Parable of the 10 Virgin Performance

For church, I sang in a musical parable called "The Ten Virgins" by Emily Freeman for a Relief Society Christmas activity. It's based on the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. I had a couple of numbers as the "narrator" of sorts. It was awesome to sing again (it's been a long time since I've done a performance like this), and it was great to get such good feeback from all the ladies. And of course, it was wonderful to have Mom and Barb come! I don't have any recordings of it, but I think you can check out the work on itunes.

The cast:

Barb , Mom and me

Good friends Vonna and Diane

Nothing Much...

Just checking in with all five people that look at my blog:) School is going really well this year. My students magically transformed over the summer from hellions to angelitos. I have no idea what happened...But it has been great to work with them this year, and I have really grown to love them all. I am currently teaching levels 2-4; again really tough to have 3 preps, but we're managing. Our new principal seems to be working out fine, and year 2 is amazingly better than year 1. We recently performed a flash mob for our students (I'm barely in the video, but my dancing was truly amazing, really.) Here it is:



On another note: I'm contemplating the next steps for me professionally, and I am looking into Spanish Pedagogy MA's right now. At this point, I'm really interested in the BYU MA, which means I could be moving back to the grand ol' Provo eventually. I'm not sure how I feel about living there again, but I'm really excited about the prospects of going back to the Y. I'd get to go to the International Cinema, the MOA, see the new LDS temple being built in the Provo Tabernacle, and explore south Provo, where I hear all of the grad students live. Plus, I'd have a car this time, so I would definitely see more of the city than I did the first round.

I'm also looking into a similar, but summer-only, program at Middlebury in Vermont, as well as U of Northern Colorado (also a summer only). I'd love to hear any advice you may have about 1) applying to grad school or 2) moving back to Provo:)

QR What?

I usually think that I'm in the loop, despite my rural localization, but my mom convinced me that it is quite possible to be completely in the dark here in Cheytown.

My mom went to D.C. for a tech and libraries convention and came back with all kinds of cool stuff. She was quite tickled with herself and exclaimed her joy at "knowing something you don't know." Mom... you know a lot that I don't know; but touche in having a much better smart phone than me.

The QR Code. Quite possibly the most interesting technological invention yet. And what blows my mind is how my smart phone can read it! Here's my QR code that Mom made for me. It was like a 21st century way of saying "I love you." See if your smart phone can read it yo.

Old Spice meets New Spice at BYU

My friend Jannifer posted this video on her blog, and it is the greatest thing ever. (For those of you who don't watch TV much like me, it's a take off of the new Old Spice Commercials)


BYU commercial:


Original Old Spice commercial.



And my other friend Steph just showed me this NPR blub on the same topic.

It's manly marketing mania!

What? There's crying in soccer?

Ok, so I have to confess that this morning, sitting all by my lonesome in my parents' family room, I shed a few tears of joy and jumped around like a maniac for the U.S. soccer team who, after 91 minutes of no score, finally got a well-deserved break and landed a goal, setting them at the number one position in their group and onto the segunda ronda!!!



I don't know where this soccer fanaticism has even come from. Well, I guess it all started with playing soccer with the Argentinians in South Beach, followed by listening to my Spanish host dad yell at the TV every night in Madrid, followed by teaching a whole unit on it this year...And to cap it off, sitting with all of the Latino custodians from my "former" school (Carey Jr. High) yesterday and shooting the breeze with them for over an hour about why it was pointless to root for any European team when an "American" team was playing in a World Cup match.

I've asked several people today about the game, and no one yet has even had a clue. This is only the first time the US has won in its group since 1930!! The World Cup is only the most watched sporting event in the world!!!...Yet on my parents' TV the only channel that carries it is Univision, the Spanish channel.

Next game for the US is this Friday at 12:30pm.

Back at BYU in Wyoming

After many years of effort as a BYU student and even more years of being an alum, I have finally accomplished my two insignificant BYU goals.

First, I led an expedition through the wiles of Laramie, WY, guiding four weary Provo girls through the Cowboys fans where we saw BYU slam UW with a whopping score of 52-0. And even more exciting, I finally got a picture with Cosmo. Yes, I know you're all jealous.







Second, President Cecil O. Samuelson, current BYU president, and my president from back in the day, came to speak to our stake here in Cheyenne for church. I got to talk to him twice, and yes, just like President Bateman, his hair is exactly as it appears on the big screen. I had no idea that he did these kinds of speaking gigs as the University's President (which he was not representing when he spoke to us), so it was quite the surprise. I even got to sing in one of the meetings. Eat your heart out BYU Singers.

BYU Graduate Testimonial: I'm immortal now

I decided to google myself today (which I do on occassion, just out of curiosity. And fear of stalkers). Turns out I have some testimonials posted on the BYU Humanities Home page. Now you can read about how much I loved my Humanities degree...

Visit http://hccl.byu.edu/hum.php and click on "About" in the menu bar and then "Graduate Testimonials." I'm listed twice.

Penguin Poop: A useful thing

Ok, since I'm still sitting in front of my computer...

I've been folowing current events on NASA and space to enhance my astronomy experience, and I came across the following article that discusses tracking penguin poop from space to locate isolated penguin colonies in Antarctica. I just thought this was wild, but makes sense.

And I must make another shout out to March of the Penguins. Love it.
Tracking Penguin Poop from Space article

Laramie loves Obama

So with the election just passed, I must take the opportunity to tell a bit about Laramie's affection for Obama. He came to UW during his primary campaigning to quite a big crowd. My roommate Casi and I went and were pretty impressed. We were also really interested in the camera angles used, how the crowd was directed, and the overall energy of a political ralley. Casi and I are not superly politically active, so we were just there to observe and see what all the hooplah was about. Obama's a dynamic speaker.

The funny thing is that a band, called OK Go, was performing that night in Laramie (they're the guys that had the treadmill music video) I think the only reason they came to our rural town was because they love Obama so much. They even postponed the hour of their concert so they could go to his rally. Then, throughout their concert, they totally campaigned for Obama. It was a really wild experience. Here's the video they posted about their Obama love:



"Organic." Interesting...

As I stood in line for two hours before the rally, I was actually interviewed for the Cheyenne newspaper. It was perhaps the dumbest quote of my life. All the other quotes were about political issues, yada yada, and all I was quoted saying was that I thought it was cool that Ok Go postponed their concert so we could go to the rally and their concert. I looked for the quote in their archives, but couldn't find it. Maybe that's better; I would be embarrassed for you to read it.

Laramie and Jackson Hole were the only two counties in Wyoming that voted blue. College student's and professors love Obama, and everyone in Jackson is from California. I confess that Nick and I voted for him too. Frankly, I was just excited that we voted. That is a rare occassion for the Brazzale kids.

I'll write about our political ambivelance another time. I have an entire theory.

Thin Air: NPR on the Summit

So, I love this show on NPR called Fresh Air. This lady with a really soothing voice interviews a bunch of famous people and skillfully turns normal life into a philosophical discussion. You should check it out. One of the best interviews I've heard lately was with Sheryl Crow.

I grew up with NPR: Late Night Jazz on Sunday evenings, Car Talk on Saturday mornings, Prairie Home Companion on the way home from the lake, and All Things Considered in the car. Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me in the kitchen, Morning Edition on the way to work, and Performance Tonight falling asleep on the couch. I've met a lot of students here in Laramie who have never heard of NPR. That's because NPR doesn't broadcast UW football games.

I listen to NPR a lot at work now, I'm sure my dad would tell me that I've given in to constant liberal brainwashing, but I work by myself a lot and stare out the window at the Snowys and watch the wind blow, so I need some diversion. But don't worry Dad, I've got my critical ear on every time I listen...except when I'm listening to Car Talk. I don't really understand mechanical jargon anyways.

I've started this blog, because sometimes in the winter, here at 7200 ft. above sea level, we get trapped here in Laramie, literally cut off from the rest of world. Sometimes, all of the roads are closed, and we have to settle in and buddy up with the other 27,000 people that live here. On occasion, I feel kind of isolated from all of you down there. So I thought that I might try this blog and let you know what life is like up here, breathing the thin air. I can't promise that you'll want to read everything I post. But, if you're ever stuck inside while the weather is blustering afuera, I'm here for you. And just look at it this way: the weather here is probably worse.