Current Events

So here's where things stand. We met last week with the owner of A.J. Rocco's and things are looking really good. He is a 1984 graduate of Benedictine, so he very much understands the vibe and flavor we're going for. While we are starting this thing around 7pm, we have the place privately reserved between 8pm-11pm, at which time the food will be laid out and the general population will be shunned. After that folks will probably come trickling in as there is a Tribe game and a Pearl Jam concert just around the corner. About midnight, DJ McBoogie will start spinning beats. He performs there every third Saturday so this will not cost us anything. He comes highly regarded, doing a lot of the local high echelon parties (LeBron James' included). If this isn't your thing, there is an outside patio as well as several other places to take the conversations that will surely take place... all within walking distance. All of this will probably cost around $25 per person. This is for food, parking, gratuity and good times. Not bad. Again, if you so choose, bring wives, dates or significant others.

We'll be meeting again soon to figure out the location of the friday night gathering. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Peace,

as

Quality Athletics

Uh...not so good. As far as I can recall, the problem with this squad was lack of a quality offensive line. Particularly up the middle (i.e. center and one of the guards).

Any retorts? :)

By the way, where the hell is DeSales?

Reunion Renaissance

So, a few of us had a meeting the other night. The subject of conversation mainly centered around what to do Friday night (May 19th). We were joined by Marvin Johnson, who you may remember was our class vice president. The planning of this reunion took on a whole new vibe and energy with Marvin's presence. Aside from this being a great hang (I'm tellin' you, the Chanel vibe is alive and well), we came up with several ideas including a pick-up game of touch (only) football on Sunday, followed by breakfast. We are planning another get-together this week to discuss a few more details. We'll keep you guys informed as these things develop.

Losing Religion?

So, I was looking at this photo trying to figure out from which classroom this was taken. From what I can tell, this was Fr. James' religion class. Now, there were some odd characters that taught at Chanel around that time...but Fr. James was one downright eccentric cat. There was almost no way to predict his behavior whatsoever. Some things you could count on:

a.) He would stare in the opposite direction of the person he was reprimanding(a very uncomfortable moment if you were on the business end of that glare-kind of like looking into the eyes of an enraged, irrational wild beast...is he going to kill me?)

b.) Somebody would fart in the middle of dead silence. This would usually happen while we were reflecting on a Scripture reading in our "journals"(remember doing that?) This disturbace would usually send Fr. James into an emotional outrage, with him running from the room, slamming the door on his way out and leaving about 25 18-year-old men to sit there laughing uncomfortably. He usually came back but I seem to remember a few times when he didn't.

c.) Charles Clark would have one of his pretend "fits", falling on the floor, knocking a bunch of desks over, quivering and shaking while someone jammed a wallet into his mouth. This is one of the most hilarious things I ever saw anyone do at that school. I know it's in bad taste (especially if you've ever seen someone have a real seizure)...but what the hell, we were kids.

d.) Someone would inevitably leave one of these either on the chalkboard or on the projector screen:












This would usually send him running as well...

e.) On an exam day, we would spend almost the entire class period discussing tangential issues, then about 7-8 minutes before the end of the class, he would give us the exam. This was obviously ridiculous...an impossible task. But even more entertaining was the countdown to turn them in:
2 minutes...1 minute...30 seconds...17 seconds...9 seconds...4 seconds...1 second.

Wow.

Looking back on this, Fr. James probably had the early onset of dementia, which is a very sad condition. I've heard many people speak in high regard of him as a teacher as well as a man. I remember having a conversation with him (I don't know why or when) about fishing. He just seemed like a nice old man. Very grandfatherly. I can't say that I developed a deeper understanding of the scriptures but I sure did see some funny things in that class. And for me, humor is about as spiritual as it gets!

So, in spite of my sarcasm, here's to you Fr. James!