Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 13: Keynote

 Keynote

As you may recall, I spoke at OCALICONLINE last November with my public speaking mentor and family friend, Dr. Brooks, and Noah's soccer coach, Katie. Speaking at OCALICON (as it was called pre-Covid) was a goal that Dr. Brooks and I had been working toward since late summer 2019, shortly after I started speaking in her inclusion class at OSU. Our OCALICONLINE session was pre-recorded, so Dr. Brooks, Katie, and I spent the session answering questions in the chat box. This was stressful because when a question was asked, I felt like I had to answer it faster than I could type so that the audience could pay attention to my pre-recorded counterpart.

As soon as our session ended, I took a deep breath. I was not even able to breathe out before Dr. Brooks called me. I assumed she would just congratulate me on my first conference and debrief. While that was part of it, after she had congratulated me and we had debriefed, Dr. Brooks said, "So I have a proposal for you…."

According to their website, Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) is "the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving the success of children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents." Dr. Brooks just so happens to be the current president of the Ohio chapter of CEC. Her immediate predecessor, who we will call Ellen, came to our OCALICONLINE session. The board was planning this summer's conference, and Ellen headed the operation. In the middle of our session, Ellen texted Dr. Brooks, saying that she thought I would be the perfect keynote speaker! When Dr. Brooks told me, I completely lost my mind and immediately accepted the offer.

The conference was last Friday, June 8th, at Malone University in Canton, Ohio. On June 7th, Dr. Brooks picked me up at 1:00, and we drove to Canton. We got to the hotel around 3:20. Side note- I had my own hotel room, and the CEC Ohio Council paid for it, which was super cool! After we had checked in, we drove to Malone to help set up. When we got to campus, Dr. Brooks introduced me to the rest of the board, including another one of the speakers, who we will call Amy. I've known Amy since 2014 because she is the special-ed director at my high school, The Graham School (TGS), and its two sister schools.

After setting up and decorating, we went to a nice restaurant, and I got to know the board. Once we returned to the hotel, I took a shower. Afterward, Paige called me, and we talked about the Cousin Simple show she and my family had just gone to, and she hyped me up for the next day.

Dr. Brooks and I got to Malone at 8:00 on the morning of the conference. I spent the next hour mentally preparing myself. Fortunately, the conference started with a very quick yoga session. After yoga, Dr. Brooks introduced me, and I began speaking. I got really into the presentation, and honestly, I don't remember actually giving the talk. When I had finished, I went to my table to sell books (which I sold a ton of), and a woman walked up to me.

"Hi Mitchell," she said, shaking my hand, "my name is Jo Hannah, and I'm the head of the Special Ed Department at the Ohio Department of Education." After I greeted her, Jo Hannah continued, "Do you know someone named Sandra Ulibarri?"

"Yeah, she's my mom!" I replied.

"I went to high school with her!" she exclaimed.

Connecting with someone as influential as Jo Hannah is pretty cool, but it's not the only notable thing that happened. First of all, I meet a ton of other great people too, and I've made a lot of connections. Secondly, CEC of Ohio has offered me a spot on their board, and I am in the process of accepting! My goal for this season is to figure out what my "dream life" looks like and take steps toward getting there. I think this is a pretty big step, don't you think?

Have A Greattastic Day, and Be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 12: Fun Facts And Pizza

 Fun Facts And Pizza

On Memorial Day, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Luke, Josh, Pop-Pop, Sara, Eva, Zach, Paige, and I entered Dad's studio to clean up from Josh's graduation party two days prior. Shortly after we arrived, Josh's classmate, whom he had shared the party with, showed up with his parents to help. When we finished, we all piled into Dad's big work van and went to the Leveque Tower, where Aunt Alicia and Austin stayed. Leveque Tower is a staple of the downtown Columbus skyline, and I've been looking at it my entire life, so it was really cool to be inside. After that, we went and got lunch, dropped Eva and Zach off at the airport, then went to a giant bookstore called the Book Loft. Finally, we went to a music store because Ryan had promised Luke a new guitar for his birthday, but he wanted Luke to pick it out.

After the guitar store, I took Paige home. Even though I wasn't looking at her, I felt the weight from all the socializing we had done that weekend hit her about halfway through the drive. I didn't want to burn her out by hanging out with her too much for the rest of the week. So after we had said goodbye and she was getting out of my car, I said, "See you at the show on Thursday!"

"See you then," she replied.

As you may know, Luke and Josh are in a band called Box Seats. Luke is the lead singer, and he plays guitar, and Josh plays drums. The other two band members, Freddy and Max, attend college out of town, so they couldn't play shows during the school year (though they did still release music). As I explained in the installment about Luke's graduation (Graduation, Box Seats, and Chicago), Box Seats played Luke and Freddy's joint graduation party. I was excited for Box Seats to do the same for Josh's. However, because the guy Josh had his graduation party with is not in Box Seats, they decided it would be a good idea for them not to play it. I could only accept this because I knew they were playing the next Thursday, June 1st.

That Thursday, Paige and I hung out for a little bit. We picked up Noah at 6:50, and we Lyfted to the venue. They played at a place called Kafe Kerouac. Half of the venue is a coffee shop plus a full bar, and the other half is a small room with a stage for live music. It was a small venue, but it was packed with fans for both Box Seats and the band they were opening for. There were a few people there that I knew. My parent's neighbors, Stephen and Robin; their daughters, Megan and Rachel; our friends Kristin and Tim, both Freddy and Max's families; and Josh's new girlfriend, Lindsey.

Now I love Box Seats' music; it's excellent. But my favorite thing about the band is the fact that Luke and Josh don't have stage personas. I'm a great storyteller in real life, but I tend to ramble. This blog/podcast and my books give some much-needed structure to my storytelling. I am not saying that my personality doesn't bleed into this series; it's just a little bit restrained.

Luke and Josh, on the other hand, don't restrain their personalities at all when they're performing. My first example is their song "Old Friends." I can't explain to you why this song is so special without literally breaking the entire song down, but it's the perfect encapsulation of Luke's personality. My second example is, between two of their songs, Luke asked the crowd, "So does anyone know any fun facts?" Nobody responded because we were all caught off guard, But when Luke saw me standing in front, he said, "Mitchell, I know you have some fun facts!" In middle school, I got the worst case of poison ivy ever! It was all over my face, chest, legs, feet, arms… everything! I was miserable. It was so bad I couldn't sleep, so I spent a few nights watching TV. On one of these nights, I discovered the TV channel Investigation Discovery… And I got really into True Crime. So when Luke asked me if I knew any fun facts, I could only think of weird true crime statistics, and I knew I couldn't repeat any of them! So I awkwardly stared at my brother until he giggled and continued with the show!

My third and final example: shortly after Luke asked me the fun facts question, they performed a new, untitled song they have not released yet. This new song doesn't have drums till the very end. Josh took this time to go to the green room, and grab a slice of pizza, then came back on stage, sat at the drum set, and finished the pizza just in time for him to play. My point is… the level of goober you have to be to do either of those things while performing is ridiculous, and the level of confidence you have to have to pull it off is even more so. I hope that I can be a little more like them someday.

Have a Greattastic Day and be Safe! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri

Season 6 What's The Dream? Blog 11: Graduation, Girlfriends, And A Pig Roast

 Graduation, Girlfriends, And A Pig Roast

As I explained in the installment about Luke's graduation last year (Graduation, Box Seats, And Chicago), my grandpa (Pop-Pop) and my cousin Austin were the only out-of-towners who came. This year for Josh's graduation, Pop-Pop brought his friend Sara, and Austin's mom, Aunt Alicia, also came. On the day of the party (Saturday, May 27th), my Aunt Eva and Uncle Zach also flew up. My girlfriend, Pagie, is from a big family, and every year, her parents host a pig roast for her Dad's side of the family over Memorial Day weekend. Coincidentally, the pig roast happened to be on the same weekend Josh graduated.

On that Friday, I arrived at Paige's house around 2:15. We hung out for about an hour and 15 minutes before her cousin Marcus, came with his kids. We played with the kids for 30 minutes, and then I had to get back to my parent's house, so we could all head to St. Charles Preparatory High School for the graduation Mass. My grandma and step Grandpa (Nimba and Papa), Alicia and Austin, met Pop-Pop, Sara, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Luke, and me, at St. Charles. Toward the end of the Mass, all 114 people in Josh's class received their diplomas; the Mass ended, everyone cheered, and the graduates threw their caps.

Josh had an after-party, so the rest of my family went to dinner at a distillery. Coincidentally, the distillery that we went to was only four minutes away from an Irish bar that Paige's family was at. So my family dropped me off, and I said hi to the cousins I had already met and introduced myself to those I had not. I spent the night talking and playing darts with Paige's cousins and her mom.

One of Paige's cousins, Kelly, got married in February. It was a small wedding, so a reception was held on Saturday afternoon since the family was in town. I arrived at the house where the reception was held about 20 minutes after Paige and her mom did. After I mingled for a little bit, Paige and I left to go to Dad's Studio (Kobolt) for Josh's graduation party.

We got coffee to keep ourselves going and then entered the party. We began to mingle, and I introduced Paige to my extended family and friends she had not met yet. The entire party went by quickly, but everyone told me how much they loved Paige the whole time. Toward the end of the party, Mom offered to let Paige stay at her house on the couch since she had to sleep on the floor at her house. After Josh's party ended, Paige and I returned to her house to begin the two-day pig roast. Her extended family gradually arrived until 10:20, when embers from the fire were put into the pit, and the pit was covered to cook the pig. An hour later, everyone gathered around, and last year's Christmas tree was burned to kick off the next day's celebration.

Yet another one of Paige's cousins, Chris, is getting married in mid-June, so all the women went to a bridal shower on Sunday morning. After Mass, my family and I went to lunch, and when we got back to my parent's house, Paige, her mom, her aunt Ronnie (Marcus' mom), and her Granddaughter were waiting to pick me up. Our families met, introductions were made, and Marcus' daughter chased me (and, more comically, Luke) around the house. While I was occupied, Ronnie and Austin got to talking and discovered that they both live in Pittsburgh, and they got each other's numbers to meet up at some point.

We got back to Paige's house, and once Paige's Grandma, who had just turned 100, arrived at 4:00, the pig was dramatically taste tested, and we all ate. Shortly after, Paige and I left to go bowling with my immediate family, Pop-Pop, Sara, Eva, Zach, Austin, Alicia, and the Mitreys (Alex, Nicholas, and Ellie… Maci is in Spain). After bowling, we returned to my parent's house. Mom, Eva, Zach, Austin, Alicia, Paige, and I played board games late into the night.

This was one of my favorite weekends in recent memory. For one thing, obviously, I'm happy that Josh graduated high school. For another, since Eva's mom, no one has met any of Pop-Pop's significant others. Plus, I'm too young to remember them as a couple, so it was nice to meet Sara. Mirroring my second point, while my immediate family (and Pop-pop) have met some of my previous girlfriends, no one else has met them. On top of that, I have met the families of two of my exes. Still, one was a high school relationship, so it wasn't serious. As you may recall, the only family member Gabby had left was her Grandmother (who hated me). All of this to say, the level of love Paige and I have received from the other's extended family is something neither of us has experienced before, and we're both still riding that high a week later!

Congratulations on graduating Josh, 

can't wait to hear about your Greattastic college experience! 

J. Mitchie Ulibarri