Ch. 6 KIDS and BEER?

I have been told many times “You can’t mix youth circus and beer,” and I always respond with this: “I am a product of 12 years of Catholic education. If it weren’t for all that bingo, gambling, booze, and beer at church festivals there would be zero Catholic schools.”

BEER: In 2012, Gourmet Renee, LLC was created with the goal of acquiring a malt beverage license.

KIDS:
Here’s what IJGD (German Peace Corp) volunteer Rosa had to say about the experience:

“Physical education” is the name of the program of the Dohn Community High School Circus Mojo has been part of since the end of September 2015. Every Monday and Wednesday morning a part of the Circus Mojo Team sets up at the Dohn School in Cincinnati to teach for one hour a Circus Class. The kids are between 14 and 16 years old and have not done or seen any circus before. We teach them basic skills which include juggling, acrobatics, plate spinning, globe walking, rhythm and tight wire, which helps them in developing their coordination ability, their patience and their will to achieve success. But in this class, not only our students have to learn to be patient. Also, we as the Circus Mojo staff have to learn how to teach with patience. The reason for this is that the kids are very chaotic and have not the best behavior. These difficulties are making it hard for us to get their attention and to have a focused class. Even though we still have our “bad days” with these kids we are getting them more and more involved in doing circus and their skills have improved the last months a lot.

I was asked to speak at the TEDx at Xavier University. In my first rehearsal, I came out swinging, discussing how Xavier “out-PT Barnumed” me. In 2011, I was in a business plan competition called XLAB, where I’d promoted the heck out of Xavier. But this exercise was challenging for me, and I had mouthed off about the higher education racket. For example, I’d mentioned that only in the USA is the drinking age 21. Only in the USA can an 18-year-old borrow $100,000+ to figure out what they want to be while illegally drinking for three years, and only in the USA is there a massive student debt problem. I continued, proposing that my theatre degree wasn’t worth the paper on which it was printed. I mentioned that my ability to balance a chair on my chin, rather than college knowledge, got me on the soap operas. I also stated, point-blank, that circus skills were more valuable than any so-called MBA. I also went on a diatribe about how many Confederate flags fly between the Cincinnati airport and downtown Ludlow. Finally, I’d pushed some giant buttons by calling out the million-plus Xavier donor and Cincinnati Reds owner, Marge Schott, as a Hitler apologist.

Roberto’s Circus Mojo troupe wowed the audiences for the opening of Darkness Brewing.

KIDS:

My job was to offer a Clown Class with the older teen boys. I speak only English, and while there were German, Arabic, and Swahili speakers present, the goal was to get everyone to speak slapstick. On the third day of class I offered the idea of having a pie fight, because of course teenage boys love the idea of anything FIGHT.

BEER:

Back in the US, I had a giant billboard hanging on the theatre trying to entice investors to help

me raise the $150,000 required to break escrow, and to pay off the equipment and the legal bills.