I began my adult life as a journalism student at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. I have learned a lot about myself and about life during the six months that I have stayed here, but one of the most important things I’ve learned is that I do not belong here. I’ve never really fit in with the mainstream crowd and I’ve always known that I was destined to live my life somewhere outside of Missouri, where I was born and raised, but it was during this length of time in Columbia that I have finally grown to understand that my destiny lies somewhere very different from the average American’s.
From childhood until college, I was always far above my peers in intelligence (though many of the people I have met in college can brag the same.) I was placed in accelerated education classes and in the long run wound up scoring a 35 on my ACT. My range of general interests has always landed even further away from the norm than my IQ. I am more than a bit eccentric. At sixteen, I was already a quantum physics buff and by seventeen, I was working with extremely powerful magnets in fairly successful attempts to invent a new type of engine that uses very little energy input. However, despite my deep love for science, I consider myself more of an artist. I’ve written a screenplay, several short stories, most of a novel (which will be finished at some point) and way too much poetry; I’ve dabbled in film and the visual arts and I am a talented keyboard/synth player and although I’m not very good at it, I’ve at least attempted to play a mandolin.
After spending a semester and a half in college, I have realized that my path to greatness might not fall within the boundaries of what is “normal.”
That is why I am writing this blog.
My goal: to travel the world until I find my true calling; the place where I really belong.
And so, my first post: Columbia, Missouri, USA.
On the surface, to most, Columbia is the quintessential college town, however, I am not a fan of cliché. Yes, Columbia does harbor three colleges and thousands of college students, but as a place, it has its own very unique flavor. Those who call Columbia an “average college town” clearly haven’t discovered the real Columbia underneath this terribly overused misnomer. Columbia is a city of progress, but it is also a city of monumental disdain. In the past year, over one billion dollars have been donated to the University of Missouri to build, build, build more and more buildings for their campus in which to train thousands and thousands of America’s next generation of college-educated workers. Many of these people will live very financially successful lives and several of them may even end up living very happy lives, whether economically sound or not. For many people, however, spending tens of thousands of dollars to receive a heavily commercialized education will not only lead to financial disaster, but it will transfer them to a workforce where they will spend many years doing what turned out not to be their dream job just to pay off their enormously crippling college debts. There are so many alternate courses to success out there that could yield really fantastic results and a lot of them are sadly overlooked.
I have decided to attempt to take an alternate route toward happiness, toward success, toward… well… toward whatever it is I’m looking for and not finding here. Beginning on February 25th, 2009 in London, UK, I will be backpacking around Europe and blogging about all the interesting places I find. Of course, I will be returning to Wentzville, MO where my family is after about a month to re-assess my goals and decide whether it’s worth continuing my blog based on whether I’ve been able to make any significant financial gains through any reader support I have gained. In the circumstance that I can not get a firm enough reader base and/or do not earn enough donations from my readers to continue my blog, it will end right then and there and I will take a good look at my life and try to decide what I really want to do with it.
I plan on updating my blog not only with stories of my travels, but with fictional short stories, poetry and reviews of local music shows from interesting places that I write along the way as well.
The Blue Note
I saw lots of great bands at the Blue Note while I was in Columbia and remember lots of fun nights.
The Peace Nook
You can barely see it in the picture just like you can barely see it in real life. Down some stairs inside that little inconspicuous doorway squeezed between a toy shop and a sandwich place lies The Peace Nook- a not for profit shop that sells all the interesting goods a hippie could ever ask for: liberal books, organic foods, bumper stickers- they even give away free condoms. And all their profits go to charities supporting human rights and the environment.
Monumental disdain
Situated on a very large rock (more of a boulder, really) in front of the courthouse is a plaque honoring Boone County’s lost Confederate soldiers who apparently died in the name of “patriotism.” Rrright…
A strange discovery
A crucified doll at some sort of fraternity initiation camp in the woods. I seriously doubt that there is any sort of statement here- just a very creepy doll.
Lounge art
Nobody knows where this mural came from, why it is there or for that matter, what it is supposed to be. It is one of the many mysteries of Mizzou’s Mark Twain Residence Hall.
The stream and the smokestacks
This picture was taken from Flat Branch Park as a statement of the human race’s destruction of the natural world. The power plant in the background burns coal to supply electricity to the University of Missouri. And that stream there in the foreground? Yeah, it looks pretty, but in reality, it isn’t a stream at all. It is a sewer runoff.
The sewer that feeds the stream
The water from the stream that runs through town is provided by this sewer. It is also home to many years of painted, painted over and repainted graffiti. So many unusual political statements are caked onto these hallowed walls. For a liberal college kid, this is one of the most sacred (and interesting) spots in town, despite the dirty, grungy nastiness of the water that runs through it.
Sexist statue
A statue downtown depicting four naked women trying with all their might to hold some naked men performing a circus act of some sort steadily above their heads. Perhaps it could be argued that the creators of this statue were declaring some sort of feminist statement about women as the foundation of society, but to me, it looks much more like a group of women being forced into hard labor by the men above who are just messing around. Clearly the makers of this statue saw a fine line between men and women and only enforced the gender roles that have become obsolete in modern society.
Broadway Diner
Broadway Diner- the place where I invented The Craig Sandwich: bacon, maple syrup and vanilla ice cream in between two slices of French toast. It is perhaps the most fantastic delicacy to have graced my taste buds thus far in life.
