In the beginning - the First Tail

So, all things (well, nearly all things, more on that later perhaps) have a beginning, and blogs are one of them. Now, normally in stories I prefer to begin in media res, but since I'm as much a character in these tails as a narrator, I figure it's fitting that I begin with a word of introduction. So, greetings, and welcome to Coyote's humble - and virtual - abode. The truth behind the keyboard is that I am Jonathan Goff, ESR Student. If you know me, great! If you don't, well, I may as well be Paleface Coyote, aye?

So what's in a name? Specifically, why did I choose this identity when, well, I'm not really all that Coyote-like? After all, I've been the straight man my whole life, and never been accused of being that trickster-ish. Well, not outwardly anyway. And yet... and yet... mischievousness and frivolity is inherent to who I am, especially now. Maybe it's too much Douglas Adams and Eddie Izzard. Maybe too much Dr. Who... notice all three are British and at least semi-nerdy (apologies to Eddie Izzard). It's that dry humor, taking the piss out of the world, that I appreciate about a trickster figure. Maybe it's being here at a seminary and talking such heavy material, doing deep work. There's something liberating about being a bit ridiculous every now and again, especially when I know how to stop it and be serious. I'm still the straight man, but with a twinkle in my eye and a snide comment at the ready. I appreciate a trickster, someone who makes others look ridiculous - and isn't afraid to look ridiculous himself.

Besides, Coyote is nothing if not mutable - trickster, yet often culture hero too - see the bringing of fire. And that fits me, who's still struggling to find my place in the world and who I am. I, too, am mutable, and have never really been an insider wherever I go; or, no, that's not right. Well, it implies the wrong thing. What I mean is I never quite fit in wherever I am - a Yankee when I'm home, a Southerner when I'm in the North; a conservative here, a liberal back home. I've talked about this some with folks, my perpetual uniqueness. But I'm wandering... as tales tend to do.

Thus Coyote. Why Paleface? Well, funny story actually. I was looking up synonyms for trickster on thesaurus.com for a fuller name, and under the jester and joker entries it listed pale face and paleface. "Hmm..." I thought, "paleface sounds good," and I kept it. Plus of course it describes me literally. Then I looked up paleface on Wikipedia (source of all truth and knowledge, of course) just to see what it turned up. Hmm... a "usually insulting term" sometimes used for white people. Hey, that's perfect for me, eh? After all, using the moniker Coyote is itself rather, well, pretentious white-boy of me, isn't it? I'm not a southwesterner, nor are there a lot of coyotes in East Tennessee. For that matter, the only Native tribe I can claim descent from, the Cherokee, do not (to my knowledge), have Coyote as a major figure in their mythology; Rabbit is the Cherokee trickster (a la Bugs Bunny no doubt). Yet I like Coyote, and coyotes, and I am North American after all. So taking an insulting name as part of "my" own makes sense as recognition of this.

So that's me. Paleface Coyote. Like all Tricksters, both ridiculous and yet deadly serious at times. Greetings!