In Professor of Religion Michael Bauman’s course “Theology of Romantic Love,” Tyler Blanski ‘06 was one of two men in a class of 15. He was not chatty. But he wasn’t reluctant to talk either. The other male in the classroom was a silent guy. But that didn’t seem to bother Blanski.
“He was the sort of person who would have a sensible answer to give,” said Bauman. “But he was humble enough where he was teachable.”
Blanski converted to Anglicanism when he was in college. And although he initially refused his calling to become an Anglican priest, Blanksi eventually surrendered. He is now a student at Nashotah House in Wisconsin pursuing the holy orders of the Anglican Church.
During his senior year, Blanski started a group called the “couch society” which met on Fridays to discuss and read poems. Often times late Professor of English John Reist would administer the sacrament and lead Bible studies, followed by a party with a keg.
Blanski graduated from Hillsdale College in 2006 as a Christian Studies major. He did not go to graduate school. He painted houses and wrote instead.
“It wore me out in a lot of ways,” Blanski said. “It’s expensive to take time not making money.”
For the past ten years, Blanski has managed his own painting company, a job he began in college. After some encouragement and inspiration from his Professor of History John Wilson, Blanski took out a business loan to begin the company that he manages today.
But once the summer season comes to its end, Blanski exchanges his paintbrush for a pen to write music and work on his latest book.
Blanski’s writing process is a lonely one. He does not discuss his writing other than generalities with his closest friends. His greatest council comes from books. Some of his greatest influences include C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and especially the church fathers.
“I’m writing a novel right now –– very post-modern literary style,” Blanski said. “ I can’t say anything about it. But I’m really excited. It’s an experiment.”
Blanski’s writing career began very early in life. A few of his poems were published when he was in grade school.
“I’ve always been a writer,” Blanski said. “I didn’t always think of myself as a writer. I’ve always been a poet.”
During his junior year at Hillsdale College, after some strong encouragement from Bauman, Blanski studied at the Center for Renaissance Studies at Oxford for 12 weeks. Although Blanski had been a writer long before his junior year, his term at Oxford was a turning point in his writing career.
“I remember that day really clearly,” Blanski said. “I put on a robe, smoked a pipe, and pretended I was Tolkien. I started writing and never stopped.”
When Blanski returned to Hillsdale, he continued to write. In 2006, during his senior year, Blanski began writing his first book, “Mud in Poetry.” He would sit in Bauman’s office and flip through his book page by page, edit, and rewrite. The book was finally finished in 2008 and published in 2010.
In 2011, Blanski spent his winter working on a new project, “When Donkey’s Talk,” which was released to the bookshelves Jan. 2013. After reading Owen Barfield’s “History of English in Words,” he had a vision of a child looking up at the night sky in complete awe.
“A battle cry of ‘When Donkey’s Talk’ is that we need to become medieval again,” Blanski said. “The Middle Ages were anything but dark. Their understanding of what our world means was true. This is an invitation to rediscover the awe of the gospel. The world is packed with magic in the corners.”
This vision of a child’s enchantment with a night sky inspired Blanski to address the Christian whose sense of wonder is “often soured in pessimism.” “When Donkey’s Talk” is for the Christian who has become bored with Christianity and playfully help them recapture the surprise in the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“The book is for readers who have grown weary or forgotten their first love,” Blanski said. “This is going back an old school world that is ringing with the presense of God and how He wants to love and restore everyone and everything.”
Although pursing the holy orders of the Anglican Church was not a destination Bauman anticipated of Blanski, he always knew that Blanski was a spiritually serious man and was not surprised that he writing career has been successful.
“Tyler is flexible enough and talented enough where he would have made it one way or another,” Bauman said. “But I’m glad it turned out this way.”
bpritchett@hillsdale.edu