll be out of practice and out of the rhythm of publishing and researching. Also when I don’t feed the internet regularly I start to worry that it’ll starve—like my hamster that one time.

I’ve been coming up with ways to keep this space active along with my 20 hour-a-week internship, my foreign expeditions, and my vague semblance of a social life.

I’m going to keep a journal of my time in Italy. This blog might be a place for me to talk candidly about little things each day. (But for the sake of my own social standing and well-being I’ll have to omit some things. “So-and-So was really getting on my nerves today” is fine in a notebook but it would be a shame if Mama So-and-So happened to see my blog on Facebook).

The Italy updates should last from June 12th to the start of July. After that I’ll try to post shorter, semi-weekly updates on my extra-curricular exploits.

So what do you all think? Shall I pick this back up in the fall with my standard caliber of writing or should I sit down in front of the computer this summer and just try to be coherent?

I’ve got some thinking to do, but rest assured, I won’t abandon you all.