Everything you need to know about me (and probably too much more):

My dad once told me I’d make someone a good wife someday and I think my wife agrees—well, most days she might anyway. I change the diapers, feed our three little girls three mostly-square meals a day, do the dishes, the laundry, and most of the cleaning, and once received an award for being world’s greatest Mom, although I think my wife really deserves that title and that it only came to me because Scholastic thought I was a mother and wanted me to buy more books for the girls.

I served a mission in New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud (though I was long gone before they started filming The Lord of the Rings), where I learned to enjoy (in no particular order) kumara, the dense literary sermons of Neal A. Maxwell, getting mail, most things Polynesia, intellectual engagement with the Gospel, teaching, and learning about cultures different than my native one—Wasatch Front Latter-day Saint.

Presently I’m between callings (since we just moved), though I’m sure something will come along soon to get us involved in our new ward. If I had my way, I’d serve as Elders’ quorum instructor or Gospel Doctrine teacher until the day I die, although I have served as Scoutmaster and counselor in the Young Men’s presidency and lived to tell about it.

We currently live in Idaho Falls, which has a good family-raising atmosphere, but the drivers are way too slow. Why Idaho, you ask (as many others have)? Well, since my BS in English from Weber State University (Ogden, UT) and my MA in English from National University (San Diego, CA, though the coursework is all offered in an intensive online format) haven’t given me my educative fill, I’m currently pursuing doctoral studies in English and the teaching of English at Idaho State.

In all degrees, then, I’m a literary fanatic, reading and enjoying most everything from Stephenie Meyer (hence Reading Until Dawn) to anything by Eugene England to Sharon Olds to Shakespeare to C.S. Lewis to literary theory and criticism to the well-written doctrinal treatise or sermon. I have a particular interest in Mormon literature and literary/cultural criticism and hope to explore these avenues more deeply in my association with A Motley Vision since this is, by and large, where my interest began.

I also claim to be a poet, an essayist, and a runner and can be found at any given time Chasing the Long White Cloud.

Publications:

“Figurine” (poem). Irreantum: A Review of Mormon Literature and Film 8.1 (2006): 97.

“As a Grandpa Does His Own” (poem). Irreantum 8.1 (2006): 97.

“Hudson’s Geese: Reprise” (poem). Irreantum 8.1 (2006): 98.

“Fruit” (poem). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 39.3 (2006): 146-148. Also in Metaphor 25 (2006): 18-19.

“Beyond Commodification: Capitalism, Consumerism, and Careerism on the College Campus” (essay). Metaphor 25 (2006): 82-86.

“At First” (poem). Salome Magazine (online). www.salomemagazine.com. 26 Aug. 2008.

“Two Poems on Fatherhood” (poem). Irreantum 9.2 (2007)/10.1 (2008): 203-5.

“Watching the Sunrise in St. George, Utah” (poem). Irreantum 9.2 (2007)/10.1 (2008): 206-7.

“Fourth Month Rosary” (poem). Irreantum 9.2 (2007)/10.1 (2008): 208.

“Reading the Mormon Gothic” (review of the Twilight Saga with mention of Eugene Woodbury’s Angel Falling Softly). Dialogue. Forthcoming (Summer 2009).