March 3, 2009

Dear Friends,

            The election of Barack Obama as President and Joe Moody as State Representative for HD78 – both of whom I supported – hopefully signals a progressive change in the role of government at the national and state levels.  I am optimistic that through their efforts, many of the issues on which I ran will be addressed.

            In the meantime, I have begun to fulfill my long-held ambition of increased community involvement by becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children.   I am also remaining politically active as a member of the West El Paso Tejano Democrats, and was honored to be elected their First Vice President.  I have also continued to give voice to my concerns, especially about health care and education, through publication of letters to the editor and op-ed articles in recent months.

            Upon my retirement from teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso last year, I became a Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences.  In that capacity, my biomedical research continues, and I am still writing in the fields of both neuroscience and astrobiology.

            To give voice to my interest in all these topics – politics, social policy, health care, education, science, and history with particular reference to West Texas and Southern New Mexico, I have decided (with the rest of the world) to start a blog.  Look for it under the title “RioGrandeRift”, named for the beautiful valley that forms our home.  Laden with history, problems, and promise, I believe our region can serve as a laboratory for the application of our multicultural ingenuity in meeting the challenges of our new and troubled but hopeful century.  That is what I will be writing about, beginning in April.

Kind regards,

Louis Irwin