Both feet in.

So this is blogging..and my first foray out into the blogosphere.
Dave, thanks for the invite - and the pseudonym priviliges. If you can take up the bloggers cross for so many years with the Dispatch, it's about time you got some additional eyes and ears.

I graduated from SIUC one year ago and decided that Carbondale was a place that could keep me for a bit longer. The university churns out far more students per year than the area can employ, so I count myself among the fortunate ones who is still able to take day trips to the Shawnee while earning a living.

Coming from a town of less than 300 people further upstate, Carbondale was a culture shock for me - hard for city folk to imagine, no doubt. The university town atmosphere is a mellow, semi-cultured one, and for that I'm grateful. Carbondale has nearly all the amenities a girl like me needs - independent bookstores, hipster music stores, a great live music scene and a coffeehouse that allows smoking inside its doors.

I can't imagine Carbondale is wanting for anything...is it? What do we need here (physically, not philosophically - healthcare can be tackled on a previous visit ;) ) that we don't have?

Dave, I promise my posts won't all be written by Hayley Mills, but my plan is to wade in with both feet instead of diving.