Announcing My New Gig on Politics Daily

Dear Friends of FTITN,

Many of you have called to check in about my absence from the blog, and I'm so grateful for your concern and loyalty. Everyone in our life is as good as they can be, which, of course, means varying things depending on who we're talking about. 

Partly my radio silence is due to the fact that I've been getting ready to cover education as a columnist for AOL's new venture Politics Daily. Here's how our editor in chief, Melinda Hennenberger, describes the site, which launched two days ago:

"Welcome to Politics.Daily.com, a political news magazine for the general reader updated every day, throughout the day. Instead of leading off with extravagant claims about how we're the best thing since Caller ID, what I really want to promise is that we'll work hard to distinguish ourselves the old-fashioned way, with heavily reported, well-written stories. We'll offer a straight mix of news and opinion -- and a mix of views in our reported commentary. And I can't tell you how grateful we all are that AOL (yes, Alec Baldwin, deal with it!) is willing to take this gamble, and fund a small team of old pros committed to traditional journalistic values..."

People have asked me how we're different from Politico or Slate, and the answer is, I don't know. But I can tell you from a purely personal standpoint, as the mom of one, and soon, two, kids in D.C. public school, I'm thrilled to be covering a core issue that feels to me like it's now or never in terms of making our country's public schools work. And that's what I plan to say to Michelle Rhee, our controversial chancellor, when I go interview her for PD tomorrow. 

And I'm ecstatic (and a more than a little rusty) to be reporting again. So check us out. And while you're at it, please read (AND COMMENT) on my first story about how schools are gearing up to deal with swine flu. I'll also be blogging on Woman Up on the PD site. 

It feels so great to be back on FTITN!