Another First Place Ring

I Am a White Man in America

Just look at me above, I am white.

I so wanted to have something other than Irish or German DNA, so I did the ancestry DNA thing, and it came back conclusive...I'm white.

30% German
30% Irish/Welsh/English
16% Northern Europe (YES! Part Viking)
4% Southern Europe (Maybe Italy? Possibly some non-white DNA?)

Then some small percentages of other places including < 1% of Jewish DNA.

So, I'm white and I have the paperwork to prove it.

And you can look at me to see that I'm a white man in a predominantly white country with white privilege.

Yes, I said it or typed it, I guess, white privilege.

White privilege exists whether we want to acknowledge it or do anything about it.

Sort of like racism, you can deny it exists, but it does so you're incorrect.

But back to white privilege.

If you're not white, you're probably surprised that white people don't understand their privilege because it's been, well, our life.

I explained it someone once that I have been allowed to "float" through life because of my race.

My family was not the most affluent (we didn't want for anything, but didn't live in a mansion either) in a small town. I had so much support that I was able to pretend like high school mattered, was given many opportunities at jobs, flunked out of college (sorta), worked dead end jobs while figuring out who I was, was offered a coaching position, started subbing and working without a real job after a degree for two years, and now live in a nice home in a nice community with spoiled children.

If that doesn't explain white privilege, I don't know what will because I am not  Kennedy or a Bush, or any super affluent rich family in this country.

I'm just a regular guy who floated through his 20's until he found himself and his purpose and started to "thrive".

What % of people of color are able to do that?

They often come from broken homes (not me), they have little support (not me), they aren't given the opportunities of jobs because of issues that come from the first two points listed her (not me), they don't go to college or if they flunk out, it's over (not me), they rarely are given time to find themselves because they are trying to survive the day to day (not me) and just parts of these points do not allow for them to live in a nice home, in a nice community with spoiled children like I do.

Is it socioeconomic and not racial? It could be, but...

What races are often worse off socioeconomically? Non-white.

Should they be able to get out of their situation? Yea, I believe it's a possibility, but as a teacher of psychology and sociology and really, just a person who can look around and see that poverty is generational. It is very hard for anyone to overcome their situation, no matter race.

But it makes sense that if larger numbers of a race are in poverty, then that race will have a harder time overcoming their circumstances.

Which gets me back to my original point.

White privilege exists and really so does American privilege, but that's an article for another time.

But I want you to think about this:
1. I can call 911 at any time and support will be to me almost immediately where I live.
2. I can approach a police officer at any time either peaceful or in a hostile situation and be protected.
3. I can drive through any part of any town and not be pulled over for being suspicious, but often for "my own good" as in "you really need to get out of this part of town" (that may or may not have actually happened.
4. I can speak to law enforcement in just about any tone that I want to.
5. No one follows me around in a store worried about what I am going to do.
6. I could carry a gun and not be stopped by law enforcement and maybe even celebrated by most of those people around me.

And I am sure there are more points I could come up with if I wanted to.

Now don't get me wrong, I love law enforcement, I have friends in law enforcement who some agree with me and I do believe that criminals regardless of race should be treated as such, but...

Why are they criminals?
Why am I not?

I can guarantee you that I have done things in the past and had encounters with law enforcement that ended better for me for whatever reason, but I see it now as white privilege.

But white privilege exists, how do I know?

Because 90%+ people of color think it does.

Because 90%+ people of color think there are issues based on their skin color.

Ok, just because those stats exists doesn't mean it's real, I will concede you are allowed to have that opinion, but if that high of a % believes there are racial issues and believe privilege exists, shouldn't we at least listen?

Yea...I think that's a good place to start.

Listening.

Then learning.

Then changing.

Come on, we can all change some can't we?

Went to Indianapolis for the State Assembly Recognition...Concurrent Resolution

The House is bottom picture, Senate is the top picture.

More pics of Our Family

Pics to Have

A Little Boy's Dream

Surreal is an adjective having the qualities of surrealism, bizarre. It is synonymous with unreal, unusual, weird, strange, freakish, unearthly, dreamlike.

I have had a few surreal moments in my life, my wedding vows with my wife, the birth of our children and surviving an EF-4 tornado while in the school at Henryville H.S. are the ones that stand out the most for me.

But being an assistant coach of a state championship basketball team is right up there with "why me?"

How did I get here? And why is it that big of a deal to me?

As a little boy, I would get Hoosier Basketball magazine (there was no Internet to get information from) and I would almost memorize all of the information in the magazine. I learned who the top teams in the state were and the top players.

Being from Henryville, a small town in southern Indiana, we didn't have those types of teams and those types of players. But we did have some really good teams and some really good players and they were who I idolized, who I was in awe of.

So growing up, I wanted to be a Henryville basketball player, and I would put a metal hanger in the top of my door, wad up a sock and tape it up and I would be just that, a Henryville basketball player. I would make up a schedule of all the top teams in that magazine and we would go undefeated and win the state championship.

As I grew up, I had a basketball goal that my dad made for me from old lumber of a house he tore down. The rim eventually broke, but was functional, and I had no concrete to dribble, yet I did. I played on that grass until it was worn away and I would play on it in dry summer, wet spring, or snow covered winter and I would play games there just like in my room and would win the state championship.

I have coached for 28 years of high school basketball helping in one way or another, but after being the head coach at Henryville and not having the success I wanted, I chose on my own, to step down.

The tornado changed my thinking about a lot of things, but my children attend Silver Creek schools, and I decided that I wanted to help the SC boys basketball program if Coach Hoffman would have me, and he did.

My first year helping, we won the sectional and the emotional feeling was unbelievable. From the celebration after to the send off for regional, it is hard to explain other than I was elated. That first year, it was Mark Rieger, Coach Hoffman, Robert Briscoe and myself.

The next year we won again and Coach Whitlock was back as JV coach after one year away and Neil Coffman started sitting on the bench with us.

We won 4 sectionals, but could not get past the regional...until this year.

Last year Joe Campbell was added to the staff.

Before I go into this season, everyone who reads this should understand that we have some really good men/ human beings as basketball coaches at Silver Creek. I would not want my son to play for any other group than these men.

Then this season started, and we were good, but I am not sure I understood how good we were.

We won a lot of games.

We won the sectional.

We won the regional and it was just like that first year winning the sectional, an elated high of accomplishing something special.

Then we won the semi-state in an emotional, hard fought game...and I cannot put into words how happy I was. We were actually going to play for a state championship in Banker's Life in Indianapolis.

Then we won the state championship.

And it is surreal, even now over a month later, it feels weird, bizarre, strange.

Doing that is something that I have such high reverence for that as a little kid I had these wild dreams I would be a part of it some day.

But as you age, those dreams tend to die or fade away as each year passes and it doesn't happen, it seems too impossible.

Then it happens.

All I can think is why do I get to experience this? And how am I supposed to act or feel?

But it has made me so thankful.

It has made me thankful for my parents and wife and kids who get to experience this by watching or through me as I experience it.

It has made me thankful for all the fans of our team who were there those weeks in large numbers and supported us.

It has made me thankful for all the people on social media who have reached out or shared their thoughts and pictures.

It has made me thankful of my friends, acquaintances, former players, family, and total strangers who have reached out or stopped me and congratulated me.

It has made me even more thankful to be working at a school that expects excellence with coaches, not just in boys basketball, but all sports that expect to win.

It has made me thankful to work with men like Mark Rieger, George Gerth, Joe Campbell, Jesse Whitlock, Neil Coffman and Head Coach Brandon Hoffman who all share similar beliefs, values and ideas when it comes to life and coaching.

Finally, it has made me thankful that the little boy playing in his room and on that old grass court who wanted to win a state championship and got to finally live out his dream.

But for my two children, it's not something that is so far away that they cannot fathom it ever happening to them.

They know it can because they've seen it happen to their school, their team and to their dad.

My unreachable dream as a child, has become a possibility to my own children. It is not something out of reach, but something that can be experienced, because they have.