Class of 2013
Major — History
Hometown — Santa Fe, NM
I’m Jake and I’m a senior history major, a captain of the Track and Field Team, a story teller on my own food/travel blog The Food Travels of a Coffee Snob, and a die hard Red Sox Fan. You can usually find me watching the Sopranos with my apartmentmates Jackson and Andrew, eating awesome breakfasts at The Gambier Deli, sitting in Peirce’s Great Hall for extensive periods of time, or at the computers on the second floor of the library typing away at multiple research papers with a huge stack of books piled around me. When I'm not at Kenyon I enjoy watching baseball, playing whiffleball, reading Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, and of course eating tasty meals surrounded by awesome family and friends.
This weekend the NCAC Conference Championship track meet will be held at Kenyon. It will be my final meet as a varsity athlete. What follows is a transcript of the speech I gave to the team at the final team meeting of the year. This speech would not have been possible without taking Rhetoric in Antiquity with Professor Serfass, certainly the best class I have taken at Kenyon after Epic and History with Professor Levithan. It may be a bit more than 500 words, but each one has been honed for rhetorical perfection.
On Sunday, April 7th I found myself caught halfway between the Library and my home in the Morgan Apartments. Standing amidst the grass of Ransom Lawn I became engrossed in the beauty of the night and decided to record my experiences when I returned home.
These words, albeit improved and edited, are what the muse spoke through me.
"As you set out for Ithaka hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them: you’ll never find things like that on your way as long as you keep your thoughts raised high, as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body. Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you."
