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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Monday, December 17, 2007

Family worries

I just want to announce that I will have little energy for this blog for the immediate future. Expect my posts to be brief, though hopefully they will still be interesting enough to keep people reading.

The fact is that my mother is currently in hospital, gravely ill. She was admitted nine days ago, but she has been very sick with a number of problems for the past year. I've just spent a few days interstate, staying at my sister's place, and I think that family worries are going to be my main priority for some time. I also have other responsibilities over the summer break, notably a thesis to finish off and some minor academic duties (just some marking, I think).

Fortunately, I'm not working in a full-time job but more living by my wits ... so I have quite a lot of flexibility, at least outside of the teaching semesters. But writing articles, long blog posts, and the like will have to take a fairly low priority for now.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fair enough Russell. Family is more important than internet malingerers such as I. :)
Take care and hoping all goes well as it can.
Brian.

Russell Blackford said...

Thanks, Brian. Yeah, family (and other loved ones) come first. Thesis is going to have to come second for awhile. And then everything else.

Blake Stacey said...

My condolences and best wishes.

I've had to deal with malfunctioning cars and exploding kitchen faucets recently, so I was probably due for a reminder that travails can be much more profound — I just wish one could get reminders of that necessary perspective without having people actually suffer.

Take care.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that. I took care of both my parents until they died, so I've "been there and done that". Just don't forget to take care of yourself. Caregiving tends to make one forget that.
As for your blog, you could always go with a "guest editor" who thinks along similar lines, just to help keep your readers plugged in and interested. Hang in there!

Russell Blackford said...

The weight of it is actually falling far, far more on my sister (hi, Bev!), and of course my father, than me. I actually feel bad that I'm not able to do more, but there are limits to what's possible when I live 1000 kilometres away from them all.