I guess I should do this

[LA Ute]

I have some down time and just realized that I must have missed the memo about Ellis Island and the need to introduce ourselves. (It's also possible that I have already done this in some form, and have simply forgotten.)

How did you find CUF?

I've posted on the Ute board for 10 years or so. Archaea, a friend and law practice collaborator with me, invited me to CougarGuard when it was new. I posted a bit there but soon became less active because I had a lot of other things going on. For some reason, after 2-3 years I was bored one day and returned to CG for some hand-to-hand combat on Prop 8 and other warm and fuzzy subjects. I was getting tired of the ongoing groin-kicking competition at CG, so when CUF was born I jumped on this board and have never looked back.

What do you do (other than read CUF)?

I am pretty boring. I really enjoy my work (I am a lawyer and I have what I think is a very interesting niche practice area with great clients and colleagues I enjoy). I have three children and spend lots of time with them -- I have two adult sons and a twelve year-old daughter. Each of them is a pleasure to hang out with for different reasons. I enjoy movies and reading history, especially about the Civil War and the American Revolution. One of my goals is to read everything Charles Dickens ever wrote -- I am a big fan --and finally to read Moby Dick. I like to write and I contribute to a couple of blogs with two different co-bloggers. One blog is general-interest (mainly politics and cultural observations and anything that interests me), and the other is about religion and politics.

Did you ever consider an alternative career path?

I've wanted to be a lawyer ever since I seriously thought about a career. I never really considered much else, but I did once think a bit about getting into organizational behavior and possibly teaching and consulting in that area.

How many time zones have you lived in and what is your current time zone?

Three - Mountain, Pacific, and Central (while on a mission to Guatemala and El Salvador). I'm now in Pacific.

How many states have you lived in?

Only two: Utah and California. I've spent half my life in California now.

What are your sports loyalties?

I am a seriously ardent Ute fan and Crimson Clubber, but have mellowed (a little) about BYU over the last 10 years or so. I have lots of respect for BYU but love nothing more in sports than beating the Cougs in anything. There is some family history involved in that orientation, which I may post about someday.

I have loved the Red Sox since 1967 and the Lakers since the Jerry West-Wilt Chamberlain-Elgin Baylor era. (I am just a bit disenchanted with the current Laker era.) I am Jazz-friendly and 49er-friendly. I root for the Dodgers and go to quite a few of their games, but do not follow the "inside baseball" aspects of that team very closely.

What's your standing in the church?

Very active. Because of the sparsely-populated ward we live in I always have a ward council-level calling, which keeps me from spiritual atrophy and which I enjoy. Testimony-wise, I have marinated in the Kool-Aid for decades and believe the whole story.

In my general approach to Church membership, I like to focus on practical challenges, i.e., how do I actually live this? To me Christian discipleship is the "prize" and the biggest challenge: How can I actually "do" Christlike behavior?

Are you looking forward to Wuap's welcome question and what do you think it will be?

Yes, and I suspect it may relate to the nuances of mojigatería.

[Babs]

Which is your favorite work of Dickens?

[LA Ute]

Which is your favorite work of Dickens?

It is a toss-up between Bleak House and David Copperfield. But I haven't read them all yet! I just finished Aitken's Dickens biography, which I really enjoyed. Once I start to know an author's work, it's fascinating to learn about what was going on in his/her life at the time certain books were written. For example, I thought Nicholas Nickleby was a weak effort, and when I realized how early in Dickens' career he wrote that, the thinness of some of the characters made more sense.

Are you a Dickensophile too?

[ERCougar]

I'm guessing you've read 1776. I'm in the middle of it right now and am really enjoying it.

[Babs]

It is a toss-up between Bleak House and David Copperfield. But I haven't read them all yet! I just finished Aitken's Dickens biography, which I really enjoyed. Once I start to know an author's work, it's fascinating to learn about what was going on in his/her life at the time certain boooks were written. For example, I thought Nicholas Nicklebywas a weak effort, and when I realized how early in Dickens' career he wrote that, the thinness of some of the characters made more sense.

Are you a Dickensophile too?

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I have a bit of a thing for 19th c British literature. Like you, I'm fascinated by the interplay between literature and the biographical or historical context that rendered it. In the case of the Victorian Era, I love the stark contrast between the world we see depicted in Dickens and the world we see depicted Austen or Bronte. The juxtaposition gives you insight into two worlds that were contemporary and collocated, yet largely independent of and invisible to one another. It makes you wonder whether such parallel societies exist today...

Anyway, Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite novels of any author. Brilliant work.

[LA Ute]

I'm guessing you've read 1776. I'm in the middle of it right now and am really enjoying it.

Great, great book. Regardless of one's religious inclinations, it's hard to read that one without at least entertaining the notion that the revolutionaries had some divine help. Either that, or they were uncannily lucky.

A similar book about a differnt era is April 1865. It's a quick read and tells another series of stories about how things could have gone horribly wrong at the end of the Civl War (apart from Lincoln's assassination) but did not.

[LA Ute]

Anyway, Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite novels of any author. Brilliant work.

I've been holding off on that one. I read it (well, the Cliff's Notes) in 10th grade, and suspect I will appreciate it much more this time. Dickens wrote it when he was probably at or near the height of his powers.

[Babs]

I've been holding off on that one. I read it (well, the Cliff's Notes) in 10th grade, and suspect I will appreciate it much more this time.

I've been slowly re-reading all the "classics" I read in school for that reason.

ToTC was not one I had to read for class, and I think I'm glad that I was able to just appreciate for the literary masterpiece that it is, rather than have the teacher or prof distracting with all kinds of litcrit and such.

[YOhio]

I like to write and I contribute to a couple of blogs with two different co-bloggers. One blog is general-interest (mainly politics and cultural observations and anything that interests me), and the other is about religion and politics.

You're being very humble about your Religion and Politics blog that was quite successful this past election. It was regular reading for a lot of people.

[I.J. Reilly]

Do you expect to be in full gear for the 2012 presidental elections? Are you seeing a lot of political/religious intersection for the 2010 senate races?

[wuapinmon]

Here's your question, hedgehog.....let's hope for your sake that there's no need to get the pussycat all wet.

Some consider jazz (the music, not the team) and the blues (again, the music, not the team) a medium by which African-American performers could transcend the pent-up anger and feelings of helplessness in the face of racial oppression by venting and recording an emotional description, an audible poetry as it were, through musical expression. This same phenomenon can be seen in the upbeat melodies of reggae artists, bouncing along to their upstrokes while agonizing about equal rights, justice, oppression, and poverty. Rage Against the Machine does the same thing through hard rock against those that work forces and burn crosses. But jazz, as the Spaniard Antonio Muñoz Molina--much like Heraclitus before him--put, you'll never hear the same jazz song twice, because the emotion each song contains varies with the performance and interpretation by the author, and the effect that multiple listenings of a recording have on the listener. Jazz has been called the only truly American art form. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Why? What jazz, if any, do you like?

Food for thought:

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[LA Ute]

Do you expect to be in full gear for the 2012 presidental elections? Are you seeing a lot of political/religious intersection for the 2010 senate races?

The blog began with a focus on Romney, but now we're interested in the entire subject of religion and (mainly presidential) politics. So we have kept it going, albeit at a lower intensity level. If Mitt runs again it will get pretty intense.

[LA Ute]

Here's your question, hedgehog.....let's hope for your sake that there's no need to get the pussycat all wet.

Some consider jazz (the music, not the team) and the blues (again, the music, not the team) a medium by which African-American performers could transcend the pent-up anger and feelings of helplessness in the face of racial oppression by venting and recording an emotional description, an audible poetry as it were, through musical expression. This same phenomenon can be seen in the upbeat melodies of reggae artists, bouncing along to their upstrokes while agonizing about equal rights, justice, oppression, and poverty. Rage Against the Machine does the same thing through hard rock against those that work forces and burn crosses. But jazz, as the Spaniard Antonio Muñoz Molina--much like Heraclitus before him--put, you'll never hear the same jazz song twice, because the emotion each song contains varies with the performance and interpretation by the author, and the effect that multiple listenings of a recording have on the listener. Jazz has been called the only truly American art form. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Why? What jazz, if any, do you like?

I fear I may disappoint, because I am not very knowledgeable about jazz. (My tastes tend to run toward Dave Grusin, which will not be the . . . cup of tea of many jazz purists.) But I'll answer in my own way as best I can.

My family is musical (my wife and all three kids have talent, I don't), so I am surrounded by music at home. I know only enough about jazz to be dangerous, ad kind of know the difference between New Orleans Dixieland, big band-style swing, bebop, some of the Latin jazz fusions, and jazz-rock fusion. What I do like are good songs, whether they're by U2 or Glenn Miller, and I like sacred music, partly because I get to sing a lot of it as a passable bass in the stake and ward choir. (John Rutter is my favorite composer/arranger/director in that genre.)

Anyway, in that world I love the negro spirituals, which heavily influenced both jazz and rock 'n roll. So to that extent I agree that jazz is at least the most American art form, and may be the only truly American art form. Jazz did arise from African slaves in America; I have read that other cultures that had slavery did not see the birth of any similar musical tradition.

How'd I do?

[wuapinmon]

I fear I may disappoint, because I am not very knowledgeable about jazz. (My tastes tend to run toward Dave Grusin, which will not be the . . . cup of tea of many jazz purists.) But I'll answer in my own way as best I can.

My family is musical (my wife and all three kids have talent, I don't), so I am surrounded by music at home. I know only enough about jazz to be dangerous, ad kind of know the difference between New Orleans Dixieland, big band-style swing, bebop, some of the Latin jazz fusions, and jazz-rock fusion. What I do like are good songs, whether they're by U2 or Glenn Miller, and I like sacred music, partly because I get to sing a lot of it as a passable bass in the stake and ward choir. (John Rutter is my favorite composer/arranger/director in that genre.)

Anyway, in that world I love the negro spirituals, which heavily influenced both jazz and rock 'n roll. So to that extent I agree that jazz is at least the most American art form, and may be the only truly American art form. Jazz did arise from African slaves in America; I have read that other cultures that had slavery did not see the birth of any similar musical tradition.

How'd I do?

Our survey says, "We shall be great friends."

Give Kermit Ruffins and Chet Baker a listen. I think almost anyone will like them.

[ERCougar]

Great, great book. Regardless of one's religious inclinations, it's hard to read that one without at least entertaining the notion that the revolutionaries had some divine help. Either that, or they were uncannily lucky.

A similar book about a differnt era is April 1865. It's a quick read and tells another series of stories about how things could have gone horribly wrong at the end of the Civl War (apart from Lincoln's assassination) but did not.

I just finished the account of the retreat from Brooklyn. I had heard a brief account of this before, but when you get down to all the details of what happened, you really are left with the strong impression that some other hand was at work here. I'm usually skeptical of these kinds of claims but I sure have a hard time explaining all of the consequences that lined up to allow Washington & Co. to escape.