To the Band of Brothers: October 27, 2020
Good morning!
A couple of days ago a friend asked me a great question. The answer was Dancing Queen by ABBA. I can’t believe that I said it, but when asked the name of a song that I would normally not admit to liking, it was the first that came to mind. Dancing Queen may not be the manliest of songs, but it was the first song I ever danced to at a middle school dance.
I was in the seventh grade at St.Timothy’s and Sr. Mary Carolyn, O.P. had agreed to let us have a little dance for students in the school’s cafeteria. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity because Sr. Carolyn was normally not inclined to this kind of stuff. I think she worried that we would dance too closely and not leave enough room for the Holy Spirit between us. She meant well, but she came from a time when dating and courting a girl was a community event and involved ice-skating on frozen lakes in Newburgh, New York or bobbing for apples with separate dunking pails for boys and girls.
I was very excited because a girl I had my eye on was going to be there and I was going to ask her to dance with me. Liking her was reason enough to muster up the courage to ask, but it also helped that I was confident she wouldn’t turn me down. I knew this because, like any other lovesick, frightened preadolescent teen, I had sent out my spies to find out whether she liked me or not. I needed these insiders to gauge the level of interest so that I was not embarrassed at the moment I spoke to her, turning me into an emotional mess. While the scam cost me the contents of my lunchbox for a week, the information that I got back made losing five tuna fish sandwiches with the soggy bread well worth it.
So yes, Dancing Queen by ABBA is one of those songs and for very good reason.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you the names of a couple of other songs that might surprise you. If I happen to hear Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus or Wannabe by Spice Girls, the radio in my car is going as loud as it goes. Not only will you hear it if you are in the car next to me, but you will see me dancing behind the wheel as well. If I’m dressed in clerical black, I may hide my enthusiasm as much as possible in order to not create a scandal. There’s something about the music that makes my toe’s tingle and my lips sync as I pretend in my mind that I’m on stage, with a microphone and belting the tune out to a crowd of millions.
So, there you have it. Yes, I have downloaded these embarrassing tunes onto my iPhone and yes, I even had the CDs before the world of iTunes hit the market. So what? I am sure that all of you who read this email can do some serious soul searching and admit, at least to yourselves, that there are some songs in your personal repertoire that you would be a little hesitant about sharing with others. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you keep it between yourself and your parent’s car stereo and you don’t know the guy sitting in the car next to you at the red light as you belt out and dance behind the wheel to Copacabana by Barry Manilow.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.