The morning sun slowly rises

The morning sun slowly brings a dim color to the sky above the gray, glacier void that hides the ground from me. As the sun’s gradually turns night to day, it brings a transforming light and color to the clouds. The glacier like land below my airplane becomes no more than an angelically sown blanket of white clouds. I thought that this was an appropriate way to begin my new day away. I leave as a new day comes to be. Moments before my plane took off from Indianapolis International Airport en route to London Heathrow; the beginning my adventure across the Atlantic Ocean. I am traveling to England to study English Literature and Culture for an entire academic year. To say the least, I feel prepared. That is about all I could say. I am prepared for whatever may happen as I journey through Europe and study at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

This blog will hopefully be an avenue where I can creatively communicate what is happening in my life, and journalistic-ally communicate what is taking place on this side of the world. Most importantly (I have mentioned this in my previous post), I want this blog to become a mapping of my thoughts in language form to display the remarkable knowledge languages and words hold though the power of metaphor. In my next post I will gloss a few terms to construct a common foundation of language. I believe that the terms fiction, metaphor, narrative, language and system must be defined for clarity. But first, I must address all who I love.

My dear, dear companions,

Thank you for loving me well. I am missing you all dearly. At times I question whether or not this trip will be worth it. Honestly, it has been already. I am already meeting some wonderful people from France, England, and Switzerland. But I still miss you all and what I would be experiencing with you. Soon we will celebrate together not only my return, but also how we all have changed for the better. But it is early and I will need your support, your companionship. Please think of me often. When you read a compelling book, eat at Bazbeaux, dance, take shots, eat Pizza Express, cook a community meal, check things off your list, drink dark beers, speak philosophically, care for people, play Ultimate Frisbee, work hard, laugh hard, and have a bonfire, please think of me. This may seem narcissistic, and maybe it is, but I want to communicate how much I will be thinking of you all as I experience life far from you.

To those who believe in the power of prayer, you are allowed to pray for me (of course) and I would appreciate it. I think this is an obvious statement. However, I want to ask that you pray with the same candid, unconventional, courageous fervor felt in this old Franciscan Benediction:

May God bless you with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships

So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger

At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,

So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears

To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and

To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness

To believe that you can make a difference in the world.

So that you can do what others claim cannot be done

To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

I would be very encouraged if individuals prayed for me with such grip and vision. However, more importantly, what I would like to receive more than a traditional prayer (words to any great deity) is your words, thoughts and breath be put onto paper. I love receiving mail and I plan on corresponding more through letters this year than ever before. So please send me a letter! Side note: apparently the British Post Office might go on strike at any moment, and the mail is already backlogged here. Soooo please be patient with the system. My address is

Jeffrey Mayes

08/A Clowes Court Parkwood,

University of Kent

Canterbury, Kent,

United Kingdom, CT2 7SX.

I am looking forward to reading your letters, corresponding through facebook, email, and skype. I may be distant at times. I think we all understand the good in living in the community directly around us. However, that also makes the world a smaller place. Live well. Become everything that you want to become. May our mind, soul, and body be united in the simple joys of life. I will embrace you all soon. Time is only relative. I’ll will be home in 282 days.

Strength and honor.

Most Sincerely,

Jeffrey

A little about myself (a prologue one could say)

One of the most crucial moments of my life is when I met my high school literature teacher. He was a jolly, but rough looking fellow seasoned by life’s adventures. On our first day of class he took us all outside to the parking lot and told the 18 of us to cram into a small parking space. He proceeded to ask us what we saw in the confined space on the ground. We all mumbled answers have something to do with small rocks, black pavement and bird droppings (unable to see the point he was trying to make.) He then told us to look outside of the box. We not only saw the world around us, we also saw his point. From that moment I have wanted to find the world beyond my own experiences and what I could only envision, comprehend and communicate. This experience could be compared to when Keats reads Chapman’s Homer. The path to look outside of myself has been difficult and yet, I find myself seeking for more knowledge. The humorous or ironic part of me being enrolled and educated at Indiana University (to supposedly gain knowledge) is that the more classes I take to “gain knowledge,” the more I realize I know nothing. I would never take away my college experience and career. I love my major, my friends, Bloomington, Indiana and who I am becoming.

Part of my reasoning for my inward understanding and who I am becoming will be filtered through a proverb that a friend of mine has told me repeatedly. His name is Patrick Sullivan, and he lives in Toronto, Ontario. He told me “I could not change the world. But… but I could change my own little world.” I believe that I am to take care of the people that cannot take care of themselves, to assist those that need a hand, to empower those to become one with their own, personal, individual soul and body; ultimately, to be. I know that knowledge is not necessarily needed to do such deeds; however, I believe that there is a dreadful cycle of poverty or of ignorance that exists in the world. My hope is that my knowledge will create a better understanding of this cycle, which will then shed light on some observations that will hopefully assist us all as we make baby steps towards becoming our true selves. Ultimately, I want to inspire people to embrace humanness amongst their animal-ness. I want people to know a world exists beyond themselves. I want people to inspire me.

A little background of myself: My father was a pastor of a conservative non-denomination church. I grew up with four brothers and two sisters. My father passed away when I was ten years old with a blood template cancer. The strange truth about the whole thing is that I would not have my dad come back for anything. I loved him, but the life I have had since then has made me who I am today. I would hate to rob myself of that. I know that my father is very proud of me and who I have been and who I am becoming.

In the grand scheme of things, I chose English with a focus of creative writing because of the beauty of language and its powerful nature. I enjoy history, church history, theology and philosophy, and English is field of study where I can learn all of that through literature. Arguably, literature could be considered the origins of such fields of thought. The creative writing aspect has cultivated a fascination with metaphor and the natural weight of words. I am also a declared Comparative Literature minor to learn from peoples all over this world. I also will be receiving a Certificate in Journalism, which has inspired me to right well in thought and deed. Both of these fields of study are to hone my skills as a writer and reader of the English language. With my undergraduate degree I plan on pursuing graduate school in the area of church history and theology. However, several of the English classes I have taken have shown me that both of those subjects are relevant in English literature; therefore, I have been contemplating English literature of late. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that language is the key to all origins. Everything known now has been built on language, with language or in language. Thus, this blog is just a mapping of my thoughts in language form to display the remarkable knowledge languages and words hold.