From 2005-2018, I used to write a blog called Thirty Letters In My Name — the title, as you might guess, refers to the imposing length of my first (Hari Jagannathan) and last name (Balasubramanian). That blog contained a mixed bag of topics: travel, history, literature, mathematical concepts that I taught in my courses. Many of the themes I explored eventually turned into longer essays for the website 3 Quarks Daily. I haven’t written much since 2018. The break was due to personal circumstances that required me to slow down and retreat for a while.
Now I feel like writing again. This time, I want to work my way through themes that are close to my heart: wonders of the natural world, the history and diversity of life on earth, ecology and environmental conservation. I have no formal training in these areas. What little I’ve learned of the natural world comes from bits and pieces assembled from regular hikes in the mountains, forests, and coasts of the American Northeast, and then reading about them in books.
But I suppose one has to begin somewhere. That’s what I hope to do in this version of Thirty Letters In My Name: start writing and see where it leads. Although I expect many pieces to be nature-focused, my other interests — literary fiction, history, travel, movies, concepts in mathematics and probability — are all likely to make a regular appearance; I will also post edited versions of my previously published 3 Quarks Daily essays. Let’s see how this turns out!