Favorite color? What makes you happy? What are you good at? What is your greatest fear… “Twenty Questions” is a regular feature in which SCJs and those with whom they minister and collaborate share a bit about themselves in an informal Q&A. Participants are given the same list of questions and are invited to answer as many as they would like.
Br. Frank Snider, SCJ, is a high school math teacher in San Antonio.
Q: Where were you born and raised? Describe your family.
BR. FRANK: Born in Zanesville, raised in Somerset, Ohio. Two brothers and two sisters, all are older than me. My oldest brother and the younger of my sisters are deceased.
Q: What is your favorite book or movie?
BR. FRANK: Whatever I happen to be watching at the moment, usually. I really enjoyed the comedy Victor/Victoria and Mrs. Doubtfire. I like historical/bibliographic movies, but I am not sure that I always believe their facts. I will see any musical.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world post-pandemic – without concern about the expense – where would you go and why?
BR. FRANK: I have no ambition to go anywhere outside of the United States, but I would not turn down a trip to New Zealand and see some of the sights of Lord of the Rings.
Q: What are you good at?
BR. FRANK: Mathematics, of course. But I like to cook for others. I do not like to follow recipes and to force others to comment on how good my efforts are, even if they are not.
Q: What is your favorite color?
BR. FRANK: I like all colors. I am especially dispirited by the fact that all the new cars come out in grey, black, white, blue, and sometimes red. It makes for a pretty boring parking lot. I cannot figure out what happened to the other exciting colors for cars!
Q: Do you have any hobbies or pastimes? If so, what are they and how did you get interested in them?
BR. FRANK: I got interested in reading when I was confined to the house at 10 because of broken bones from being hit by a car. I like biographies, histories, horror stories (Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Saul), and Clancy and Cussler novels. Movies, usually any kind. Watching sports on TV.
Q: What is your favorite food?
BR. FRANK: Pasta.
Q: What is your least favorite chore?
BR. FRANK: Laundry
Q: Who — living or deceased — do you most admire and why?
BR. FRANK: Einstein because he had a conscience and was unafraid to express it. Popes John XXIII and Francis because they tried to do something. I do not always agree with what they tried, but it was something to improve the lot of humanity.
Q: What would surprise people to learn about you?
BR. FRANK: I am not all that enthused with mathematics.
Q: What skill or talent would you like to have that you do not? Why?
BR. FRANK: Carpentry and playing the piano. No patience to learn them.
Q: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
BR. FRANK: An adult. I cannot remember anything more specific.
Q: What makes you happy?
BR. FRANK: Standing in front of a group of teenagers lecturing. Friday afternoons. My teams winning.
Q: What is your greatest fear?
BR. FRANK: Technology. I am really fearful of this coming school year because of the emphasis on teaching remotely.
Q: What trait or habit do you dislike in yourself?
BR. FRANK: Laziness and procrastination.
Q: What trait or habit do you dislike in others?
BR. FRANK: The trait that a person has to be the center of attention. Usually they are too loud with nothing interesting to say.
Q: List three words that describe you.
BR. FRANK: Capable, attentive, melancholic.
Q: How did you come to know of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians) and what interested you about them?
BR. FRANK: From an advertisement in Catholic Boy magazine. What interested me at first was the fact that they were interested in me. I did not know anything about their spirituality or their work until I spent time with them. I enjoyed learning about them through the seminaries and contact with the individuals in the order.
Q: Do you consider yourself a Dehonian? If so, what does that mean to you?
BR. FRANK: Hard question. Since it seems like we are calling ourselves Dehonians now, I guess that I consider myself one. It means trying to spread the concept of social justice to all we meet.
Q: What changes, adaptations or insights do you expect to stay with you from the pandemic? In other words, how do you expect to be changed by COVID-19?
BR. FRANK: I am sincerely hoping that it does not have any permanent change and we can go back to the way we were. As a consequence of this year I do hope that racial and sexist attitudes are altered.
