On Being a Generalist

I’ve never had an easy time branding myself. I’ve always been fascinated by far too many things. I’ve seen the effects of this in many areas of my life, sometimes with negative results. It’s not so much that I lose interest in something I’m passionate about; no, instead I develop a new craving for knowledge that demands my time and attention.

As a result, I’ve written books in several different genres, without creating a brand name for myself in any one genre. I’ve done serious graduate work in two sharply different disciplines — literature and biology. I’ve taught poetry as well as neuroscience. I can read and comprehend several foreign languages, but I can’t speak any of them with easy fluency. More to the point, I can’t seem to blog about anything in particular; instead I’d rather wander from one topic to another.

I sometimes feel like Grover in that children’s story I used to read to my daughter when she was little: Grover and the Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum. Grover went to visit the “Everything in the Whole Wide World Museum,” and saw all sorts of strange and curious items. When his visit was over, he exited into the great, wide world through a door marked, “Everything Else.”  I’m no longer young, but I still want to see, read, visit, and learn about “Everything Else” in the whole wide world.

So forgive me if I write a non-traditional blog that leaps from one subject to another. I do the same thing over on Twitter, linking my followers to articles on science and technology one minute, human rights issues the next, while also exploring publishing news, gaming, the arts, the various abuses of the TSA, and what my young friends at Anonymous and Occupy are up to.

I’m just a generalist with eclectic interests…what can I say?