Introducing my new blog, karlomleonor.wordpress.com. Having tested the waters of online journaling with Golden Is Thy Fame over at Blogspot, at the start of this summer holiday, I’ve decided to try my hand at another blog. Part of my thinking behind this blog is that it will guard me against staying idle throughout the next months and instead keep me up on my reading, thinking, and writing. Growing up, I noticed an unfortunate tendency to shut down intellectually during the summer months: less books, too much television, worse penmanship, etc. While my penmanship won’t be improving very much by writing for this blog, I do hope that, among other things, this new endeavor will become a place where I can share good books, good ideas, and good stories with all of you, friend and stranger alike.
Those of you who know me well, or have at least endured one of my late night babblings on life, philosophy, and other sundry topics on my mind (thanks especially to PG and MC for indulging me and my extended jabber on school nights), are well acquainted with my own ‘great awakening’ which I experienced this year. Coming from the stagnant muck of American suburbia, it was tantalizingly refreshing and liberating to be in a place where the mind, heart, and spirit – not the shopping mall, television, and SUV – take precedence. For me, college has been the place where the arts and books can be enjoyed, the mind and heart can be educated, and where the age old search for the One, True, Good, and Beautiful in life can be pursued without reserve. For the first time in a very long time, everything mattered and life was exciting.
Having just finished my first year of university, however, I am now back at home in the nest. I don’t have much to do during the next month until my internship begins, and so I plan to soak in all of the comforts of being at home: the silent house, the stocked fridge, the mild Seattle weather. Gone (at least for the next few months) are the long nights of study, the endless noise of the dormitory, and the often suffocating pressures of being a student. I can now bask in the radiance and comforts of the summertime, and say with Blessed Peter, “Lord, it is good that we are here” (Mt 17:4). Summer is a beautiful time for recreation, ‘re-creation’ as it were, and especially for someone like me who has just returned from one of the best years of his life.
And so it is at the junction of these two realities in my life – scholarship and leisure – where I find myself today with this blog. Counseling me once on vocation discernment, my pastor, the great Rev. Thomas Vandenberg, told me that for now, the most important vocation for me is that of being a good student. But Father, I say, what about being a student on summer vacation? Surely, I can’t give up the discovery and excitement of being a student for the idleness of the summer months. I can say, I think, with some confidence that he will approve of this blog as a means of fulfilling that temporary vocation. Perhaps it will help me find my real calling in life. Perhaps it will teach me a thing or to about writing and humility. And perhaps it can be a source of entertainment or inspiration for some of you. Whatever the case may be, here it is.
Enjoy it, world.
–Karlo M. Leonor
1 Comment
14 May 2008 at 7:17 AM
Ah, to think is to be, my friend–I constantly remember that after you reminded me of it that Sunday–so keep on being, living.
I eagerly await your blog postings, but, I can’t lie, I may be starting one of my own for similar purposes as I too was inspired by your previous blog. If only you hadn’t made this first, it would have seemed more original!
Peace.