3 Sultan 166 B.E. (Baha'i Calendar)
Soundtrack in my head:  Zero 7, "I Have Seen"

The field behind a church in Simi Valley, California spawned not one, but two significant milestones in my life.  The first was The Global Walk for a Livable World.  The second occurred twenty years ago today--my first-ever journal book entry, in a spiral notebook bought from a convenience store near the Global Walk encampment.  At least I believe it was twenty years ago today--unfortunately that spiral notebook got lost somewhere in Oklahoma. 

I still have my second journal book, and it begins with an entry I made on May 25, 1990, while I was on an advance team in Tulsa, OK.  The first words began with a commentary on losing the first book, saying "I hope history hasn't been erased."  Unfortunately it was erased, but in some ways, that sentence also proved to be a rather ironic comment.  I have kept that second spiral notebook--as well as journal books three through seventy-eight. I am on my seventy-ninth journal book right now.

I remember visiting Chicago for Christmas in 1989, just a few weeks before the start of the Walk.  I had spent the previous seven months in Los Angeles and on the road helping organize the Global Walk. I remember being in the basement of a friend's house sometime between Christmas and New Year's and I was telling him about the Walk.  He told me that I really ought to keep a journal on the Walk.  I thought it was a good idea.  It's unfortunate that this friend and I lost touch--he would be amazed to know that this one comment started a habit that continues today.

Journal-writing started as a hobby, and then it evolved into a habit and then an addiction. The habit started on flimsy spiral notebooks and then in early 1993, a girlfriend gave me my first hard-bound journal book.  For most of these twenty years, I've carried a journal book with me almost everywhere I go.  I wrote journal entries at many stops along the Global Walk. I've written journal entries in three different houses where my parents have lived, eight apartments in the Chicago area where I lived, two co-op houses in Madison where I've lived, and on numerous subway and el trains, buses, Amtrak trains, airports, airplanes, parks, restaurants, and cafes.  I've written journal entries on the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, as well by the Mississippi River and other bodies of water.  I have made journal entries in three countries and more U.S. states than I can count.  My journals have followed me through two decades, two different millenia, several relationships, eleven changes of address, and three changes in my religion.  I have also written journal entries in the Baha'i House of Worship.

One thing I actually haven't done much of is read what I have written.  I've done a little bit of that, but I want do more.  Since it has been twenty years since my first journal entry, I plan to start a journey at the beginning of my first journal and go all the way to the present.  And I want to take you, my dear readers, with me. 

Starting next month, I will start a series of occasional posts in which I feature a year in my journal writing.  I will start with 1990, then 1991, 1992, up to the present.  Journal writing is a very self-indulgent habit, so I'll try be sparing on the details. (And obviously, there are details I will keep to myself).  I will provide brief commentary of my observations of that year's writing, and feature any excerpts worth featuring.  I hope you enjoy the journey with me.