You Can’t Take the Sky from Me…

Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain’t comin’ back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can’t take the sky from me
There’s no place I can be
Since I found Serenity
But you can’t take the sky from me…

Much has happened since I wrote last, both in the craft beer world and the larger world around us.  Anniversaries and festivals, special releases and conferences.  There is no way to sum all of them up and do them justice, nor do I feel like it is necessary.  I have not been very active in writing of late, and I have been far less involved in the beer world than usual.  Some of that is simply due to my time being needed elsewhere.  Work, family, travel, school.  But some can be attributed to sitting in front of the screen and not being sure what it is I want to say.  I still have kept up on Twitter and Facebook, watching the goings-on and keeping up to date on what people are doing.  It is interesting and enlightening, to say the least.

My perspective on the world has shifted somewhat, too.  Not as craft beer-centric as it once was.  Sustainability, progressive ideals, and doing “right works” have become much more central to my view.  Not politics, per se, because I think today’s politics are disgusting and misinformed and do not talk about the real issues facing us as citizens of the world.  And politics can only happen because the People let them.  I am not an activist, but I have some ideals I want upheld.  And I will say so when the time is appropriate.

There was a time where I wanted to open a brewery.  I wanted to design great beers, brew them, and bask in the glow of being a craft brewer.  I think my vision is a little clearer now.  I know how much work these men and women put into their dream.  I know what they sacrifice, financially, emotionally, and so on.  I know the time they have to put into it.  The hours they have to work.  And then, even after everything they have done, there is the very real risk of failure due to events and aspects outside of their control.  It is clear to me now that is not the life for me.  I love craft beer.  I love writing about and drinking and talking and sharing craft beer.  I love homebrewing.  But it is not where i want to soak my blood sweat and tears into.

I suppose part of being happy in life is knowing what you do NOT want to do, as much as knowing what you DO want to do.

So, this is me trying to commit to more regular posting.  With a regular routine settling in, I should be able to make that happen.  Here’s hoping…

~ by Sean Nordquist on September 29, 2011.