6
I heard voices: talking with Christopher
Keiser about education, the call, and life
BY CHRIS WEBER
Staff Writer
Christopher Keiser may not graduate
anytime soon He has been in and out of school
for the last three years. He was a senior in
'94. He is still a senior.
Though he's
not currently en
rolled Christopher
is a feature of
Guilford's land
scape. When I
walk out onto
Founders lawn, I
expect to see him:
sandled, loose
legged, rambling,
wearing flannel and
dreadlocks, walk
ing behind his dog.
So I sched
ule an interview
with Christopher. I
plan to investigate
his presence. I will
ask him "What the
hell are you doing
still here?"
As I walk to
meet Christopher, I
H i §
1
start to suspect that he may have good rea
sons for not graduating. Anybody could com
plete one year of courses in three year's time.
Why hasn't he? What's drawn him away
from his degree?
He ain't on the four-year plan, that's
clear. Has he discovered some alternative
plan 9 Some counter-curriculum 9 Where has
it taken him?
I meet up with Christopher and quickly
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Features
have my first insight. Christopher Keiser is
the first person whom you will ever fed breathe
when you hug him.
Most hugs are two people bumping into
each other with a quick clasp and squeeze
about the shoulders.
easy breath from his belly. He exhales like a
monk. Unhurried. As if our rendezvous were
a meditation session.
We go walking. I ask Christopher:
"Where has your education taken you?"
"I was looking for something,"' he says.
"I felt like I hadn't gotten in touch with what I
was supposed to be doing "
"My first senior year at Guilford, I led a
Habitat trip during fell break. That led me to
take the next year off and live in Americus,
Georgia, building houses with Habitat."
Christopher s beard is red and hand
sane and comes strong from his chin and
neck. The beard's shape and texture con
trast with his mane of dreadlocks, which are
straight, lighter, multiple. Between them Chris
topher moves his eyes intentionally. He lodes
at me, he looks into space. He directs his
eyes and does not just glance around.
''While I was there I realized that my
strength in serving the world wasn't neces
sarily with a hammer and a nail. 1 realized my
calling was to relate to people, to learn from
people, and also to bring people new perspec
tives —a real exchange.
' There was a trip going to Jamaica with
Habitat and I feh very called to that —to go
for two weeks of building houses and for two
weeks of living with the Rastaman. That led
me to want to dive deeper into the roots of
Rastafarian culture —Africa.
"What manifested was a calling from
Jamaica to go to Ghana with Guilford's pro
gram there. I followed that calling. I went to
Ghana wide open. and within two weeks I
found my vision."
"What is your vision 9" I ask.
"That vision has to do with how to re
late to others, what works to do, what foods
to eat, all of it combined. I want to facilitate
experiences in Africa for people who are
called there. While I was in Ghana, I bought
some land. I see a community forming there,
at
when I
meet up
with
Christo
pher, I
can tell
right off
that he
has
some
thing to
teach
me.
I
can tell
this from
his hug.
We em
brace,
and as I
lean in I
feel him
loose an
becoming a place to
sumve if—and per
haps when —the sys
tem that sucks the life
out of people Ms.
"I look around
me here and 1 see
dead spirits every
where. Television is
killing our spirits. Su
permarkets—where
we can buy even -
thing we need and
never know where it
canes from —are kill
ing our spirits.
''Africa is a place where our spirits can
be revived. Africa calls us to heal."
His tale zags back and forth —except
for this word, calling, which Christopher keeps
using. It glints from every episode ofhis story
like a bright stone on sodden earth.
"How has your 'calling" helped you find
your vision?" I ask Christopher. "What's a
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS WEBER
calling?"
"A calling's a voice you hear. It's an
inner voice, but you don't just hear it talking
inside.
"Your calling is inside you, but you have
to hear it somewhere else before you can hear
it yourself. You hear the voice of your calling
in what other people say.
"Acalling's something you do to survive.
It's like Bob Marley says, 'I and I build the
cabin, I and I plant the corn.' He's not talking
about earning a salary. He's talking about sur
vival. Bob s philosophy is about how black
people, white people, any people, if they follow
their callings, can learn to be free.
"If I'm wrong and the system doesn't
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS WEBER
imagining Christopher in a gray three-piece.
White, starched shirt. Clean-shaven.
No way, I think. Ain't no way that inner
voice going to tell Christopher, "Put on a tie."
Leaving him I have the sense that, how
ever long it takes Christopher to graduate, he's
walking ahead of me, reading the terrain, find
ing a new way, and calling back to me over his
shoulder about the route.
The Guilfordian
March 27,1998
fall, I
can al
vv a y s
come
back in
15 years
and put
on a suit
and tie.
But I
don't
think I
will."
I
work at