Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Dan Drezner Day

Yes, here at the Spew, we are having Dan Drezner Day. Why?  It is the tenth anniversary of his blog.  Woot!  Why should I care?  Why should you care?  Because Dan has been an incredible influence on my wading deep into the waters of web 2.0. My voice here has been shaped by his.  That I blog at all is due to his path-breaking.  He has influenced an entire generation or two of IR scholars about not just the need to engage beyond academia but how to do so.  Check out his top ten list.  He helped me give license to be serious and silly. 

I also owe Dan thanks for something else.  When I applied to the Council on Foreign Relations for their fellowship program, I flew into DC to interview.  I bumped into Dan at, I believe, Kramerbooks, on my way to the interview.  I knew he was a CFR International Fellow, so I asked him for his advice, and he was most generous.  I got the fellowship, which led to my year on the Joint Staff, which gave me a greater thirst for being engaged in the policy world.  Which led to my interest in blogging, and thus the circle of snark is now complete.

I have not thanked Dan in my acknowledgements in my books, so consider this the overdue hat tip.


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