Introduction . . .

I suppose the proper way to start a blog would be to introduce myself; to tell you that I’m a sophomore at Grinnell College in Iowa, that I’m studying English and hope to add a linguistics concentration, that I’m an avid reader, a voracious tennis player, and an introspective, introverted thinker.  As an aspiring writer, I would probably explain that I’ve conquered NaNoWriMo twice and completed 1.9 other novels potentially worth reading.  I would also confess I have no plan for my life after college and grad school except that I want to serve God and write. 

It would maybe be intelligent to mention that I began my college education at Denison University before taking a semester off and deciding to transfer to Grinnell, that I love editing my papers, and that I find homework to be a welcome challenge.  I would perhaps briefly mention that religion and faith is an ever-changing wonder for me, and that my journey in faith over the past semester has been tumultuous but revealing and rather exciting at times.

But those aren’t really the topics with which I plan to start this blog.  Instead, I wish to explain the title of my blog, “The Faces That You Meet.”  It comes from “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock,” a poem by T.S. Eliot.  During my semester off, I discovered the subtleties and brilliance of Eliot’s two major poems, “Prufrock” and “The Wasteland.”  The futility and paralysis of Prufrock is especially poignant, and his portrayal of the world as fragmented in “The Wasteland” is moving.   Each time I read “Prufrock,” two lines continuously captivate me:

“There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”

Initially, I find this sentence to be reassuring.  It calms me to know that I will have time to prepare myself to meet other people.  I like the repetition, because it suggests I can compose myself before I socialize.  With this reading, “face” acts as a synecdoche, taken to mean the entire person. 

However, as I continued to reread the line, I realized that Eliot literally meant “faces.”  This is realistic but depressing.  I’m not preparing myself, my mind, or my personality to meet people: I’m actually preparing my face, a superficial identity to meet all the other superficial identities around me.  And this is a tragic statement about the state of our society.  We walk around with our faces and adhere to societal norms and only let people see a part of us.  It’s like judging a book by its cover; we best prepare our faces, our external layer, because that creates the first impression.

So as I return to the college atmosphere, I must remember that, while I present my face to the world, I can’t be afraid to show more of myself to people.  My face is composed of intensity and concentration, and I have to move beyond that to show people that I do have a goofy side.  I also know that I will meet a lot of faces and that sometimes the relationship will stop there.  This blog is about the faces that I meet and what lies beneath those faces, but it’s also about me and what goes on beneath my external personality.

Sometimes I’ll write ‘superficially’ and provide the basic college updates most of you desire.  Other times I’ll go deeper, moving beyond the statement of facts to contemplation, exploration, questioning, and wonder.  It’s an adventure for me, and I hope to convey that throughout my blog.  Thank you for reading!