Michael DeNobile
"Welcome to the Big Show" by Michael DeNobile
Within this blog, Michael DeNobile, a New York educator, writer, consultant, and blogger will share his thoughts on a number of topics related to education.
"Welcome to the Big Show"
Michael DeNobile hopes to express that this blog has been a long time coming. It has been inspired by fourteen years of educational experience, even longer experience in youth ministry, long stretches of reflection and formal studies in various fields of discipline, and a burning desire to share stories.
Tell Your Story, Don't Allow Others to Tell Yours
One of Michael DeNobile’s biggest lessons in his thirty-six years of life and fourteen years as an educator is to not allow others to tell your story. There will be individuals in life, both personally and professionally, who will try to appropriate your story. From personal experience, don't let them; the only one who should hold the pen to your story is you and you alone.
Austrian Jewish neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl once said, "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." I would add that in changing ourselves, we change our perspectives, and in turn, we change the narrative. To quote Tenth Avenue North in their song "You Are More," "You are more than the choices that you've made / You are more than the sum of your past mistakes / You are more than the problems you create / You've been remade." Don't let your choices, good or bad, nor their intended or unintended consequences define who you are, your character, your dignity, and your worth. Why? Because, as John Proctor teaches us in the Crucible, it is your name! Because you cannot have another in your life! Do not hand over your soul to others; always retain the dignity of your name.
Telling My Story
In an attempt to share a little bit of his story, Michael DeNobile was inspired to write the following identity poem about himself. Learning is the journey, and he invites readers to ride shotgun.
"Welcome to the Big Show"
My story begins long before
I took my first breath
for I have the blood of a survivor
running through my veins
when my great grandmother struggled
for her breath
to survive in a pile of rubble
left for dead in the wake of the Messina earthquake
her finger twitching to signal for life
her struggle led her across the sea to a new world
in a land of opportunity
I have the blood of fighters
running through my veins
when her son-in-law, my grandfather,
tussled with future champions
and though his dream of being a contender
never came to be--instead becoming
a cobblestone and asphalt layer
he too survived and fought on
like my other grandfather and uncle
both my namesakes
who served in World War II and Vietnam
in defense of liberty, then returned home to serve
as honorable steamfitters of the Local 638
I have the blood of trailblazers
running through my veins
when my father was the first in his family to go to college
so that my father's son could be the first in his family to earn multiple degrees--
when my mother participated in groundbreaking medical research
so that my mother's son could be born--literally--when the doctors recommended to terminate
I was born and baptized in fire
I am a survivor
I am a fighter
I am a trailblazer
because of my blood
because of my past
because I look toward the future, knowing
I can do anything
because my greatest teachers taught me how
Welcome to the big show
this is my Life
this is my story
this is my blood
this is my name
and the journey's just beginning
~~~~~~~~~~
Michael DeNobile invites you to sojourn with him now. You ain't seen nothing yet.