Brothers and sisters, there is no trade without a schoolhouse behind it, and there is no schoolhouse worth the name without a trade waiting on the other side of it. We may never have never said so out loud. That schoolhouse has a name. It is called public education, and in this city, its nameContinue reading “Turns No One Away”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Costume and the Woman Underneath: What We Got Wrong About Witches
Today, July 21, is apparently Witch’s Day. I say apparently because nobody agrees on where this came from, when it started, or why it landed on this date instead of Halloween, the summer solstice, or National Cauldron Appreciation Week. But the internet has declared it, and I am nothing if not a man who enjoysContinue reading “The Costume and the Woman Underneath: What We Got Wrong About Witches”
My May Day Rally Speech – May 1, 2026
I recently made comments at a May Day Rally in Cincinnati. These were my comments: Sisters and brothers, Friends, community partners… Champions of working people… Good afternoon! I am Brian Griffin… and I have the honor of serving as the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council…Representing tens of thousands of working familiesContinue reading “My May Day Rally Speech – May 1, 2026”
The Old Knights Vow
Sunday Morning with St. Francis…
I’ve been sitting with this morning’s news and a cup of coffee, and I keep thinking about Francis of Assisi. Not the statue in the garden. The real one. The young man who walked unarmed into a sultan’s war camp in the middle of the Crusades, just to have a conversation. No army. No conditions.Continue reading “Sunday Morning with St. Francis…”
Between Shore and Sure
I’m drowning.My tears well up inside,my lungs fill to overflowing,and I can hardly breathe.I swim and swimand cannot find the shore…or is that sure. I am heavy with feeling.My chest tightens and tightens,each breath slips away,and I can hardly hold on.I reach and reachand cannot find a line…or is that a sign. The tide risesContinue reading “Between Shore and Sure”
“Last Car”
So, Susan and I were talking about buying cars, and it occurred to me that our next one might be our last… No, don’t go there. Nothing sad here… It of course made me laugh…and that led to this: “We Bought Our Very Last Car” by Brian Griffin(to the tune of “Fast Car”) Verse 1WeContinue reading ““Last Car””
Whoa There, Brother… That Is One Hell of a Log in Your Eye
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus Christ asks a question that has echoed across two thousand years: “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but fail to notice the log in your own?”
Statement by Brian D Griffin | Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council
October 27, 2025 | CINCINNATI, OH—I am urgently speaking out today on behalf of working people across this community and this state. Every day, people get up at dawn, punch the clock, care for their families, stretch every dollar in tight budgets, and still do everything they can to make ends meet. And now theirContinue reading “Statement by Brian D Griffin | Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Central Labor Council”
From Bartlet to McAvoy: America’s Dream and Its Reckoning
When Aaron Sorkin gave us President Josiah Edward Bartlet in The West Wing (1999), he gave Democrats a dream. Bartlet was brilliant and flawed, moral and principled. He made politics feel noble again. He quoted scripture and Nobel economics in the same breath, believing government could still be smart, decent, and good. For a partyContinue reading “From Bartlet to McAvoy: America’s Dream and Its Reckoning”
