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.