It's been a while

Writers, classmates, lend my your ears.

In case you don't already know, I am moving to Maryland to take up a teaching job there. I am very excited and of course you have a standing invitation to come visit me in my new apartment. DC, Baltimore, and Annapolis are all near and I will be keeping an eye out for coffee and tea shops to take you to.

I don't have any pictures of the interior of my apartment yet, but when I traveled down to pick up my keys and begin moving in I found that it was too hot and stuffy to sleep inside. Therefore, I hung my sleeping bag off of the railing of my balcony and slept there. It was honestly one of the most restful nights I've ever had.

I am driving down from Vermont over the weekend to move in completely and begin to decorate properly. Right now the only thing framed in the rooms is my Master's diploma.

As the summer continues my goal is to move an herb garden into window boxes outside and get a couple of plants for the other rooms.

How is everyone else?

~Byron

On Love and Nature

Nature-lovers want to receive as fully as possible whatever nature,  at each particular time and place, is, so to speak, saying. The obvious richness, grace and harmony of some scenes are no more precious to them than the grimes, bleakness, terror, monotony, or 'visionary dreariness' of others. The featureless itself gets from them a willing response.  It is one more word uttered by nature. They lay themselves bare to the sheer quality of every countryside every hour of the day. They want to absorb it into themselves,  to be coloured through and through by imit . - - C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Post Scriptum: In which C. S. Lewis used the English version of "bless his heart".
"To be sure, this conviction had not made my friend (God rest his soul) a villain; only an extremely lovable old ass."

In which I decide that I never want to leave

Friends, I find such joy here.

The only other experience with large cities that I have had is NYC, which is considerable bigger, I will grant. Oxford is both huge and tight. There are so many places to go and see but they all happen within such a small space. Oxford deals with history differently than America. We take 'historical' buildings and memorialize them with plaques and museums. We freeze them in time and build villages to emphasize how significant they are. Here there is a much more comfortable acceptance of anything old.

I think America has a a greater concern with the old aspects of our history because it is so new. In England you simply can't spend too much time on each piece of land or building that participated in some event worthy of the history books because there is just so much of it and it is assumed at part of the fabric of life. Of course, the historians do mourn the destruction of buildings and they do preserve and note places of importance, but it may just be with a small plaque or none at all.

That's not why I would stay in Oxford, though the history created in the buildings that surround me are the time periods which interest me.

I grew up in the country and value the stillness of the wild. I like being surrounded by greenery and having the wild places to wander in. But I also feel a little trapped by the emptiness. Trees don't offer the same kind of conversation which a good friend does and the animals, while enjoyable to watch are not the same as art created by humans. For a long time, I thought that you could only have one or the other. Live in proximity to nature or live in the city or suburbs, surrounded by people.

As I was walking through a cow pasture on my way to a concert on Saturday I realized that Oxford brings my two ideals together in harmony. There may be other places where this happens, but here the wild and the urban thrive together.

That, and people actually know have to have silence in the library.

Note the deer, not 5 minutes away from the city centre.

new york city

FRIDAY

Only Jesus knew what was coming // johnson

Long drives need music and books // byron

And that’s when I understood Watsky // sand
We settled into each other’s space // cole

SATURDAY

Blonde boys make the best drivers // johnson

I left my headphones in Virginia // sand

The anger was for your protection // cole

God got us to our doorstep // byron

SUNDAY

Wow, so transubstantiation really is important // byron

His earnest belief made him lie // johnson

Underdressed in the presence of royalty // sand

We didn’t turn on the TV // cole

MONDAY

Giddy sick broke and too happy // cole

I prefer people watching to shopping // byron

Lost among a sea of words // sand

Everyone's looking but no one sees // johnson

TUESDAY

Road-trips and remembrances help make stories // byron

I gave him cigarettes, not money // sand

Her words unlocked both of them // cole

Ten year anticipation made me choke // johnson

WEDNESDAY

I was a time traveler’s tourist // sand

Snow covered all my past sins // johnson

Your nostalgia is greater than mine // byron

Your fall took me with you // cole

THURSDAY

Cold weather, warm strangers, good friends // byron

Standing alone among millions, he cried // johnson

All the words melted away today // cole

Take some of my body heat // sand

FRIDAY

Subway windows are haunted by faces // cole

His plane ticket was his escape // sand

Walk a mile, drive five hundred // byron

Saying "heading home" is a lie // johnson

SATURDAY

We didn’t leave Sand at McDonalds // johnson

“I love you.” “You’re stupid too.” // sand

I was awake for 22 hours // byron

I realized your floor was home // cole