After a layoff, a leap ... to China

A brilliant former N&Oer, among the ranks of North Carolina's laid off, did what many people dream of doing sometimes: He said to heck with it all after a year of little work and moved to China to teach English. China! He's keeping a blog. Read it here. In the meantime, here's how he describes the journey and what he's trying to do:

I’m Roger van der Horst, a 56-year-old former newspaper reporter and editor with two college-age children, about to become a former husband. The purpose of this blog, in a broader sense, is to describe the experience of redefining oneself at my age. The journey is taking me first to China, where I will teach English at the Jianghai Polytechnic Institute in Yangzhou, a city in the Jiangsu Province.

A longtime employee of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., I was among 78 employees laid off in April 2009 — a casualty of the economic downturn and a failing industry. I spent the next year pretending to be a freelance journalist, usually in bed in the fetal position. My previous stops, mostly as a sportswriter and editor, have included The Buffalo News, The Louisville Courier-Journal and The Syracuse Post-Standard. A native of Olean, N.Y., I got a degree in TV and Radio from Syracuse University, not that it’s done me much good.

So, follow along, and by all means feel free to comment, criticize, offer advice, whatever. If nothing else, I hope to keep learning.