Sometime last year, this blog took a back seat to my responsibilities at Kent State. The slide began in January 2011, when our PR Online Master’s team launched a new degree program and watched the enrollment explode. (And yes, we know the website still looks like a stock-photo mishmash, but the 3rd-party marketing folks won’t fix it, and it ain’t worth the fight!)

Our success with online education means ToughSledding became a bastard child. The small-but-loyal following I once enjoyed went away. So today, I’m announcing plans to jump start this puppy and see if we can’t get a little conversation going again. That effort begins Sept. 4 (next Tuesday), just a few days before this site’s 6th anniversary.

I’ll post for 30 consecutive days — just as I did in 2006. Not sure what I’ll write about, but I’ll try to stick with the promise of the tagline: “Challenging the status quo in public relations.” Forgive me when I go off topic. I’m pushin’ 60, and getting just a wee bit cranky.

I’ve also introduced a new banner. It’s the same guy you’ve seen at the old site since 2008, but I’ve replaced the Darth Blogger hood with a combination hippie/grunge look. There’s really no need to put my face up there, but Sharon likes it, and my ego demands it. Photo credit for both banners belongs to my bride of 35 years. Both were shot in the fog of Acadia National Park, 4 years apart.

Do blogs matter?  The simplicity of Twitter and Facebook have prompted a good many bloggers to hang it up. Sadly, people’s preference for short-form social media comes at the expense of the critical thinking and reflection blogs can offer. The rich interchanges and those bare-knuckled dustups in blogosphere have given way to pithy one-liners punctuated with a links. I write ’em. So do you.

Listen to me! Reflecting on the “good old days” of 2007-09. But do blogs matter? Hell yeah, they do. Because they offer a voice to anyone and everyone who’s up to the task. Whether anyone listens to us is another matter, of course! Blogs don’t make you smart or insightful. And they sure as hell don’t make you a writer.

What’s in it for me? I write this blog for me. If you like it, too, that’s great. Given the protection of academic tenure, foolishly granted me by Kent State in 1998, I speak without fear of repercussion. That freedom may be the ONLY reason tenure remains relevant. It supports candor and gives the inmates a role in running the asylum. Without tenure, I’d likely be a Congressmen or — gawd forbid — a university administrator

I hope you’ll stick with me for the next month and join the conversation. But if you don’t, that’s OK. There’s always Pinterest.