Dear Astok,

I know this isn’t the way this type of thing is supposed to be done…me writing to you like this; but it’s the only way I can think of. There isn’t an easy way for me to tell you this, so I’m going to have to just be honest. I don’t love you anymore. I’m not coming home from Earth. I’ve had the most amazing journey while I’ve been here, and feel compelled to stay. Timing is different here than it is on our planet; three months our time is equivalent to almost 200 years here on Earth, and during my centuries here, I have experienced life in such a revolutionary way, it has changed me forever, and for this I am choosing to stay. I’ve fallen in and out of love with other men, I’ve seen religious domination, and I’ve witnessed human superiority over different races of people and ethnicities. I’ve seen humanity in myself and humanity for what it truly is.

My first experience I will tell you about is the first time I fell in love here on earth; his name is John Smith.  Aside from having the most ravishing hair budding from his face, my big and burly North American man taught me about human domination, especially when it comes to the subhuman creatures that share this land with him. He even protected me from “hellish” “salvages” that he warned me existed among us. Many people saw John as being a violent, brutal, controlling man, but he was tender toward me, therefore I thought I got to know the real John. Many people, including my colleague Sofia Hafner-Diaz, viewed John as an arrogant man. “He speaks very highly of himself, even showing that he gives to the rest before himself.” (Diaz). John is a writer and so I’m sending home some pieces of his literature for you so you can read about the early conquests in North America. I will warn you, there are moments where he shows bits of violence: “[Smith] let fly his musket, ran his boat onshore, whereat they all fled into the woods.” (Smith 93), but I know that deep down he has a sensitive side. Eventually I called it quits with John, he turned out to be an arrogant braggart (he claimed to have fought off two-hundred Native Americans by himself.) And besides, he’s been known to tie Indians to himself to use as a shield against invaders. That is pretty much an instant deal-breaker for me. So, although he showed me the aspiration and power humans have the capacity of, John showed me the selfishness that humans have the tendency to possess.

My second experience here on earth that I will tell you of was with a group of writers who feel passionately about their religion. These writers ran away from religious maltreatment from their homes and made a brave attempt at establishing a new beginning in North America. I met two men, William Bradford and John Winthrop, and although they were fleeing from religious persecution, they were dogmatic of anyone else’s views on religion here in America. Both men, Bradford and Winthrop, used a type of writing style called “typology”, a style of writing that compares their experienced events to stories from the Bible. Neither of these men cared for me at all because I don’t identify myself as a Christian. They classified me as immoral unless I agreed with their notions about uniting government with religion. You should have seen some of the evil ways that Europeans treated the Native American People who lived on this land prior to them; and Bradford and Winthrop basically didn’t care! They thought it was fair to treat these people abusively because the Native Americans didn’t identify themselves as Christians either. I’m sending home some of Winthrop’s writings. Winthrop uses a poetic device called “imagery” in his writings where he uses words or phrases that appeal to the senses. He does a nice job of describing the land here as having “the smell of a garden” (159), and he writes about how this land is plentiful. I also met a nice man named Roger Williams who stood up for the Native American people. I’m sending home some writings of his for you, A key into the Language of America, and The Letter to the Town of Providence where you can read about his much gentler views of the Native People, and people like me who are not Christians. Williams uses poetic devices, including metaphors, to elucidate his ideas. These three men showed me another quality that humans possess: control. People control the land, as well as other people.

Not all humans have desires of controlling others. Along my journey, I met a fascinating man named John Woolman. Another colleague of mine, Kristi Zeilinski states it well when she describes John in this way: “InSome Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, Woolman takes a very meek yet effective stance on the idea of people having slaves. Woolman plays on his audiences ideas with his ability to be relatable and understanding, as well as their Christian religion quoting biblical versus that clearly do not support the mistreatment of others.” (Zeilinski).John was really different for his kind because he was a Quaker who didn’t see particular races and cultures as being superior over each other; he viewed all humans to be created equal. I’m sending home some of Woolman’s writings for you to read where you’ll see his views on equality: “…all nations are of one blood (Genesis 3.20)” (Woolman 619). You will see a difference in John Woolman’s writings from John Smith’s writings where Woolman doesn’t boast about himself or paint him out to be a better person than he truly is. Woolman shows that he is an imperfect person just like everyone else. John Woolman showed me the quality humans have in their hearts for kindness and benevolence.

So I think you can see what I’m getting at here. I’m staying on Earth to make this place my home. Throughout my journey I’ve witnesses the qualities of humanity and I’ve found that many of these qualities exist in me. I’ve seen that humanity is an evolving, active process and there is so much more potential for it that still exists. I choose to stay here and see how far humanity can stretch, and the places it will take me in the future.

With love,

Issus