Ice Breaker – Childhood Nickname

Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas.  If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com.  If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

This is a big week in my area as Pope Francis is in town for the World Meeting of Families.  Our city has been planning for a while, and his visit is causing all kinds of road closures, school dismissals, and business delays.  This week’s Ice Breaker is inspired by Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia.

Question:  What was one of your childhood nicknames?

My Answer:  My family moved from Illinois to New Jersey when I was eight years old when my Dad took a pastor job in the town of Mt. Holly, NJ.  We moved the summer before I started third grade.  When I started the new school year at a new school, my classmates soon learned about my Dad’s job.  Since many of my classmates were from a Catholic background, they thought my Dad was a priest.  They also thought my last name (Stolpe) sounded a little funny, and they played around with different rhymes to go with my last name – Dopey was one of those.  But the nickname that seemed to stick for a little while was Pope.  It doesn’t rhyme with Stolpe exactly, but it kind of looks like part of my last name, and it goes with my Dad’s job.

No one calls me Pope now, but there was a period of time at my current job when a few people called me Raging Reverend.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!