The End
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a wide range of interests and abilities. There was a time in my life where I was a YouTuber and created a bunch of fast-food restaurant reviews until all the carbs, cholesterol and trans fats caught up with me. When I was 18, I was a semi-professional video game player where my friends and I competed in gaming tournaments around Ohio for money playing the video game Gears of War. When I was 28, I ran for State Representative because I wanted to bring some attention to issues like the neglect of west side neighborhoods by some of our elected officials. In 2019, I was the Vice President of my local Community Council. In high school, I was the ‘Opinion Section Editor’ and also covered the bowling team for Elder’s student-ran newspaper, The Purple Quill. That was my first foray into writing opinion-styled articles and I followed it up having a few op-eds published in The Cincinnati Enquirer when I ran for State Rep in 2018. As you can tell, I have a wide range of experiences for a 31-year-old millennial because I have varied interests and am always willing to try something new. Additionally, content creation and getting my thoughts and opinions out there has always been important to me.
A trip my friends and I took to the Columbus Convention Center when Major League Gaming came to Ohio in 2009
There are pros and cons to putting your opinions out there and ultimately, it can rub some people the wrong way. In high school, the bros of Elder High School weren’t thrilled reading my monthly opinion articles pushing a liberal agenda. This blog ruffled some feathers within political circles because my thoughts aren’t always aligned with establishment politics.
Right now, my interest in local politics has waned than in years past. Probably due to the fact that I’ve been so up-close and personal and I’m starting to get a bit disillusioned. The Republicans are dominating our state and continuing to consolidate their power by gerrymandering, despite the will of the voters who passed gerrymandering reform and amended our state’s constitution. The corruption at the Ohio State House has been uncovered and is occurring right in front of our faces, but nothing ever changes. When you think about politics more locally, corporations and Republicans know that the GOP has no shot within the city limits, so now they’re hedging their bets by running corporate Democrats and doing their darndest to influence our local political party.
So, what can be done? If you want to fight corporate and GOP influences on our local Democratic Party, you should consider running as a precinct executive in your local voting precinct. You can help contribute to the local party by participating in endorsement committees and getting a vote when appointments happen. One example is the appointment that will need to happen when Aftab Pureval transitions from the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts to the Mayor of Cincinnati. A couple of different people want to be appointed to that position and the Precinct Executives ultimately get to vote on who replaces Aftab in the Clerk’s office for at least one year.
An awkward Clayton Adams (row 2, 5th over) wearing oversized and wrinkled clothing as a senior in high school
To cut to the chase, I’m writing this post to tell you it’s time for me to step away from this blog. Will it be done forever? I don’t know. I enjoyed doing the candidate profiles greatly but I am pretty particular about who I want to promote. I do have some relationships I need to mend because that last local election was a bloodbath where the Dems ate each other alive. What will I be doing since I am stepping away as a wannabe political blogger? Obviously, being a parent of twin toddlers requires an ample amount of energy and attention. Additionally, focusing on my career as a teacher and my role within the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers will be my priority. That is what I get paid to do; teach students and it’s the only thing I’ve really ever been exceptional at. Sure, I dabbled around with other things like politics, YouTube and gaming but the only thing that has ever held my attention for a long time is education. I’ll still be around and you can follow me on Twitter or add me on the old Facebook, but it’s time to focus the majority of my attention towards my family and myself.
Lastly, I want to say thank you. I appreciate you reading and allowing me to have an outlet to put my thoughts down and I was able to do some pretty solid things over the short life of this blog. The post on the “missing middle housing” was my personal favorite and the most popular blog post over the life of this blog. I have some other ideas on content creation but it does not involve politics and more so around sports. But for now, I will focus the entirety of my energy on my family and my career until I change my mind and want to take on another extracurricular project. I hope this blog was able to give you a bit of joy and entertainment in these post-Covid times. Thanks for the memories and keep in touch.
