So that was Christmas

Well, we've packed up Christmas for another year (all except the outside lights; the weather has not been cooperating for that yet). Now we're both back to teaching and wondering where in the world our Christmas break went. (sigh). We did have a very nice Christmas break playing with family and friends, but it was far too fleeting. I'm including just a few highlights below. I got quite a few pictures of nieces and nephews because everyone else's camera batteries died on Christmas Eve. So I'm putting in a few of those. But first I am including a bit of Christmas cheer Brady and I wrote on Christmas Eve. A little background first: my family decided it would be great to start a tradition of having a sort of talent show on Christmas Eve. All the grandkids could play the piano, sing, we have some musically inclined in-laws, my sister plays the violin, etc. We, however, did not realize this was the program until just a day or two before. Since Brady didn't have his guitar, we were a bit stumped on what to do (not that Brady's cooking for people wouldn't count). A few years back I wrote some funny little poems about my nieces and nephew, which other family members illustrated and made into books for presents for them. So my mom suggested I write them another poem for my talent. I was pretty short on time, so I got the ball rolling, then recruited Brady to help me finish it on time. The other item you need to know about this is the origin of "Stinklebert." A few months ago our then-two-year-old nephew, Benjamin,  got very interested in learning everyone's whole name (he had sarted to figure out the whole middle and last name thing I guess). When he asked Brady what his whole name was, without missing a beat Brady responded, "Brady Stinklebert Wiggins." It was a new introduction to teasing for the kid, and pretty much sums up Brady's relationship with most of our nieces and nephews. Eventually our nephew accepted this as fact and subsequently named one of his trucks "Stinklebert." He even used the name as a verb, I guess meaning "to tease" in his mind (as in "I'm just stinkleberting you"—his words, not mine). Brady and I were actually a little proud of that. Anyway, out of this Stinklebert lore arose this little creation of our own (Brady was quite pleased with coming up with 3 rhymes for "Stinklebert").  It's obviously a bit of a rough draft, but i doubt we'll ever go finish it, so here it is.

Stinklebert’s Revenge

 

You’ve heard that Santa won’t come to children awake,

a lie all children are told—not true, a mistake!

The reasons you’re told to sleep are phony and fake;

The true reason I’ll tell you, and for your own sake.

 

Yes it’s true you must sleep, but it’s not what you think;

Santa’s not hiding while you kids catch a wink.

There’s one teasing elf with a ripe, raunchy stink,

a trickster and joker, a dirty ratfink.

 

His name is Stinklebert and he ruins the toys

for the kids who won’t sleep, for those who make noise.

It’s not the destruction that Stinkle enjoys,

it’s just that he’s frightened of small girls and boys.

 

You see Stinkle is not the brightest old elf,

he mostly sews buttons, puts toys on the shelf.

Till one day said Santa, “I can’t do this myself,

I’ll send Stinkle ahead to get things ready for twelve.”

 

So it started like this, one Christmas Eve night

Stinkle was straight’ning stockings and setting things right.

Out tottered a child into Stinklebert’s sight,

the elf gave a shriek out of terror and fright.

 

“Hem-a-na-ha-ma-na-herma-na-herk!!”

Our frightened old Stinkle was going berserk.

He pulled down the stockings, ’twas almost kneejerk,

smashed the tree and the toys so nothing would work.

 

He took all the bounces out of the balls,

he tore up toy soldiers and broke all the dolls,

he splattered new paint sets all over the walls,

with a blood-curdling cry heard from here to Twin Falls.

 

He shouted and screamed until every wrinkle hurt.

He tore the new clothing, even the twinkle shirt.

Upon Christmas dinner he liberally sprinkled dirt.

The Yuletide in ruin, all care of ole’ Stinklebert.

 

Christmas was ruined, was over and done,

no toy was unbroken, not even one.

Tea sets were shattered, toy trains wouldn’t run,

When Stinklebert finished, nothing was fun.

 

So now Stinkle’s ready if kids aren’t in bed,

before they can scare him, he’ll get them instead.

The havoc he’ll wreak, well, that need not be said,

We all know that Stinkle’s not well in the head.

 

Even if you’re awake, Santa comes all the same,

but remember the tricks of old Stinklebert’s fame.

He’ll smash up your presents, oh what a shame,

What good is a stocking a’kindled in flame?

 

So on Christmas Eve close one eye and then two,

sleep snugly and soundly all the night through,

keep snoring and snoozing and sawing logs too

because if you don’t he’ll stinklebert you!

  

Ben and Jared thought off-roading in the snow was a good idea. It really wasn't.

Hannah, Mindy, and Grace listening to the Christmas talent show.

Acting out the nativity.

Jonathan's not so sure about this sheep thing.

Bleating?

Big brother Ben shows him how to pose for the camera (seriously, he had his hand like that for 3 pictures in a row)

Grace, Isaac, and Hannah playing with my new toys (balancing bamboo dragon flies from Brady's dad).

Ben thought he was a pretty good present.

Uncle "Stinklebert" with Jared (aka Jelly-face) at Ben's (aka The Knock-em-out Kid's) birthday party. Brady introduced the kids to the concept of nicknames.

The Big 3 . . . Oh!

Well, yesterday Brady hit that big milestone: number 30. We tried to send his 20s off in style with a big party, lots of friends, and lots of food. For those out-of-towners who couldn't join us (I think we had enough food for you all had you shown up), I thought I'd share a bit of the celebration with you. Last week I emailed family and friends and asked for "Brady Trivia." I typed up the fun facts and put them in fortune cookies. Throughout the party, people would open their fortune cookies and read off their trivia and Brady would have to tell the story or give the explanation to go along with it (I couldn't get the real fortunes that were in the cookies out, so everybody actually got a fortune and trivia). I have included a lot of the trivia pieces below. I also put together a little movie slide show of Brady pictures, with some help from Brady's family who gathered some early pictures for me. It is about 5 minutes, and then there are some very special guest stars at the end. Here is a link for that as well (it will show most of it streaming, but for some reason the site won't show the whole thing and cuts off some great stuff at the end, so I recommend you hit pause when it starts streaming and download it instead).

Brady Trivia

• Brady eats mustard on his potato chips


• Brady starred in a film directed by Jared Hess


• Brady climbed Mt. Borah in 2000 (elevation 12,000+ feet)


• Brady had scarlet fever Christmas day when he was in second grade


• Brady had a big thing for Mariah Carey In junior high


• Brady's first car was named "Turbo"


• Brady wore a mustache while serving a mission in Chicago


• Brady had open heart surgery the day before his seventh birthday


• Brady requested popcorn shrimp and artichokes for his last meal before the surgery


• Brady wants to have a band called "Dr. Huckstable"


• Brady's television career began on Highway to Heaven


• Brady was the Grand Inquisitor in a play of The Brothers Karamozov at BYU


• Brady is a self-taught hypnotist


• Brady won a ribbon at the Arlington County Fair in Virginia


• Brady shared a bedroom with three younger siblings when he was 6


• Brady's teachers were always frustrated that he could be the class clown and still get the highest grades in class


• Brady was awarded first place for an Arbor Day speech he wrote and gave in the first grade


• Brady was the narrator for his 1st grade play called The Elephant's Child, and he had the whole play memorized


• Brady's culinary skills manifested at an early age. He made his own birthday cake out of Bristol blocks when he was little. He left it in the oven and it melted when his mom turned the oven on, not knowing it was there.


• Brady slipped on the ice and broke his new permanent front teeth on New Year's day when he was little


• Brady had a run-in with a brick wall while on his brakeless bike


• Brady's first word was "bird"


• Brady took his first steps at 10 months


• Brady can hardly wait for Halloween to end before he starts playing Christmas music


• Brady grinds his own chili powder


• Brady earned money as a kid by reading every Newberry award book


• Brady taught himself to speak backwards (some words, anyway)


• Brady wrote a song about Chuck Norris before Chuck Norris jokes were cool

That's quite a lot for the first 30 years. We'll see what the next 30 and beyond have in store. Thanks to all the family and friends who helped put this together. And thanks to Brady for being such a great guy worthy of celebration. He loves good things in life. Everything he is about-from his love of cooking to his love of learning-is really all about people, coming to enjoy and understand people better. He really works hard to take care of the people in his life, whether they're students, clients, friends, family, or me. So it's nice to have a day once in a while to bring so many people he cares about together and celebrate him. Here's wishing a very happy birthday and year to come to one Brady "Stinklebert" Wiggins. I love you!

Latest News

So . . . I passed my prospectus defense.  Thanks for all your support.  My committee had to meet at 4:00 for the 2 hour meeting and, since they usually do these things in the morning, they all expressed an interest in being brief so that we could all get home.  Turns out, my topic was so interesting that we were there past 6:00.  They passed me without requiring any changes, which is quite an honor.  I'm glad to be done.

As far as the 5k goes, I pulled a muscle training and was unable to race.  I've set my sights on a Thanksgiving Day 4 miler in Orem.  My family is coming here for turkey day so I'm hoping that several of them will join in.  I'd love to see any of you who will be in the area.  One good thing that has come of my training is that I've lost about 7 pounds so far and had to tighten my bet a notch.

My current stressful thing is getting my internship applications out.  We're applying to sites all over the country and we're particularly interested in a few in Kansas and Texas.  I expect to be done with my apps by my birthday (Nov 15) since that is when most of them are due.

BTW, here comes the big 30.  Let's have a big party!

On the defense

This Tuesday afternoon I am defending the prospectus for my dissertation.  I feel pretty confident, but your prayers would be appreciated nonetheless.  If I pass . . . then I get to do the whole rest of the dissertation.  Yay!

By the way, for those of you who have given up on my food blog, I finally posted again and promise that I won't be quite so lax.

5k

I've been trying to exercise regularly for some time now and it seems like I always just start to get going and then fall off the wagon when something comes up.  Well, I decided that to combat this I would sign myself up for a 5k.  This way I'm already committed and I have to run.  The thing that intimidates me is that the 5k that worked for me is the BYU homecoming 5k.  Not only is the course a bit challenging with its uphill portion, but the results of past races indicate that I'm likely to stand out from my peers in ways that I would rather not.  I'm a slow runner, but I run to finish.

Then it occurred to me that maybe some of you would like to come and beat me too.  The race is on October 11 and you can register here.  There's still time to train (about a month) and the race doesn't start until 9:45 for you Salt Lakers.  Either way, I'll be there.

My Gorgeous Graduate

Yes she still has that amazingly beautiful hair after more than 2 years of pulling it out over graduate classes, freshman English teaching, and a brilliant (and challenging) thesis.  Annalisa defended her thesis on Thursday and walked for graduation on Friday.  Although her graduation will be official in December, she is now finished with every requirement for her masters degree in English.  Check out the master's hood.

 

I'm sure that by now you all know how absolutely brilliant Annalisa is, but allow me a moment on this occasion to brag just a bit.  Anna has a passion that makes all of her work shine.  She has frequently come home from class so excited about the discussion they just had that she would bring me up to speed so that we could keep talking about it, sometimes for hours.  She can't help but become deeply concerned every semester when she has a student that is on a trajectory toward failing her class.  She consistently takes time to prepare great classes, even when she has other demands on her or could be doing something more enjoyable.

And then there is her thesis.  Rather than have you take my word for it I'll paste a copy of the abstract here (you'll have to talk to her about reading the whole thing).

My thesis proposes a theory of relational identity development in Chicana literature. Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera offers an interpretation of Chicana identity that is largely based on historical models and mythology, which many scholars have found useful in interpreting Chicana literature. However, I contend that another text, Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, not only illustrates the need for an alternative paradigm for considering identity development, but in fact offers such an alternative. I argue that Cisneros shows a model for relational identity development, wherein the individual develops in the context of her community and is not determined solely by elements of myth or genealogy.

In questioning the historical paradigm of identity development, I examine three key aspects associated with Chicana identity development: gender, home, and language. Employing the theories of Édouard Glissant, I discuss how individual identity development is better understood in terms of relationships and experience rather than historical models. For Chicanas, the roles of women have largely been interpreted as predetermined, set by the mythic figures La Malinche and La Virgen de Guadalupe. However, Cisneros's work shows that this historical tradition is less fruitful in understanding identity than recognizing individuals' experience in context of their relationships. With this communal understanding established, I question the common associations of home and Chicana identity. I argue that Cisneros challenges our very concept of home as she engages and counters the notions of theorist Gaston Bachelard. The idea of a house is metaphorical, becoming a space of communal belonging rather than a physical structure to separate individuals. Finally, I consider how both spoken and written language contribute to relational identity development. I argue that Cisneros's use of language demonstrates that not only does language provide the means for development within a community, but also the means for creation within that society. The theoretical implications of such a relational identity construct are not only an expansion of what is entailed in Chicana identity, but an invitation for broadening the community of theoretical discussion surrounding Chicana literature.

It's probably no surprise to you that she passed her defense with flying colors.  Her thesis chair even remarked later that the defense was fun, surely a sign (unless he's a sadist) that she has done a good job.

Anna, I'm so thrilled with you for reaching this great milestone.  You are a brilliant woman and you never cease to amaze me with your wit and insight.  I've seen the hours of hard work and dedication that have brought you to this point and I am so proud of you for never giving up and doing superb work despite some significant challenges along the way.  I love you immensely and offer you congratulations and honor for this fine accomplishment.  Annalisa Wiggins, MA . . . I like the sound of that!

Our Lady of the Hall Closet

Miracle of miracles!  Can it really be?  Yes, it seems that the virgin Mary has appeared on our closet door.  But wait, there's more.

 

It looks like she is in all of our closet doors.  That's quite a marketing ploy.  Just make a fake wood door and texture a pattern of wood grain that looks like the Virgin Mary and you'll have tons of Catholics buying your product.  Whatever.  Well, if anyone wants to come burn a candle at our house . . . don't.

We also have another person in our walls.  He's an old man made out of the rocks on our fireplace.



Can you see him?  It's a profile of his face looking to the left.  He has a big jowely cheek, a hook-nose and a tiny little chin.  I think he's pretty cool.  Does anyone else have people in their walls?