A day in the life of America's Young Theologian.
Tales of premium beef jerky, parking illegally, sports scandal, jello shots, carnival rides, the beginnings of a career as an art dealer, a conversation with America's "Best" Theologian, darts, a 21st birthday, and a life lesson: Sometimes life moves too fast to take a picture.
Human beings are interesting creatures. We make patterns out of a few data points or take something to be common when in reality it's only a highly noticeable but infrequent occurrence. AYT has wonderful friends and began to blog with the
statement:
I blog because I'm on the move and grieve the loss of the presence of those I love. Hopefully, this blog (even more impersonal than email because it lacks a specific audience) will both give you a window onto the road which my feet trod and remind you--through its sterility, lack of texture, and lack of presence--that eye contact matters.
Some of AYT's friends characterize him as intense, Kerouacian, or impervious to fatigue. This is, however, only partially true. When this blog began, AYT's friend
Reno promised the world "many challenging ideas and dark stories of karaoke and...dancing in the days to come." It's a reputation which has its genesis in a grin which asks the world to come along and then politely requests that the world try to keep up. This description, however, has the stale aroma of an under-developed, one-sided, literary character . The truth is that more often than not, AYT is found in solitude--reading, wondering, writing, lost in prayer or poetry, or trying to get fingers to cooperate on the steel strings of a new guitar. These are the times when potential energy increases and then, by whatever external force it may be, AYT is set in motion.
AYT had to go to Richmond, VA, just south of the river, to pick up some artwork. AYT, the tightly wound coil, is sprung. A car is borrowed, a key thrust into the ignition, and AYT slices through the expected congestion of his bureaucratic town. The roadtrip may be AYT's ideal mode-of-being-in-the-world. It is both resting and active. The gap between friends are closed, if only for a short time. One joins a world on the move where not a single person is home.
The artwork, having been painted by AYT's housemates, has been showcased at the gallery at
Positive Vibe (the video is worth watching), many pieces have sold, but the remainder need to find their way back to D.C. Fifteen minutes outside of Richmond, AYT phones a friend in Durham, NC to see what the afternoon looks like. Free? Yes. With that, the trip immediately doubles in length and charts a southern course to North Carolina.
Before leaving Richmond, AYT leaves a message on the answering machine of friend and mentor,
Stanley Hauerwas. A snack (if premium beef jerky is in fact a food), a quart of oil for the steed, and AYT is back on the highway.
The road slides beneath the car while inside a cell phone rings. AYT has gotten used to short telephone conversations with Dr. Hauerwas. "Hi, Dan. This is Stanley. Yeah, well, I have something at four, so would 3:30 work? Okay, see you then."
If one was to rank things in order of ease of finding them on a college campus, beer would probably be near the top of the list and parking would be near the bottom. AYT takes the car up Chapel Drive to show off to his traveling companion the beautiful gateway to Duke University's gothic west campus. It's 3:15pm. Not a problem, right? Perhaps, however, the already sparse visitor parking at Duke is diminished further by a swarm of media trucks covering a certain highly publicized sports scandal. There will be no parking at the Bryan Center. See, sports scandals hurt everyone!
In the spring of 2005, AYT, no longer a full-time student at Duke, became adept at illegally parking on campus, a skill which he now employs. A gate is manually lifted and the car is stashed in one of the green zone lots. A brisk walk through the gothic wonderland and up to Stanley's office. AYT introduces Jill, who also works with L'Arche and otherwise is a wonderful traveling companion. Stanley and Dan discuss a book project about L'Arche on which AYT is working. Dr. Hauerwas provides some insights and some names to contact. The two discuss future plans, family, and mutual friends.
(AYT should have had his camera ready in order to be able to share a photo of America's Young Theologian alongside America's "Best" Theologian...instead, a photo from the archives will have to suffice.)
Then, it's out the door only to bump into Dr. Geoffrey Wainwright. Greetings are exchanged. AYT queries, "How's that friend of yours that they have holed up in the Vatican?" (Geoffrey has long known Cardinal Ratzinger, now, of course, Pope Benedict XVI.) Then it's out into the North Carolina sun to meet a dear friend, whom he has not seen in far too long, on the chapel steps and AYT finds himself missing the campus as well. An hour is shared touring the new library addition, watching the ducks in the Duke gardens, and strolling. As the departure hour nears, AYT happily but unexpectedly bumps into Hans Arneson--a hilarious and brilliant New Testament colleague. The time has come to leave Durham (
again).
There is a slight time crunch on the four hour return home. After all, Jill and AYT have a community member who is turning twenty-one, which requires drinking in solidariry. The two are on the highway by 6:30pm. Halfway home a sparkler-like glow arises on the horizon. A traveling carnival has found a comfortable resting place in the parking lot of the local mall. AYT does not like amusement parks and will be quick to use his stock phrase, "Amusement parks are neither amusing, nor parks," on anyone who suggests attending. Still, he decides to flex his pseudo-white-trash, throw-safety-considerations-to-the-wind muscles and exits the interstate. The ride selected has the word "claw" in its name and is decorated with airbrushed, large-breasted, warrior women. It spins. It goes really high in the sky. Repeatedly. Thankfully, it is then back to the ever so straight highway to D.C.
Arriving home at 11:30p, AYT immediately heads out to a couple bars in Adams Morgan. At the first bar, he drinks two Bombay Sapphire / Half Soda-Half Tonic's and practices his dart game. The next bar is deserted on this Monday night except for the seven that enter together. There are beers to be had, jello shots to suffer, and a jukebox. Everyone knows a jukebox can save an entire day, though this good day was in no need of salvation. The day ends the way so many do in Adams Morgan, with a greasy, early morning Jumbo Slice of pizza. Ladies and Gentlemen, AYT does eventually tire, but for proof of that one would, of course, have to be along for the ride. Two things worth knowing at the end of a long day of travel: there is art in the trunk and there are friends along the way.
