I started this blog in February 2017 after retiring in December 2016. Below is a summary of my 2017 posts here on “The Switchel Philosopher” blog:

Posts to introduce the blog:

• Welcome to The Switchel Philosopher
• A Word from Mrs. TSP
• The question in the header

Early in the year I visited the Vermont Legislature and blogged about a few things:

• An example of good government
• A series of 9 posts about the curious matter of the vote recount in the Orange-1 district
• Meeting Pastor Pete in the State House cafeteria

My first post on this blog (“Welcome to the Switchel Philosopher”) was on 2/08/17. I was approached on 2/13/17 about running for selectboard in my town of Cambridge, Vermont. I had not previously considered that. I thought about it, decided on 2/21/17 to run, and was elected at town meeting on 3/07/17:

• Candidate for Select Board
• Select Board Member

Being involved in local government has given me a few things to blog about! These two posts set the stage:

• Town Meeting Thoughts
• Learning About Government

As a result of lively discussions at town meeting, the selectboard created a Community Engagement Team which I wrote several posts about:

• Local Governance in the News
• Community Engagement Team Report
• CET Recommendations – Assigned Questions
• CET Recommendations – Town Meeting
• CET Recommendations – Town Administrator

I blogged about a few of the many subjects that I encountered in local government:

• Cemetery Commission
• The Villages Project
• Jeffersonville Commuter Bus
• Quilt square by Anne Standish
• Town website addresses
• Questions about domain names
• Toensing v. Internet Domains
• What is a quorum?

I discussed how I think about the categories of public life:

• Classifying Public Life
• Classifying Public Life: Discussion and Examples

My sister Beth and I did presentations for the Cambridge and Westford Historical Societies about the Cloverdale neighborhood, based on a book that our father and a cousin had written. This was a fascinating exercise:

• Cloverdale Book
• Cloverdale Presentation

Another presentation I did was for Leadership Lamoille about nonprofit organizations:

• Seeking help for a presentation (good info in a comment)
• Leadership Lamoille

A couple of posts attempted humor:

• Job of Selectboard Member
• Mansplaining

And finally I wrote miscellaneous posts on various topics that I found interesting, including thoughts about my career in the Farm Credit System:

• Thoughts about the Farm Credit System
• From the Berggruen Institute to Switchel
• Poems for the silo murals
• Acadia vs. Arcadia
• Democracy in America
• George Perkins Marsh
• Quantum Birthday Thought

I write on two blogs. This blog, The Switchel Philosopher, is for adventures in the world of ideas. My other blog, The Switchel Traveler, is for adventures in the physical world. See my About page for more information about switchel, me, my two blogs, and my blogging history.