Yo - An Introduction
Jul 22nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm by Alex UA
Hi there- my name is Alex Urevick-Ackelsberg and I’m a compulsive pontificator.
Ok, I know this isn’t a support group, but I couldn’t think of a clever way to start off my blogging here. I’ll introduce myself more later (for those of you who are too curious to wait, you can find a short bio on my company’s site), but first I’d just like to say thank Susie for bravely allowing me to spout off here (I promise not to piss too many people off… oh who am I kidding) and tell you the story of how Susie and I met, which is both a funny story and a good illustration of how we roll here in the City of Brotherly Love.
The year was 2005. The place: Drinking Liberally Philadelphia. I was living in New York City at the time (I lived there for 8 years, though I grew up in the Germantown section of Philly) and was traveling back to NYC from DC with the national Drinking Liberally (now Living Liberally) crew, with whom I am good friends with and for whom I volunteered for on a pretty regular basis since the group that got me knee deep in politics, Music for America, started on its descent into the dustbin of history (i.e. since fall of 2004).
Anyway, I was working the room with my networking-skilled DL friends (none more skilled than DL founder Justin Krebs) when I came to Susie’s table. I don’t remember how we got onto the subject of where I was from (I’m always surprised when I can remember anything from a DL), but no sooner had I told the table full of drinking liberals that I was from Philly when Susie butted in. “Oh, you’re from Philly?” she asked in a half accusatory, half joking manner. “Yeah, I’m from Philly.” “Ok,” she replied, “if you’re from Philly then what Parish did you grow up in?” Now, being that I was raised Jewish I had no idea what she even meant by a Parish, since the only time I ever remembered hearing about a Parish was during Katrina. “Just like I thought- you’re not from Philly” Susie insisted.
Later that week I was chatting with my younger brother, Dan UA who runs Young Philly Politics, and telling him about this woman I met at DL who had the nerve to both call herself a Suburban Guerrilla and question my Philly bonafides. A few hours later Dan forwarded me an e-mail he had just received from Susie with whom he had been corresponding about a potential SEPTA strike. She wanted to know if we were related to Maureen “Beanie” Urevick, who is our aunt. It turns out that not only did Susie grow up in the same part of Southwest Philly as my mother, but her brother was my aunt’s first boyfriend.
So anyway, thanks again Susie for letting me post, and no I still don’t have any idea what “Parish” I’m from.
Susie pulled the same “what parish are you from” with me. She scoffed when I told her I wasn’t Catholic. “Everybody knows what parish they’re from.” There is some odd feature of Catholicism that doesn’t allow its participants and former participants to entertain the thought that nobody has a clue what the hell they’re yammering on about. I married a Catholic, so now I find that I’m just perpetually baffled. It’s for the best really.
Yeah, Alex, but your mom is from Most Blessed Sacrament and that’s all that counts.
Welcome to SG, Alex.
I’ve never even been to Philly. In fact the only part of Pennsylvania I’ve seen is Waynesboro, (near Hagerstown, MD). But I *DO* know what Parish I grew up in, (Holy Rosary - Edmonds, WA). Heh.
Recovering Catholics are the worst; it must be all that guilt from growing up. I’d put nuns up against Jewish grandmothers for piling on the guilt any day of the week.
I come from St. John The Martyr, and always get my Parrishes mixed up — Lance (324 HR), Larry (256 HR), — can’t really tell ‘em apart.
Hey Martigan- I think that’s why my Dad fell in love with my mother- she could “out-guilt” and “out-worry” any Jewish mother out there. Too bad neither she, nor any Catholic mother (CM), seem to be able to turn that guilt back upon its source and apply it to the church itself. Maybe if it was possible to bring all of the CMs together and had them form some sort of giant (Voltron-like) CM with super guilt powers, but now I’m just talking crazy…
According to this site, it appears that I grew up in St. Martin of Tours parish, probably not too far from the border of the Our Lady of Ransom parish. But I don’t recall Susie ever questioning my Philly bonafides. However, I think she was convinced about my not being Catholic by my slow uptake of her “common male fantasy” clue one Halloween.
Yeah, but you’re the one who came to pick me up dressed like a nun!