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I began this site in the fall of 2006 as I was entering college. It seems fitting to me to close it as I leave.
The main reason for this is that I no longer wish to write under a throwaway nickname which is grounded more in 4chan and Something Awful than anything else. To be clear, I don't feel the need to apologize for my career on either website. I was banned from Something Awful in 2005 for fakeposting, and demodded on 4chan in 2005 for snarkiness. In both situations I used a screen name because I was young and did not want to associate the immature banter of Internet forums with my real name, and I started this website under a screenname for the same reason. But this is a crutch I feel less and less inclined to fall back on as the years go by. I am graduating in March 2010, and I feel ready now to begin freelance writing under my real name.
My readers on ESK are primarily people who know me by reputation from those sites, e.g., from my listing in Encyclopedia Dramatica. I am grateful for their readership and especially to everyone who has sent me an e-mail or two over the years. But times are changing, and I no longer want to contribute longer pieces to this site, nor do I want to reattribute my older essays to my real name. I tend to look at the best of what I've written here and feel somewhat foolish that I've thrown it away.
A Better Way to Live will be the last article I write here. I may continue to use the commonplace through August 2010, but I am already making a new wiki under my real name for keeping track of my future plans, and after I graduate I will primarily be contributing there.