08.28.2021

I’m late…

So this blog post was supposed to be started, finished and published ten (10) days ago. Ten days ago was the middle of of our Onboarding at Romero Academy.

I don’t really know what to talk about but I know that I just need to publish something, and that’ll get me on track to write more. Currently I’m at Westside, my favorite brewery in Cincinnati, though I’ll admit I have been to very few of them. Maybe I talk about how “Romero Academy at Resurrection forms future saints and scholars by partnering with families to develop the intellect, form the heart, and engage the faith of each student.” How, “inspired by the life of St. Oscar Romero” we hope and pray that the graduates of our school “will develop the virtue, knowledge, and academic skills necessary to thrive in the city’s most selective college prep high schools.” How these kids will “aspire not to have more, but to be more.”

Or maybe I’ll just talk about why I’m here..

I’m here because I asked my Assistant Principal to have a beer with me and talk about a few students. Last year I was a Seton Teaching Fellow and my experience as an STF led me through so much growth and pain. Pain helps you grow and growth doesn’t happen without pain. You can’t enjoy the greenery without a little rain… and that realization puts me back for year two. Only year two for me is a little different for me. I said to myself in December that if I came back to Romero it would be as a missionary because I don’t fit in this school within any other role. Funny enough, I wasn’t allowed to be a missionary in Cincinnati and was told I’d be moved to the Bronx for my second year.

*****Side Tangent*****
This funny to me because I said no to being moved to Cincinnati three times before my year of mission started and I ended up in Cincinnati anyway. Now when I was given the opportunity to get to the Bronx, which is what I wanted originally… I didn’t want to. I wanted to be here, in Price Hill, with these kids, with their lives, and so I said no again. This will probably be something I talk about later on..
*****Side Tangent Over*****

My role this year is quite unique.. I don’t think anyone really knows what I’m doing including myself. School started on Wednesday and I still don’t know my daily schedule because I haven’t been given one. It’s not a super big deal right now because for the next week and the past three days I have been filling in Kindergarten but uhh.. yeah.

I have a part time job at a coffee shop! Which is super exciting, it throws my reality back to college being at Holy Grounds. It’s fun, it’s also really not a part time job. I work 8 hours on Saturdays.. more like a hobby that I happen to get paid for. BLOC Coffee is a really fun place and in the words of Anna Hemann: “Wait this place is incredible. That’s like the actual dream.” Those of you that ever experienced Holy Grounds, I think would say it’s a unique environment and experience. Being on the other side of that bar and working with the humans that I worked with.. I can tell you that it was a place that changed my life. I started a GroupMe to communicate with everyone circa January of 2019 and over two years later, it’s a GM that is still used to talk to one another. It’s called Dear and Ancient Holy Grounds with Mary Leihy’s face as our group avatar. Sure Holy Grounds changed my life but I think it’s these 14 people in this GM that really did a number on me. They were the reason I kept going back to Benedictine every year and they are the reason I looked for a job at a coffee shop post college (though I’m also trying to get a job at Westside)

Anyway…I think I secretly hope these posts are funny, enjoyable or whatever. I really have no theme or reason for why I’m doing this besides the fact that I just want to write. Maybe it’s my pride, or my self-centeredness, but even if no one reads these I think I’ll keep doing it. Maybe I’ll find an over-arching theme or idea down the road, maybe I won’t. I also don’t know how to write.. I hope you hear my voice and that’s all I care about. Spelling will hopefully be on point but my grammar, and my punctuation will not even be subpar. I love to use the comma key and the period key.. they might be my most used key… Oh well! Thank you for reading this, and I hope you come back. If you ever visit Cincinnati and want to say hi I am here and my house is open! I’ll buy you a cup of Joe or a beer, or get a tattoo with you.

I didn’t talk about Romero, or go into detail about the kids I talked to my AP about, or what even inspired me during onboarding to write my first post, I wish I could genuinely say I was sorry about my lack of train tracks on these trains of thought but I can’t.. I hope you find something that changes you this upcoming week.

See you in the Eucharist dear fellow traveler
a.r.