Spiritualitea began in 1998 as an online journal chronicling my spiritual explorations (back then we didn’t call them “blogs”).
By ’99 or 2000, it had evolved into an overall spiritual site with a lively community — the chatroom was full almost 24/7. During those years I was finishing my Ph.D. and working mostly from home for companies like Match.com and Lycos, chatting in my spare time here at ‘Tea (as folks came to call it).
In 2002 I got my first full-time academic job as a professor and my websites went fallow — every update had to be handcoded and I just didn’t have the time. They stayed virtually dormant for the next 6 years while I busied myself with the stressful task of earning tenure.
Now, in 2009, I’m on my first sabbatical. While I’ve been away, the web has changed: handcoding html has given way to content management systems, online journals became blogs, and chatrooms evolved into social networking sites.
I still love ‘Tea: I have a sentimental attachment to the domain and the time we shared here, so I’ve decided to give her a makeover for this millennium. I’ve migrated all the old great content (look at all those articles we accumulated in those early years!) and added new features: profiles, forums, instant messaging and more (I’ve also expanded our focus to include more than ever before on health and wellbeing — an interest that has deepened for me, perhaps as a result of growing older!). Hopefully the new content management system will mean that keeping the site running will take less effort — it’ll have to because I won’t have another sabbatical for 7 years. I’ll only have time for the best part: connecting with you.
Best,
“Dar”/Sandra