It's been a month since my last post, a fairly large interval for me. My disappearance from the blogosphere and twitterdom should not be taken as a sign of lethargy. Rather, I have been distracted by other work.
First, and most importantly, I submitted the manuscript of my book to the publisher. Woot! I sent it off on September 1, and the weeks running up to that day were fairly hectic, filled with writing and editing. But now it is off. I'm not sure how long it will take to publish, but the press has a page-holder on their site for it: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao: Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life. The subtitle, you will notice, is the tag line of this blog. The book, indeed, has grown out of this blog. It is a more extended application of concepts drawn from Confucianism and Daoism to contemporary American social and ethical issues (abortion, gay marriage, end of life issues, etc.). The title itself is a bit garish. It was the editor's idea and perhaps it is snappy enough to catch the attention of potential readers. But I can't really complain because I am, as my daughter will tartly attest, rather bad with titles, at least on my first two books.
I also expect it to come out with "Sam Crane" on the cover, not "George T." There's a story in that, which can be told at another time...
No sooner had I submitted the book (and after a celebratory drink), then I had to immediately turn and take up my new administrative duties: I am now Chair of my department. And beginnings of semesters are especially crazy for chairs of academic departments. Lots of bureaucratic demands, lots of student questions, lots of meetings. We have now completed our first week, and I think things will begin to settle into a familiar pattern for the rest of the academic year. The fact that we are searching two positions (one in international relations and one in political theory) will, however, take a good deal of my time in coming months.
So, this is just a quick check-in. More posts to follow soon....
Oh, and we are thinking about what the cover of the book should look like. Any ideas?
I'm looking forward to the book!
Where does that fantastic final image come from? It was used in a Chinese class that I attended years ago and I'd love to see the entire collection again.
Posted by: Yang Renjie | September 08, 2012 at 11:54 PM
"Oh, and we are thinking about what the cover of the book should look like. Any ideas?"
Laozi riding his ox up to Ellis Island?
Congratulations on the book.
Posted by: Chris Waugh | September 09, 2012 at 12:53 AM
Laozi and Uncle Sam comparing beards.
Posted by: Carl | September 09, 2012 at 01:18 AM
The Yin-Yang symbol in red, white and blue instead of black and white.
Posted by: Melektaus | September 09, 2012 at 01:40 AM
The image in the post above is from Yang Liu's project "East meets West."
Posted by: Sam | September 09, 2012 at 08:22 AM
Double congratulations. May we address you as Chairman Dao?
Posted by: A. E. Clark | September 09, 2012 at 08:35 AM
Congrats from here too. By the way, I think your previous two book titles are excellent.
Posted by: Bill Haines | September 10, 2012 at 08:02 AM