PATRICK’S STORY

The Bride + Groom
Written By Theresa Montiel
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QUICK DEETS ON PATRICK

  • He is the groom

  • Lives in Chicago

  • Professor@Oakton Community College

  • Left-leaning politically

  • Agnostic/Atheist

  • He has a cute fiancé, Nacho

  • Ask me anything about BLACK METAL

FULL BREAKDOWN OF PATRICK

EARLY YEARS + EARLY EDUCATION
I was born in 1987 in Chapel Hill, NC, + grew up in Baltimore, MD. From a young age I played the violin, + for many years I aspired to be a professional violinist. While attending college at Columbia University in New York, I gradually switched over to the much more lucrative world of philosophy (ha.) I was drawn to philosophy because it required careful, disciplined thinking, the willingness to criticize one's own cherished beliefs, bold imaginative speculation, + the humility to be WRONG most of the time. By the time I wrote an undergraduate thesis on the work of the 20th-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, I was hooked. After graduating with a degree in philosophy + a minor in music theory, I headed to the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium to study for a Master's Degree. I graduated in 2010 after defending a thesis on "embodied cognition," or the role of the body in shaping thought. 

MAKING LEMONADE OUT OF JOB LEMONS
After returning to New York + failing to get a job, I figured all I was good for was more school. So in 2011 I returned to Baltimore to pursue a PhD in philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. After filling in some of the gaps in my philosophical education, I decided to write a dissertation on language, race, and racism. The completed project, Racialized Discourse at the Intersection of Meaning, Mind, and Metaphysics, provides a theory of how racially stereotypical language functions in political communication, + argues that such language both reflects + perpetuates racial stratification. I earned my PhD after defending the project in February 2019.    

DOG DAYS OF GRAD SCHOOL
During my doctoral studies, I taught philosophy at a number of Baltimore-area institutions, worked a few side gigs, + played fiddle for several years in a locally gigging jam band. Yet by far the BEST thing that happened to me in grad school was meeting Nacho in the Summer of 2018. By that time, the compounding stresses of 7 uninterrupted years in graduate school, badly-compensated teaching work, the brutal academic job market, + the disintegration of a dead-end long-term relationship had effectively pulled the rug out from under my life. I knew that I would probably leave Baltimore in some form or other very soon. I was certainly not expecting (or trying) to start a serious relationship in these conditions. 

NACHO GIRLFRIEND
Yet a few dates with Nacho changed that very quickly. I was struck by her intelligence, her warmth, her sense of humor, her genuine ability to find practically anyone interesting + worthy of love of respect, her commitment to pedagogy + social justice, + of course, by how friggin' cute she was. We had plenty of shared interests, but we were also strikingly different as people. For instance, Patrick may never understand musical theater, George Lopez, or why Nacho thinks there is goodness, harmony, + interconnection among all things, + Nacho may never understand "cookie monster metal," stupid sketch comedy, or why Patrick thinks that human life is mostly an appalling tragedy with some irony mixed in. Yet these differences complement rather than obscure the bond that animates our relationship. Neither of us would be happy with a partner who did not care deeply, argue passionately, + be willing to share in the other's perspective. It wasn't long before I knew that however my future played out, Nacho had to be a part of it. I asked her to be my wife on her birthday, February 10, 2019.

HATING THE DISTANCE
Nacho landed a full-time job at University of the Arts in Philadelphia in April 2019, + I landed a full-time tenure-track job at Oakton Community College outside Chicago in June. We have been living in our separate cities since August 2019. This has certainly been a difficult transition. Yet unlike the problem of climate change, the problem of distance is one we can solve. And despite COVID19 being a global pandemic, it has allowed Nacho and I to transition from a long-distance couple to just a normal couple.

UNTIL THEN…
Until then, I do my best to keep busy without my better half. On the academic front my research these days focuses on the role of concepts like racism + racial domination in explaining differences in the social positioning of racial groups. I am also intrigued by "big questions" about the meaning of human life + death. I am especially attracted to the long + rich tradition of philosophical pessimism, + am particularly interested in the ancient + recently resurgent topic of "anti-natalism," which asks whether it would have been better, all things considered, had one never been born at all (I think the jury is still out, + likely will be for a long time!)  

IN MY FREE TIME…
When not teaching, reading, or writing, I enjoy horror movies, hiking, art museums, baseball, comedy, cooking, + exploring all scenes divey, dirty, + just plain odd. I still maintain a passion for music. While I break out the fiddle every once in a while, any + all forms of heavy metal are my true passion. I enjoy playing guitar + going out to see live music whenever I can. More recently I have been writing music + lyrics for a death metal project inspired by macabre topics + events in the history of the Irish people... there are a lot to choose from. 

 
 

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