This Blog

"I am going to Africa because I wish to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I cannot learn what it has to teach, and not, when I come to die, to discover that I did not live. I do not wish to live what is not life, living is so dear; nor do I wish to practice resignation, unless it is quite necessary. I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that is not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proves to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it is sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." --a bastardized version of Henry David Thoreau's Walden

It's the last day of work. I'm feeling quite liberated. It's not to say this place was actually the 9th circle of Dante's hell as Paul (my favorite witty coworker) said, it's just not exactly intellectually stimulating. I'm feeling rather free from drudgery right now. Free to research, free to write, free to actually use my brain. It's gonna be great.

So for those that are a bit slow, the title of my blog is drawn directly from the original version of the quote above. Okay, okay Thoreau was a bit of a poser...but he still lived on Walden, even if he did borrow all his stuff from other people and visit the city often...he's still a brilliant writer, after all. I mean just look at On Civil Disobediance, now there is some fine writing.

Why am I going to Africa? To find what it means to live. it's the reason I do everything really. What does it mean to be alive in the very largest sense? Later in Walden Thoreau writes that to be alive is to be awake. Further, he claims that no man has ever been truly awake...God I want to be awake! In my life I've never been so awake as when I am dedicated to serving the people around me. It's strange, it's like I am more myself when I'm working for the Good (I tentatively use that term in the Platonic sense...at least for this moment...right now) than I am at any other time in my life. It's so hard to explain it's like I'm more me in an earthy yet spiritual way...it's like being filled up, with your true self. It's so exciting. It's better than any feeling I've ever experienced. Even little things, like making cookies for people just to let them know someone on this earth cares. Someone actually wishes to lighten their burden, if even through a warm gooey mess of chocolate. Sigh...why am I going to Africa? Because I truly believe I will be more myself there than I've ever been anywhere.

Anyway, from here on out this blog may take new direction (as of yet it has had none). Literature, Mali, and my political musings will likely take up much more space than it has in the past. In other words, hopefully i'll succeed in some semi-intelligent conversation...but that's just a long term goal.

Things I'll be doing in my post job life:

Trail Running
Mountain Biking
Lifting
Reading philosophy
Reading anything my smart friends have on their favorite book lists: this means you Brent
Organizing my life so I can leave America without any warrants or credit problems
Writing poetry (ah it's been much too long)
Learning new words
Getting a tan
Reading Latin American authors. I'm absolutely in love with the latin voice.
Learning French


I think that should take up the next two months...

Til next time friends

GYPSY ON!