What's in a Name

A few years ago, I was driving through central Maryland, trying to find my way to my brother's house. I took a turn I don't recall being correct, and drove past a street named "Malleable Road." If I could have stopped the car, stared, and pondered, I would have. Instead, I kept driving and pondered. I thought about Chemistry (one of my favorite classes in high school), learning that "malleable" means you can bend, mold, and hammer without breaking the metal. What does that mean applied to a road? And oh, the metaphors started rolling in.

I wrote that street name down in my journal and told myself it would be the title of my Great American Piece of Writing - you know, every English major's dream that they will sometimes admit out loud.

When I moved to Philadelphia in the Fall of 2015, I was facing a good many transitions. Life post-college had been rife with challenges, self-doubt, adventures, and love. I showed up in a new city, with new roommates, with no job or general prospects. I needed something to do, something creative and useful, for my out-of-school brain was getting dusty. I needed to write - not to be heard, but simply to form thoughts. When debating what to call this blog, I hesitated to use the name I was saving for my great life work; but, looking at my life, Malleable Road just made sense. My life since May 2014 has been an endless barrage of "bend don't break" situations. And I was just taking one day at a time, seeing where the road took me. Besides, my beloved Chemistry teacher had just died - so in many ways, this blog and its title are a tribute to him and the quiet faith I know he had in me.

This blog is a space for thought, for dialogue, for discourse. The posts reflect my engagement with the world around and within me. Each post is not an endpoint, a finished thesis, but a starting point. I invite you to engage with me. I hope you approach what I have written on these pages, not with anger and opposition, but with a listening ear and an open-mind. I hope to build a community of thinkers who value dialoguing with one another - and yes, particularly with the Catholic perspective.

Here you will find recipes, you will find religion, and you will find romance. You will find everything that drives down my road that is ever-shifting, ever-growing, yet of the same makeup and strength.

Thanks for sitting in the passenger seat.