Death and New Beginnings

Father’s Day 2020 will forever be a life-altering day for me; it was a typical Sunday in June, just like every other Father’s Day before it. I awoke at around 7:00 AM with a multitude of missed calls from my stepmother. Upon calling her back, my world was temporarily shattered. My father, who was only 60 years old, passed away in his sleep. We suspect a possible heart attack was his ultimate downfall but we’ll never really know. From that day forward, I’ve had to face life without my dad and I’ve had trouble processing that over the past 7 months. I took a step back from many of things I was involved in just to grieve and I scaled back some of my involvement in the political world. Due to the upheaval in local politics lately, I’ve even had to realign my thinking and my allies on the Cincinnati political scene. Combine all of this with a global pandemic and my (and probably your) mental health has been a constant struggle to manage at times.

Taking all of this into account, I am now ready to put myself out there once again and put my thoughts to the proverbial pen and paper. If you do not know me, I can share a few things about myself. I began volunteering for local political campaigns in Cincinnati at the age of 17 in 2007. I’ve focused my goals primarily on electing progressive leaders in local government and I even ran for State Representative in 2018. Unfortunately, that race was predetermined from the start due to our state’s lopsided gerrymandered districts that has given the GOP a supermajority in both the State House and the State Senate. Despite knowing I was bound to lose I ultimately made a name for myself writing punchy opinion pieces published in The Enquirer while also running on a progressive platform in one of the most conservative parts of Hamilton County. Since the 2018 loss, I’ve continued staying involved with politics while bettering myself professionally as a teacher.

I am starting this blog to share my perspective on local politics in Cincinnati and quite possibly politics that involve the State of Ohio. I used to be of the mindset that places like Cincinnati and Ohio were special places that were “beyond reproach,” a term one of our favorite local politicians likes to use. I had a sort of strange undying loyalty and naivety towards this state and city. Unfortunately, running for office and getting to see the inner-workings of our city and state government quickly opened my eyes to the corruption, petty politics and incompetence that runs amuck. I intend on publishing one opinion style article a week on current events happening in our fair city or state. I believe there is an appetite for progressive style opinion pieces that our local media do not publish. Currently, The Enquirer employs a political columnist named Jason Williams who produces opinion pieces multiple times a week that spreads anti-worker, anti-union and pro-corporate nonsense. We often forget that before 2008, Hamilton County was a reliably red county for Republicans for everything from local races all the way up to presidential races. Since 2008, local Democrats have never looked back and Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati have trended blue ever since. The Enquirer, a traditionally conservative newspaper, has had to adapt due to the changing demographics and political beliefs of their readership. However, Beryl Love and Jason Williams are still in place by Gannett to push a conservative agenda in the cleverest ways they can. We cannot depend on The Enquirer to actually publish progressive ideas or columns. I support local journalism and have subscribed to The Enquirer for several years. Their actual reporters are top notch and produce some of the most hard-hitting journalism in this city. But I cannot support Jason Williams and the putrid corporate BS he pedals on a bi-weekly basis for clicks. I look forward to writing opinion pieces that connect with regular people that offer a logical and unique perspective from a community leader, teacher, father and a normal person who doesn’t live in a suburban McMansion. All content will be free and I look forward to gaining your trust and support.