Am I the first to use the pun “ducking out”?  I can’t be, someone has to have used that to describe leaving the Duck of Minerva before.  Regardless, this brings up two key problems with blogging, the quick move towards the cheap pun and to the tendency to do no actual background research on before a post.  I am probably prone to both.  

In any case, I am moving on from the Duck.  I will be moving over to RelationsInternational to help build a new blog.  I think blogging is an increasingly important part of our academic jobs and we need more voices in this community.  Therefore it is in our interest to encourage and nurture new blogging outlets by professional scholars.

Joining the Duck has been a wonderful experience.  A new form of stress entered my life last year after I signed up to be a regular contributor (stress is apparently something I am attracted to).  I had to ask myself the question, had I blogged that week? I challenged myself to write once a week just to see if I could do it. On average I was able to keep up the pace.  Sometimes the posts were great, facilitated discussion, and helped my research.  Others were duds, but it is all part of the learning process.

I am going to miss the Duck of Minerva community.  It is a wonderful group of scholars and the discussions began through this outlet have been wonderful.  I am going to miss all the Duckies, but most of all, I am going to miss finding and posting a picture of a duck that describe the post.  Sometimes that was easy, other times not so much.

I will leave you with one last duck, my favorite duck, from the movie Duck Soup.  A movie I used to start my International Relations and film class with.  If I impart anything on you, the reader, it is to watch this movie.  Now…go…watch.  And look for me at relationsinternational.  Cheers