For those of you who have been following along, you know I’m back a little early. The time spent away has been worthwhile in all ways, but perhaps what I’ve realized the most is that I should have never left in the first place.

I don’t mean to get all wizard-of-ozzy on you, but I guess I had to leave home a little to realize just how good–and important–it is for me to be here.

If you got to my blog by first visiting my home page (which used to be my old URL for my blog–rusvw.net), you read (I hope) my opening statement about the importance of writing for an audience. This is the primary reason why I have returned.

I hope to open my blog up to reveal a more candid me. So much of my life is defined by me being a role model, whether that is to my own kids or the students I teach. But I think we get too hung up on that term “model” to be polished, perfect, without blemish. We can be role models and still express fear, anger, and sadness. We can still cry at funerals for our former students, as I did just a few weeks ago, and we can question the politics of McCain, Obama, Palin, and Biden. We can share our weaknesses and shout out our frustrations. We can do all of that as role models because we are human.

As Dumbledore says to Harry, though, it’s what we do with our abilities that makes all the difference. In this case, it’s how we choose to respond to those expressions of fear, anger, and sadness. It’s how we handle the outrage at the death of a student. It’s how we present our political arguments that makes all the difference in the world.

So I’m not here to rant without good cause or cry without sound sorrow. But I am here to be more genuine, and I hope that’s what I’ll be able to bring you in the posts to come.

Thanks to all for hanging in there with me. It’s good to be back. I hope this time it’s for good.