Transcending Space

Dear Readers,

I've started blogging, or public journalling, not because I have given in to mechanized forms of communication, but because I want to, as my title suggests, transcend space. I didn't know what that meant until now. Watch this. http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k-N6ri95Xs Just the first 15 seconds. Devin, teach me how to embed links. Time is another human construct that is realistically transcended in The Time Traveler's Wife--my first recommended read.

I want to transcend space, because gravity has pushed its 9.8 m/s (west) on me and I have landed back in Uniontown, PA. In a sense, I see the importance of communicating to my friends and mentors my goings-on, ever-reforming philosophies, the quotidian, and perhaps, the celebrations I share with myself and others without all of you. Therefore, if I can not call you, or carefully pen you "snail-mail," or share with you moments in your niche of the world--Ohio, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, or elsewhere--I would like to share with you a slice of southwestern PA (it's too gritty to taste more than a slice). This is all to say that I miss all of you, and this is a feeble attempt to compensate for the feeling of being alone--but not lonely. Let me explain.

I felt an extreme sense of loneliness, due to many factors after leaving Messiah College. I mourned for days, and found solace in the voices of friends and my literary pursuits. Then, I started my job, and I am officially titled "sustainability coordinator" of Fay-Penn Economic Development Council, a non-profit organization charged with revitalizing Fayette County's economy--the third poorest county in Pennsylvania. They have asked me to develop a plan for local economy initiatives with an emphasis on sustainability. Thus, I have been charged with revitalizing a town's local economy, much like the "buy local" campaigns occurring in Philadelphia, Boulder, Colorado, and San Francisco, but proving it to a crowd of post-industrial cynics with little faith in the ideas of an economic upturn, especially with philosophies they have never heard of--localism, sustainability, living economy. Guffaws.

While these objectives keep me busy during the day, and training for a marathon, the GRE's, and applying to grad schools keeps my busy at night, I have moved from lonely to alone--in my thoughts, ideals, and age demographic (I am the youngest in my office by at least 15 years). Now, I am slowly beginning to realize that even if you come out of college with your ideal job situation, location and friends matter more than titles, and while I knew this before, it was never so evident after spending last weekend in Harrisburg.

A slice of southwestern PA is coming soon. Here's a sneak preview.

While I was walking in downtown Uniontown yesterday, a former basketball friend gave me a black power fist pump, and yelled "Weeeb" loudly. I wouldn't have wanted that greeting to be any other way.

Please transcend space with me, and maybe together we can figure out how to transcend time.

To be continuumed,

Daniel (my Christian name)
Danny (my family name)
Dan (my Messiah College name)
Web, Webby, Webs, (my Uniontown name)
DJ Web (Pete Corning name)