15 May 2011

Anew

If you have read Utterances before then you know that it now has a new look - a makeover, if you will. 

This new design is the visual manifestation of a shunt to the theme of the blog. For the last two and a half years (Nov. 2008 - Dec. 2011) I was living and working in Lesotho, Southern Africa, as a Peace Corps Education Volunteer. During that time the blog primarily served to document my experiences "on top of the mountain."

I am fortunate to have made a safe return to the States where I am now faced with the daunting and dubious task of finding my place within American society -- a society of the short attention span and personalised technology, of American Idol and Donald Trump, of rest stops and four dollar per gallon gasoline. But also a nation of neighbourhoods and parks. Of coffee and bagels. Of National Public Radio and The New Yorker. Of Obama. Of the Naked Cowboy.

As I undergo this process of re-entry, a foreigner in my own land, the strongest desire I have is to write. I want to express, as the late David Foster Wallace expressed, "What it is to be a fucking human being today."

Let's see . . .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jack

Please write more about "being a foreigner in my own land" The phrase resonates for me and I have experienced this feeling at various times in my life. I think of Albert Camus' L'Etranger(The Outsider) and my return from Southeast Asia a differnt man than when I left America and how at times I feel like a "voice in the wilderness". Please tell us more about your experience and choice of these words.
Da