to newness

You know it's funny to me that 2009 was the most magical year of my life as it was probably one of the worst in memory for most people. Recession, debt, war, unemployment. It kinda blew from an outside standpoint. And let's face it, even my own life status over the course of this year past would leave most observers wondering how a 26yo boy with a dead-end job, no college degree, and a fresh conviction for DUI could refer to the term of his probation as the best year of his life. What's that you say? He also totaled his car in the accident? This guy sounds like a keeper. . .

The title of this blog references the word "imago". Merriam-Webster defines "imago" as: 1. an insect in its final, adult, sexually mature, and typically winged state and 2. an idealized mental image of another person or the self. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imago). This is my goal with this blog. I want to document the metamorphosis of me over the course of the past two years. There is so much that I want to examine and describe, so much that I want to preserve, but I can't string every moment to prose. I have limits (one thing I've learned) and defining them ultimately makes me free (another thing I've learned). I want to show you who I was before, what happened, and how I am now (those of you who have attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting will find this format familiar). I want to introduce you to the events, people, books, and activities that have inspired my transformation. And finally, I want to show you how the human imago and the insect imago mirror each other with infinite subtlety.

This project is only the climax of my metamorphosis; it is the turning point as I am now at a turning point. I am back in college (yay!), and am determined to make the most of my hours and days. There are things that I want to do, people I need to visit, exotic locales I wish to make intimately mine, and this blog is the expression of my primal urge not only to give back to the world that has given me itself, but to make love to it in all its messy glory. To play with it and cherish it and fix it when it needs fixing and most importantly to nurture something out of it that is lovely, meaningful, and lasting. This is the climax because there are Acts yet to play out. Think of the imago, and imagine these pages to be my chrysalis. The most wonderful transmutations are going on within.