My mother, who like most septuagenarians doesn’t quite grasp what a blog is, just poked her head in my bedroom and asked, “Are you actually working on something, or are you just piddling?”
Possible answer: “Why, Mom, I’m busy shaping the cultural conversation.”
Probable response: “I’d rather you took out the trash.”
Here’s a better answer: if all of you out there in the blogosphere will be so kind as to click on this link and place an advance order for A Terry Teachout Reader (out in May from Yale University Press), then I can tell my mother I was working. Otherwise, I was just piddling.
(P.S. Even if you don’t want to order the book just yet, click on the link anyway and you can see the dust jacket!)