You Could Still Be Waiting

I owe a lot to this blog.

This blog got me into science writing, from the first time I pitched the idea of writing about anything and everything science (but especially about science in popular culture) to Nature Blogs in 2010. Lucky for me, they accepted my pitch (I was at the time a slightly unfulfilled biomedical PhD student at WashU in St. Louis), and I've been blogging ever since. This blog guided me into a graduate degree in journalism. This blog helped me get into the PhD program at the Manship School of Mass Communication. This blog got me a gig writing in-depth Science in Society articles for EMBO Reports. This blog taught me how to WRITE. This blog has connected me to scientists and science writers I now consider great colleagues and dear friends - without having meet many them in person. This blog (and amazingly awesome David Kroll) got me an internship in science writing at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

This blog has been the fertile soil for many a writing assignment due for my courses in the Manship School. This blog helped me flesh out many research projects in my journey to switch from studying nanomaterials for biomedical applications to studying how science becomes news. Heck, I'm even doing my PhD dissertation on science blogs!

And I hope this blog has given you something too. Maybe a cool idea. Maybe an inspiration to pursue a career in science, or a career just outside of science. Maybe I've taught you something you didn't know before. Maybe I've entertained you. Hopefully I've helped you see science from a multitude of perspectives.

That's why this whole net neutrality issue concerns me. Unless we do something about it, blogs like mine (or like yours, if you have a blog too) could be seriously compromised by slow loading times. I mean, if this blog was still loading, would you have waited to read it? I appreciate the compliment, but I'm afraid you wouldn't have.

Want to do something about this? Sign this letter and make the call afterwards. I did. Because I love to blog.

Act now. Share this tweet: "This is why your Internet is slow. It will get worse, unless we stop it now: battleforthenet.com #InternetSlowdown http://t.co/Q1cRd1MHPg."