The Birth of a Blog

It's absolutely insane to think that I leave the United States in just two short weeks. And so although I have been preparing for my departure, I have also thought about how I intend to stay connected, at least minimally, with my friends back home and abroad. Many Fulbrighters commit themselves to writing a blog to narrate their experiences. So it seemed appropriate that I would follow in this tradition of sharing my travel adventures and some of my thoughts about who knows what. The problem I ran into, however, was the debacle of naming my blog.

I thought quite long and hard of what I should call my blog. Many have told me that I should write a consistent blog, most presumably because they have only read my works that are funny, quirky, or entertaining for a plentitude of other reasons. But while discerning this blog, my first, and by the will of God, my only, I decided I needed something that would capture the seriousness of what I am setting out to accomplish. That is, I needed to know for what purpose I would write this blog and what end I intend of it. Of course, I am going to write about my time in Madagascar. I plan on sharing stories from my encounters with people, places, cultures, and all sorts of experiences. But to what end would this be? Clearly, there must be something deeper, more pressing or concerning, that would inspire me now, of all times, to actually commit to publishing a blog with articles by my own volition and with no expectation, nor desire, for monetary compensation.

I have written my entire life, and although it is not uncommon for me to be forward about my writings, and I often am and offer to share them with others, I have yet to meet many who are willing to sit down and take the time to decipher my prose. It is not easy to read my writing, and I confess that this is simply how my mind operates. But there is an art of which I have spent most of my life pursuing that consists of laying down a set of ideas and observations in such a manner that one must enter into my position to truly understand it. That is, you will only understand anything I am going to say if you put aside your own biases and prejudices and accept, by good faith, what I say, not as true, but as a mere speculation, that, perhaps, not everything in the world is as you or I see it. Just maybe, there is something more out there that is truly beyond our fractured comprehension of reality.

This long exposition is to get at the point of the name of this blog; “A Time of Silence with the Ancestors.” And if you don’t know much about Malagasy culture, or what a Malagasy is, then there is no possible way that you could even begin to understand the significance of the title. That is not said out of arrogance on my part. Rather, it is simply a matter of fact that you and I will never understand the role of the ancestors in the Malagasy world view.

But there is more to the name than just ancestors. As I contemplated names for this blog, it was clear to me that I had to include at least two elements; time and silence. Throughout my time at home in preparation for Madagascar, it became clear to me that I would have a lot of time on my hands while living in Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of the Red Island. Moreover, this time alone would be spent in silence. In a future blog, I will write about language and self-expression as part of identity. But for now, suffice to say that I will have to learn how to communicate my true self through a different medium than the English language, and although French will play a useful role in communication, it may be that I need to discover my true self before I try to communicate anything at all. What better way to discover, to encounter really, one’s true self than in an expended period of time and silence? Thus, I had two pieces of a puzzle.

Nonetheless, there was a third element that I was so obviously missing that was necessary to complete the trinity of ideas I so desired for my blog’s name. I thought about it for a while and drew blank after blank, circulating through other metaphors and symbols related to Madagascar like red sand, lemurs, zebu, enchantments, lambas, and others. Then came the ancestors.

The ancestors dictate all aspects of life in Madagascar, or at least in the rural areas, which consists of about 62% of just under 28 million people. What it will be like in the busy city of Tana with its 1.28 million inhabitants is yet to be seen. Regardless, the Malagasy reference their ancestors for everything. It is the spirits of the ancestors who dictate fady, or taboo, which is, already in my ignorant state, I have found to be a very poor translation but the closest we have in English. These fady to the Western eye, both conservative and progressive, are arbitrary at best. Yet that is because we do not understand the worldview of the Malagasy and the blurred line between the world of the living and of the dead, if, indeed, a line actually exists. The spirits of the ancestors commune with the living, guiding them in all things and directing them down the path that is, in theory, to lead to happiness. Reading the stories of ceremonies and rituals, hearing about what we would consider ridiculous practices dictated by fady unwritten but followed without question made me think very seriously about how we view death, our own ancestors, and even the saints. Thus, the inclusion of the ancestors in the name of my blog seemed only natural, and the infusion of all three themes that I firmly believe will impact and dictate my sojourn in Madagascar seems only right.

I must confess, however, that there were several rather creative names offered for my blog. And seeing as not everything in this blog will be serious, in fact, I hope that much of it will be entertaining, it seems right that I share a few:

A Fake Blog for Fake Africa

Exposing Fake Africa

I Like to Move it Move it in Fake Africa

Mada-who-ha?

Lemur Tell You Something

God’s Gift to Madagascar (a play off my name which means “gift from God”)

Nate’s Great Island Adventure

Traditional Classroom Discipline with Nathaniel

Where in the World is Nathaniel?

Zaboomafoo 2: Electric Boogaloo

So now I need to actually come to the secondary purpose of this first post. What is this blog about? In short, it’s about anything and nothing. For better or worse, I will write about all sorts of topics including culture, history, language, and travel. It will have boring moments where I talk about economics, human action, and tribalism, my personal favorite. But it will also include personal aspects of spirituality, religion, and transcendental things. All in all, who knows exactly what you’ll find here? I sure don’t, at least not yet. And here’s the thing, I’m not really sure I care whether you like my “content” (ugh, what a deceitful and perverse word). The bottom line is that my blog is a gift from me to you, whoever you are. And you, my dear friend, can do with it however you like. Details of how frequently, or infrequently, or how long or short blog posts will be are still in the air, just where I like them. The fact of the matter is that I write for your benefit, whatever it may be. So stick around. Maybe you will learn something. I know that I certainly will.

May God be praised.

P.S. You will have to bear with me as I learn to navigate creating a website. I confess that I chose the laziest design I could possibly find, guaranteeing that I had to do the least amount of creative web-design work. Any of you who know me know that I have very little, if not zero, capacity to create visually appealing art. Nonetheless, I hope that you will find some value in my writing.