My Poetry Collection is on Sale now

 

Poetry and Sayings on Sale Now!

    In an earlier post I mentioned that I was releasing a poetry book with poems I wrote. They might not be thr greatest but it's still poetry and I know not everyone wants to pay $27 for a book so why not $15. Also on the topic of $15 I have released a paperback version of To Love Perfectly. It also has some tweeks such as removing the foreword and correcting one spelling error. I removed the foreword because it's to explanatory it doesn't let the reader dive into the novel. Like it's nice that it gives some context but by removing it the reader can live instead of over analyze. Like yes analyze the actions that are going on but live them and breath them as the characters do. See how it speaks to you.

I hope you enjoy my poetry book which you can buy at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poetry-and-sayings-john-lee/1150486497?ean=9798182505949 It's affordable it's small and I think it's a nice read

My next work and Some Updates

 The Next Work and Some Updates

Front cover for Poetry and Sayings

    Knowing that I have to get my name more out there I know that I should create a second work. In my free time over the past couple of years, I had written some poetry on my phone or on sticky notes when I worked at a frozen yogurt shop. I've also written some poems on random word documents on my computer. So, I thought that I would make yet another book this time instead of being a philosophical narrative diving into the heart of the soul as To Love Perfectly does. I've decided to do a simple collection of poems and end it with some sayings that I live by. The only copy that I know that has been purchased of To Love Perfectly is the one I purchased for myself. I know that it is pricy especially as a debut book, so I thought I'd also do something more affordable and simpler for my friends that don't wish to spend $26. I understand that considering I'm a college student like my friends so purchasing things has to be done prudentially. I do also, plan on releasing a paperback edition of To Love Perfectly it won't have the foreword in it just because then the reader can dive into the novel without my tidbits. My next work is going to be titled Poetry and Sayings. Since that is to put it simply what it is. Poetry and Sayings that I have written, said and live by. With the sayings I give paragraph explanations that I hope will help understand their meaning and the weight they bear.

    Now that I have already gone through the self-publishing process it's a lot easier for me to know what I need to do and get done so I should be able to release it soon. I will say Poetry and Sayings does come from my heart a lot more on a personal level since some of the poems I did write were at varying stages in life that I've gone through the past couple years. Some of it I just was in the mood usually late at night and it made me think of just a title and simple lines so I typed them into the journal app on my phone. So I hope you all enjoy my first poetry collection. I'm sure I'll write more poetry at some point.

It Has Been Published

To Love Perfectly

To Love Perfectly

It Has Been Published

    It is with joy that I'm glad to say that To Love Perfectly has been put on sale and I hope that all of you enjoy it you can purchase it at: To Love Perfectly | Barnes & Noble® . I have never been more proud in any of my accomplishments. It might not succeed however, I nonetheless can say that it has been done. That it can be done. It is priced so that the sales cover the printing cost so if it seems overpriced to you that is why.

The Journey in the Process

    It has been quite a tedious process not only in writing the novel but publishing it. I do love that Barnes and Noble has a self-publishing process but the cover designing part was the most tedious with formatting image into pdfs and then adjusting said size of the pdf files. I get why they do it. It's just tedious. What's interesting is that the idea of the book did not exist until around easter time when I was coming back with Professor Mr. Brown from getting Ice Cream and we discussed perfect love in the car. So I really do have to give him credit for being the threshold that gave me the idea and motivation to write the book. I also want to give some credit to two English teachers who have touched my life my High School Senior Year AP Literature teacher Mr. Sean Omera and my Freshman Spring professor Dr. Alex Taylor. Had it not been for any of them I would not have had the heart nor the ideas to write this book. Another annotation I'd like to say is that had it not been for the countless encounters with love and learning what love is and isn't I would not have been able to even jot down the ideas and themes for this novel. So I hope you dear reader see that it is through the human condition that we learn to express ourselved complexly to get at the bigger picture through its intricacies.

    ~ Sincerely John Morgan Pabon Lee

To Purchase To Love Perfectly go to this link: To Love Perfectly | Barnes & Noble®

Another Quick Announcement

 

   To Love Perfectly has been put on sale

    Right now, it is in the pending process for being put on sale so it should at most take 72 hours to be published so you can order it from the website. When it is finally published and put on sale, I will post the link to order and buy it. The price set for it is 26.99 It's my debut novel so I hope I'm not being too unreasonable but it's priced so that it covers costs to print when it's ordered. Anyways have a good Friday and I hope you enjoy reading the book.

Quick Announcement about book

 

    This Friday:

    This Friday, I will be putting my book To Love Perfectly up for sale. When the link is generated, I will be posting it on this blog. I'm using Barnes and Noble because I've always loved going into their bookstores it was a journal I bought from them that really started my writing process and I'm glad that it has transformed into being able to write a book and self-publish it as a debuting author. I will be putting it up Friday but it might take 72 hours for things to be generated and then you should all be able to buy it. I'm not setting out for some best-selling novel. I'm not a great philosopher nor a great theologian. However, I had a goal and that was to see what it means To Love Perfectly (as the novel is titled) and I was able to explore just that so I hope you enjoy reading it and you can give me any criticism you have about it or what you enjoy about it. I'm just glad that I have this opportunity to bring my passion and work to this world. All glory and honor to God.

 Architecture and How it Reflects a Society

Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's Estate)

Georgian Architecture 
(Governor's Mansion Williamsburg, VA)

Why Architecture Matters

    Architecture matters since it is the form and shape that buildings take. Where we live, work, eat, go to school and encounter on the daily basis within our surroundings. In our modern society this art has been lost almost completely. When designing housing and the immediate surroundings of people. I find it fascinating that a society that had cheaper materials, and no standardization in urban planning like we do now was able to build such simple yet beautiful structures during the Georgian period along with the ante-bellum period especially. Houses and building used to be beautiful. When we have beautiful buildings, it reflects our culture and our societies grandeur. Even after the united states declared independence despite its relatively small size many of the founding fathers propagated the idea of neo-classical architecture such as Thomas Jefferson who was a self-made architect. 

Example of Neoclassical architecture at Monticello 
with Greco-Roman inspired columns

The Culture of the Craft of Architecture

    Thomas Jefferson as stated was a self-made architect. I have a lo respect him for. It takes a lot of effort for someone to design a home and to understand architectural design. It also takes a lot of culture to. The early United States even to this day is modeled after the Roman republic. The founding fathers did this intentionally. Although I come from a Catholic background I see many of the enlightenment principles especially checks and balances of power extremely and explicitly important. They also wanted to take after them in architecture hence why much of the government building were modeled after neo-classical architecture. It's important to note the Romans didn't just make the building as personal palaces, but they also used them to create common spaces for the commoners such as many numerous common spaces and the living quarters of citizens. This is because they idolized perfection and order. Now the founding fathers knew perfection couldn't happen, but they knew the importance of order, and it reflected that not only in their system of governance but the architecture they created. Their architecture is beautiful because it modeled a grand society which was born. The craft of architecture was respected, and it was known that building should be beautiful. While Thomas Jefferson did come from wealth and used it to create Monticello, I'd like to note that even in the common American society citizens lived in Georgian and Neo-Classical style homes even in the ante-bellum era such an example would be where Robert E Lee surrendered in Appomattox. It was what was regarded as a small family home. Yet they it was built with craft and the intention of beauty.

Family Home at Appomattox

 

Beauty for the common family home

    I like to use the example of where Robert E Lee surrendered because it was a common family home. It was not the home of some wealthy elite nor a founding father. This was the home of the common family living in the countryside. As you can see their home used neo-classical architecture with their home. They had columns on their porch, and their home was made out of bricks. Masonry is a craft that utilizes brick making and it's sad to see that in the modern-day family homes are not designed elegantly, and it reflects in our society too. Our society no longer values beauty of architecture even at its simplest form. The family home of today is made cheaply and does not value the idea of immediate surrounding. Its intention is to be made cheaply as possible with as little craft as possible. Now the family home of the 19th century was designed to be made out of materials easily obtained such as bricks. Masonry is an art that takes craft. Urban development now is not a craft nor an art. Rather it is a product being sold under the guise of a home. It's minimalistic and does not create an environment of contemplating a higher society. Rather, it dumbs down society and makes everything equal in minimalism as a factory-made product. This family home at Appomattox was the standard because people lived off of the land rather than relying on corporatism and over-priced development that uses cheap materials of wood that does not incorporate the idea of using materials that are not only cheap but beautiful in design. The family homes didn't import their columns they made them from local quarries same with the bricks they were most likely locally made not imported Mediterranean rocks. The homes of then reflected a society of culture and virtue. Modern architecture does not do these things it reflects a society of spontaneity and cramming people together to make a profit, not longevity. 

Art of Carpentry

Colonial Style Home Williamsburg, VA

    I'd also like to note that even without architecture utilizing bricks such as the house displayed from Williamsburg it utilizes simple clapboard architecture, yet it has character you don't see with modern clapboard homes. It has shape and beauty. It has wide windows that let in the light. Each part of the home is designed in such a way that it creates an environment with or without intention that is a craft and beautiful using just simple carpentry. This is another part of architecture that has been lost. Carpentry is an art not just a craft. That's how it used to be viewed anyways. There was a long apprenticeship to understanding the craft of it and it would be applied to making buildings. It still is but the artform and understanding the ordered beauty of it has been lost. It's now just a tool in a construction site. Simplified, minimalized, and dumbed down without any sense of life or being in the building it goes into. I'd say that carpentry's art still continued even well into the 80s when you look at the exterior nonetheless you will still see some craft and beauty to its shape. It wasn't until the early 2000s around the 2008 market crash that carpentry truly lost its beauty in housing design. I wouldn't explicitly set the 2008 market crash a dead set date but it definitely began to decline in the 90s houses were truly becoming more mass produced and didn't utilize nature and their surrounding environment which is clearly evident in its modern design. I'd recommend visiting one and just walking around. You won't feel at peace, you'll feel exhausted and see a lot of idiocy in its design. Two great examples I can think of that I've personally been to are Greenville, South Carolina and Helena, Montana. Their developments and urban planning are the least walkable and they make architecture nonexistent in their design. With the exception of Helena which has a beautiful capital building and Cathedral. Other than that Helena is one of the least walkable places I've been. Now DC I could praise for days on end but that is a topic for another time and this is not the time nor the place to discuss DC.

Thomas Jefferson's Garden

Gardens that Complimented Architecture

Lawn of Governor's Mansion in Williamsburg, VA

    Gardens are an essential part of architecture design they not only compliment the building but are a key part of its surroundings. The less immediate surrounding but nonetheless they are a core part of the environment. While yes this garden is part of a grand estate its beauty is quite contemplative its surrounding makes you see the man Jefferson was. Gardens show what people are. They show depth, they show character. A "perfect" lawn is shallow, hollow, and empty. It's also just outright bad for the environment too because it disrupts local wildlife and biodiversity. Now I'm not hating on lawns. There is a right way to do them. What they try to imitate is quite beautiful. They originate with the gardens of Versailles which are grand and ordered now I have not been to France or Versailles. However, I have been to Williamsburg, and I took some photos of the lawn such as the one below. As you can see it incorporates the grandeur of a garden it is not simplistic in its nature at all. Rather it incorporates a variety of orchards, hedges and flowers to create and ordered peace of scenery. It's a common environment everyone sees it and it reflects the society. A society that once valued art and craft has long gone been lost to consumerism and corporatism. Now there is nothing wrong with a free market and capitalism. However, the places where we live, walk, eat should be beautiful. We should be able to no matter at what stage in life have a backdrop that reflects a great society.

Conclusion

    The art of architecture has been lost but it is not dead. If our forefathers can create such beauty, we can continue it in a renaissance that seeks truth in all things even in building. Our society is deteriorated from its lack of craft and character in the simplest things such as carpentry. With the tools and modern technology, we have today you would think it would be used to making such craft and beauty easier. Rather it has led to its downfall.

The Welcome Blog

 

Welcome 

    I haven't officially given an introductory blog so I figured I'd give one now. Some of you may know me some of you may not. I'm John Morgan Pabon Lee, I'm currently a student at Christendom College majoring in History. I love talking, comedy, art of all sorts from videography, photography, literature and music. I also own a YouTube channel along with this blog.

Who I am

I am originally from the evergreen state of Washington where I was born on September 22nd 2006 in Gig Harbor Washington. When I was little I would play in the trails close by my house which would honestly despite how simple playing in the woods would seem have such a profound impact on me.

The trail pictured here is said trail. I regard it sacredly so I'm not going to reveal its location besides that it's in Gig Harbor. As many have hopefully seen in both my work on YouTube and will hopefully see in my work in Literature that I view nature as a core and essential part of our being. I've always found a certain peace when going outside and walking through the various trails. There is something beautiful about knowing that in our joys in life and in our sorrows that you can find a certain peace knowing that nature will always be there in our surroundings. It has stood the test of time of history seeing many nations rise and fall and many wars occur some known some unknown to us. 

About my faith:

Abbot Marion and I after I was confirmed

I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on April 15th, 2007. I am a cradle Catholic, and my faith has and will always be a core part of my identity. Through the many things in life, I have fortunately or unfortunately experienced the church has always been there. I see the beauty in God sending his only begotten son to die for our sins which are many so that we might be saved. I've always felt the presence of God in adoration and in communion since my confirmation in 2022. I was confirmed by Abbot Marion who is the Abbot of the Benedictines at Saint Martin's Abbey which is connected to Saint Martin's University. I have recieved all my Sacraments except for whatever my vocation may be at Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Catholic Church in Gig Harbor. So even though I have moved around a lot since then Saint Nicholas will always be my home parish to me. For confirmation I chose Saint John The Baptist as my confirmation saint since not only was I named after him, but he holds a special place for French Canadians since he is our patron saint. I chose him because I could and can relate to him standing for truth especially in times where the world becomes so hollow and empty because of its lack of faith. I'm not Catholic because of my heritage or because of my baptism I made a choice to be confirmed and knew that I am called to profess the faith. There are many beauties to the faith that even I am still learning despite all that I do know and have learned. Now I will admit there have definitely been some low points in my faith, but I have never outright rejected God. I knew even when I wished for things to be different that God was there in my struggles. I still always find peace in the presence of God in Adoration. I will admit in times of grace it is peaceful and in times when I know I'm in a state of mortal sin I have felt the judgement so even though it is a great gift from God it comes with its burdens but I see these burdens as a nice thing to have. When I was choosing a college to go to and applying, I knew I wanted to still be able to practice the faith since many people my age end up losing the faith. So, I applied to 7 colleges and universities and ended up only getting 2 acceptances which was Saint Martin's University and Christendom College. It was a very tough choice since I was confirmed by Abbot Marion and even though I did not know it yet there had started to be a profound impact the benedictines have had on my faith as well as how I live and practice it. 

I ultimately chose Christendom College because it had a better community on campus both in culture and practice. I have read some spiritual literature such as the Imitation of Christ, Rule of Saint Benidict, Saint John Henry Newman's Stations of the Cross and last but not least the Bible. I tend to read more Old Testament literature since it speaks to me in a certain way besides the passion of Christ in the gospels. These books include Sirach, Song of Solomon, and Tobit. Sirach speaks to me a lot about friendship and marriage same with Song of Solomon. My favorite verses are from each respectively Sirach 6:14-16 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the lord will find him. This passage is probably my favorite because of how serious it treats friendship and I live by it. Faithfulness to one's friends, and significant others is up most important and show fear in the lord. When we break friendships for invalid reasons and breach each other's trust we are making an affront to God. 

My favorite verse from Song of Solomon is only part of a verse but it is Song of Solomon 6:3

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine I love this part of the verse because it speaks to me about the vocation of marriage which I know I am naturally called to. The beauty of marriage is the fact that both spouses give themselves up to each other in their entirety in a simaler way Christ gave himself up to us in his entirety. I often think about the day I hopefully give myself up entirely to a woman and she gives herself up entirely to me. Not in a selfish way but in a selfless way in which glorifies God. Nonetheless as you can see I take my faith very seriously and it is a core part of my life as well as my identity.

My Education and Adolescence

I went to the public school system from pre-K to 12th grade. I graduated from Sequim High School. Even though elementary and middle school were important the only important thing to note is my love of History came from my 6th grade social studies class with Mr. Mathew Hicks at Kopachuck Middle School and Mr. Green at Goodman Middle School since I transferred schools in 7th grade. Other than that it was only high school and college so far that has profoundly impacted me. My love for history continued in high school when I took AP World History my sophomore year with Mr. Corcoran, I began to understand cause and effect and that everything is connected and has significance. I saw how awesome history was in its fullness and seriousness and this ignited my love for history like a forest fire. I did take AP US History and as much as I love American history especially from colonialism to the Civil War I love World History because it's on a global scale and is by far in my opinion more interesting to look at with some exceptions such as Washington State History which on the surface seems dry and boring until you dig into the nitty gritty. 

Me after graduation with my Dad (Left)
my mom (right) and my Uncle Kevin Dad's side
(Far Right)

My love for literature began at a young age I grew up reading Beatrix Potter books when I was little and it was the book Johnny Townmouse that spoke to me the most and as silly as it may sound it still shapes my worldview. I read it again when I was in 3rd grade for class and the teacher asked us if we would rather live in the country in the peace and quiet or be like Johnny Townmouse and live in fear with lots of money. During this time my parents were continuing their war over me in a custody battle which I had no say so. If it was and had been up to me when they divorced when I was 4 I would of much rather lived at one of my uncles or had them stay together. Now I know many people even some friends of mine will say "well you were to young to make a decision" now while yes I was too young to vote, drive a car, open up a bank account etc... I knew what was right and wrong plus I was always treated older than I was. I love my dad but his house at the time did not feel like peace for me. It is a known fact I don't get along with his current wife. That's all I'm going to say about that. I will say that both my mom and dad made literature important to me. My mom would read to me and with me. My dad would make sure that I knew how to read, and I was for at a time pretty advance in my reading comprehension which I did feel stagnate once I was in 11th grade. Another two pieces of literature that I read in high school outside of class was Thomas Payne's Common Sense and Prince by Machievelli. These two works would undoubtedly shape the way in which I carry myself, but I did not know of complexities until my Senior year of high school when I took AP Literature with Mr. Sean Omera. I liked reading when I did it on my own, but I often found in class that I didn't like it with some exceptions like The Sun Does Shine my junior year. Mr. Omera did a phenomenal job he brought literature to life I began to actually love Shakespeare and found a deep and personal connection the play Hamlet, he taught us to embrace the complexities not only in literature but, in life. It made me actually love literature like I did when I was in elementary school. 

Mr. Omera (Right) with me at Graduation

It was in Mr. Omera's class that the seeds for my literary journey would be planted. I had picked up journaling my junior year of High School but it was Mr. Omera who took my understanding of literature and reading and refined it like a raw cut diamond where it became refined. I still email him from time to time and I will most likely email him this article but there was honestly no other teacher that made me love literature more than Mr. Omera. He had attended Saint Martin's University but he strongly incouraged me to go to Christendom College where I am studying now. Also, he's definitely part of the reason why I want to be a teacher. He made me see that teachers with the exception of my mom were real people. They weren't supper perfect in studying in high school. I was able to relate to him because of that and I hope that I can become the Mr. Omera of teaching Social Studies/History when I become a teacher. When I got to college, we began to read classics that were not Shakespeare such as the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, and Beowulf. However, it was not until reading Dante's Divine Comedy that I had not known what love is and my professor Dr. Alex Taylor brought it to life much like Mr. Omera but in a different way. He made it spiritual and tied in a lot of Theology and Philosophy. It was embracing the complexities of literature and brining it into the beatific vision which is what the Divine Comedy ultimately aims for. This would also be the time the seeds were planted for To Love Perfectly. It was also my philosophy 102 class that made me understand true love, joy, happiness and completion. Although I do disagree with happiness being the end of completion. Rather I see it as the means towards completion. Completion is the final end and you find that through the means of happiness which you find through love. It was at that time I came up with that thought.

Me at Mt. Rushmore

Other Info About Me:

    I have driven across the country; this was on part because of my decision to go to Christendom College. I started my YouTube channel in 2017 when I was going into 5th grade on August 12th. I originally wanted to be a film director. Then I wanted to be an Architect afterwards I realized that required a lot of math skills I do not have. Then I desired to be a farmer that's why I did Agriculture Science and why my Blogspot profile says I'm in the agriculture industry. In my time in the Agriculture program at Sequim High School I had Mr. McFarlen as a teacher for two classes (Agriculture Science and Food Science and Safety) He was probably the teacher at my high school I grew the closest to. I earned his respect and I loved his class and his insights to life. They were simple but true and earnest. I remember one time I had been rejected by a girl that I had grown obsessed over and I was heartbroken. He told me the story of how he met his wife. He was a cow farmer so he would come to school smelling like manure since he had to feed them before school and that girls weren't to fond of that and that he would often get rejected. He then told me that when he met his wife she wouldn't mind and loved him for who he was. That was the start of my understanding of love towards completion, and it all started because of Mr. McFarlen but came to completion because of Mr. Brown's philosophy 102 class. 

    I was also in Video Production in high school, and I was on the school news for 2 years as sometimes anchor and doing Fit of The Week my junior year to being the guy who did Question of The Week my Senior year. I am currently the film club president since the past film club election at Christendom College which I'm very excited for. I have two birds Comrade Bird, and Joan of Arc. They are Budgerigars more commonly known as Budgies or Parakeets. 

Conclusion

    I'm happy that I have started this blog, and I hope that this introduction has been helpful for readers not only to understand me but the way I write and how I view the world. I hope you enjoy the blogs and publications to come.

The Official Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal

    This is the Official Cover for the first Edition of To Love Perfectly. I'm still going through the publishing process. Honestly the first edition might be a little rough because it's the first book I'll ever have published. However, I just thought I'd share with you the cover art and design. The photos of the front and back cover were taken by me which I'm proud to say that my very limited photoshop skills paid off I hope. I also use the front and back cover of a reflection of the themes in the novel. I'm not going to spoil but nature does play a key role. I will say the cover design process for Barnes & Noble is stupidly tedious. However, I will say I'm still greatful that they have made publishing so much easier. I'm probably never going to use Amazon. They're just too corporate for me and I detest "E-Books" and "Audio-Books" I have nothing against listening along while someone reads a book what I do detest is how we've lost putting tangible things over the non-tangible such as books. I'd much rather physically pick up a book and read it then go only stare at a screen and read it.

The Original Photos:

I took both of these photos during my freshman year at Christendom College. The first one I took was the winter one which is on the way to the Saint Lawrence Commons. You can also see Old Chapel Hall and one of the Gazebos in it as well. I loved how the dark and dead trees contrasted the fresh snowfall it turned out swimmingly well. The 2nd one I took is overlooking the Shenandoah River from one of the trails on campus. Thankfully, I had my camera on me and I was just in awe of how the sun was setting and reflecting through the trees and on the river so I captured it for you all to see. I knew for certain I was going to use the Shenandoah River as the cover although I thought about using some photos I've taken of the Dungeness River but it seemed better suited. For the back cover I wasn't sure what to do I knew I wanted to either use Christ The King Chapel or another place on campus. I did know however that I definitely wanted to use a snowy landscape photo. I also thought about using a photo I've taken of the Altar in Christ the King Chapel during adoration but even though it looks good I knew I wanted space to put text for a summary and this photo to the Commons worked perfectly.

Nature and How it Shapes Our Environment

 

Nature and How it Shapes Our Environment

    People take for granted the environment which is around them. A great example of this is nature and to another extent Architecture which can be discussed at another point. Nature however comes first in this matter because it is the base environment. The trees, the rivers, the sky, the bushes and the flowers. It brings beauty to the natural world. When we have beauty in our surroundings we can see that the world is not all bleak. We can draw inspiration from nature in all forms of art such as Literature, Painting, Music, Architecture, Videography and Photography. When we pave over it with asphalt instead of incorporating it into our human design we not only destroy the environment we destroy our surroundings. I make this distinction because the Environment is bigger than our surroundings. Nature tells us the time and what season it is. When we destroy it by urban planning we destroy culture. Now I'm not saying all urban planning is bad. What I am saying is that by not utilizing what's around us and importing what is manufactured we loose our environment and it becomes destroyed. It's honestly dehumanizing at that point.

 The Peace of Tranquility

I have repeatedly brought up out environment and why nature is important to it. However, I don't believe that I have yet brought up why it is good. Nature for the environment and natural surroundings is good for a number of reasons. First, it naturally keeps us cool in heat. The Shade of a Tree the Water from a lake, pond, or river. It's naturally appealing. So much of Humanities great works have been simple imitations of nature in artwork. Think of Bob Ross painting they are all nature and very rarely does he show houses and other buildings. If he does it's done to compliment the rest of the painting. However, in a more practical manor what we can take from this is that our surroundings should imitate and be closer to nature. The track homes that many Americans live in do not imitate nature nor utilize it effectively. They destroy local wildlife and import trees and small shrubs. Strict order is not peace. What I mean by this is that controlling the way in which nature acts does not help us find peace in our surroundings. When our surroundings are beautiful even despite all the personal turmoil in our lives we can still look at a tree and say that's a nice tree. What we cannot say if the tree is not there is that's a nice tree and find a short moment of peace in our turmoil. Urban development rids us of our natural surroundings and manufactures it. If we want good urban planning use the local environment use the local floral and fauna. If we use the local floral and fauna in development then we can see that we are a great society not only because it is good for the environment, but that we care about our immediate surroundings since what immediate surrounds us effects us. When we do this by utilizing nature we find peace. 

   Conclusion

The conclusion to take away is that we must be aware of out surroundings and understand that beauty is essential to it for us to find peace in our day to day live.

To Love Perfectly: The Story of why I wrote it and its purpose

 To Love Perfectly

    

    Recently I have finished writing a manuscript for a novel. Now, I desire to let it be known why I have written it and what purpose it serves as well as how it came about.

How To Love Perfectly Came to Be:

    There was a culmination of events in my life and discussions that lead up to even the idea of writing such a novel. First, the many struggles I have found in pursuing love. I like many other people am not perfect. I recognize this. However, there are times even in our recognition of imperfection that we are blind sighted. For me it was love and to an extent still is. I never fully grasped the concept of love. I always understood it as just a good feeling or a desire to be with someone or something. The only philosophy I got in high school was whatever I did on my own such as reading Plato's Republic or Prince by Machiavelli which have had a significant impact on the way I view the world. Whatever was discussed in class was usually just Plato's allegory of the cave or some enlightenment political theory. It was empty compared to the pursuit of truth. I had many failures with love in high in pursuit of women only to love the idea of them or to objectify them for their beauty and to see them only for the empty actions and looks they gave me. Or to be prejudiced towards women who I thought were childish and whose hearts were only filled with joy and I shunned them and chose to ignore their desire for me out of selfishness. This continued until recently when I took Human Nature with Mr. Michael Brown and Literature 102 with Dr. Alex Taylor at Christendom College. I saw what desire is, I saw the wrongs I had committed and in literature I read the divine comedy which I draw a lot of inspiration from. There is no other peace of literature besides the Bible that shows such a full understanding of love and beauty than Dante's Divine Comedy. In philosophy I was told you might not find happiness in this life but Christ promised peace. I agreed with that. Then I was taught that the soul is drawn to its happiness therefore happiness is completion. I'd disagree with this statement and that's partly why I wrote this novel. Completion isn't the means of happiness. Rather happiness is the means to completion, and you find happiness through love. Completion is the end goal and happiness is the means. That's partly what my novel does as well it corrects this notion. I began to realize something greater I need to love perfectly, yet I can't how do I do this. What was funny was fate had it I was in the car with Mr. Brown after getting ice cream with him and other students that love was brought up and he explained that the love our lord gave is perfect love and that we need to strive to have perfect love. Some of us can and some of us can't yet since we were made in the image of God, we can obtain this perfect love since Christ is human. In order to love perfectly we must love imperfectly so that we might know of perfect love. I explore this theme specifically in the narrative and I hope you'll see it too when it is published. It was this conversation that inspired me to write To Love Perfectly. I also made sure it would have 14 chapters because I wanted it to mirror the 14 stations of the cross and there are a lot of biblical themes. I try not to have them overpower though and it is undoubtedly a Catholic novel, but I really hope non-Catholics can see past that and see its beauty towards completion.

The Purpose

    The Purpose of To Love Perfectly is simply as the title says to love perfectly the way in which love is perceived is shallow or disordered. We need to change this. Order your life and order your love so that it might be a perfect love of self-sacrifice to the good of others. We cannot love if we are in love with the idea of someone and grow in obsession. To have false idols and false loves not only hurts us but those around us and that is why we must grow to know how to love perfectly. That is the purspose of the novel is to know the different kinds of love and how to love perfectly so that it might be ordered rather than disordered.

During the writing of To Love Perfectly

    Now that the purpose and how it came to be is clear as I wrote it I always knew I want to get at something bigger. I then also realized as I wrote it even though the topic is simple there is so much to explore and even with character development I began to see that I was getting towards something far greater than just a philosophical dialogue. I felt like Saint Thomas Aquainas when he began to grasp at the straws of God but realized he was only grasping at the straws not the whole picture despite how much he understood. I was halfway through writing when I knew how I wanted to end it and knew that it must show completion. I'm not going to say how it shows completion or how it ends. Besides that it shows completion. I knew that I had grasped at the straws of loving perfectly and provide a good enough definition. The definition is only good enough so that we might know how to order our love but it does not grasp at the full picture. I kept my project a secret until I neared its end and decided that I should get it published. As of writing this blog I believe I'm going to try self publishing through barns and noble and I'm going to use this website as the publishing website since it is self published. 

For the future to come

    I've also come up for a few more ideas of works to write that I've personally already titled and though about The Last Gentleman (I've thought about this one long before I even wrote To Love Perfectly) and another project to serve as a French-Canadian epic that will be multigenerational and take place during the course of French-Canadian history called: The Generations of the Wandering Canadien or its French title: Des Generetions du Canadien Errant. I am of French-Canadian descent and I am very proud of my heritage and culture, however, it is a shame what it has come to, and I truly believe God is punishing my people and not allowing us freedom because we have abandoned him. French is not my "native tongue" but it was only 3 generations ago that it was. I'm also continuing to work on my college vlog series called: "The John Lee Christendom Expierience" yes experience is misspelled because it just became to iconic to be honest.