A Loving Intro

Hi, everyone! I'm Brittany Hansen! 

I was married in May but still feel the tingles of new last name and am absolutely loving it! Spencer and I met at a piano lesson one day when I was around the age of eleven- or twelve-years-old. 

He was wearing a hideous pair of pajama bottoms and his dad's suit coat. Fast forward a couple years and we were completely covered in dirt on our stake pioneer trek. I was asked to bear my testimony and next thing you know, this Spencer kid likes me. Turns out he was cute and when I hit sixteen, we dated and dated and dated. And then he served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the beautiful southeastern coast of Brazil and then he came home.

 

Can you tell that I love this story?

 

 

I also love hiking and the outdoors. I'm convinced that camping grounds people, literally and figuratively. I've played piano and violin ever since I can remember and thoroughly enjoyed my position at church as the primary pianist. I love literature. I am the reader that can find joy in just about any piece- which is why I have been really anxious to read Moby-Dick! Reading brings me home no matter where I am and I can't wait to participate in conversations that broaden our thinking and understanding of literature and its connection to the past and present.

A Few Simple Things About Me

Hello Everyone!

My name is Kristen Reber. I'm deceptively simple. I'm going to tell you a few simple things about myself that will merely scratch the surface of who I am--this is largely because I'm not entirely comfortable telling you too much about my life on the internet.

The first most notable thing about me is that I married a wonderful man in the Manti Utah Temple on May 4th.

His name is James Reber and he is my best friend and new partner in shenanigans (we don't really do the whole "crime" thing...and besides that's just cliche). We have a lot of fun together.

The next most noteworthy thing about me is that I'm a writer. I've been published once in the Church's Ensign magazine, and recently submitted a book to Deseret Book. I should hear back from DB sometime in November, maybe really late October. I'd tell you what my book is about, but since this class probably has several writers in it, and writers are competitive, and DB may ask me to revise and resubmit it before they accept it for publication...well, I just don't want anyone stealing my idea in case I need to do extra work on it. Sooo...I'll let you know in November what happened with that! Publishing books is my dream, and I hope to see that dream become a reality.

Next, I love penguins. In fact, I really like all birds, but penguins are the most interesting to me. They swim instead of fly, they enjoy frigid temperatures (at least most of them), and they have the cutest walk. They do stink and they make horrible screeching noises, but we all have our less-than-admirable qualities, and people still love us, right? Anyways, I got to pet one at Sea World back in May. You have to pay $50 to do that, but for me it was totally worth it.

That's James behind me. And that's a Macaroni Penguin in front of me.

Finally, I love the harp. I've wanted to play it since I was about five years old but never had the chance until I came to BYU. I began my harp studies at BYU and have since moved on to private lessons. Harps are expensive (anywhere from $10,000 to $200,000) so I don't own one yet. For now, I play on the harp on the fourth floor in the BYU Library. To me, the harp is the most beautiful instrument in the world both in looks and sound, and I am thrilled to finally be learning how to play it!

James plays the cello and composes music. We have a lot of fun sharing and combining our musical interests.

This is me! Or at least all I'm willing to share on the internet :). I look forward to sharing more of myself later rather indirectly through future blog posts. I'm also looking forward to getting to know everyone else!

Introductions and Other Noteworthy Stuff.

Hi, my name is Victoria Lisowski. It's okay to say "Mike Wazowski" as soon as you read that. Everyone else does.

I'm an English major with a Communications minor still wondering whether I'm ever going to be able to get a job once I graduate. Every once in a while I look at the things I'm interested in and think, "Yep, I've successfully made myself completely unemployable." I hope I'm wrong, but then again if I can't find a job than that will only give me an excuse to really buckle down and start writing my stories. I'm a self-proclaimed author, having written 3 1/2 novels (one is in progress. . .) and published none of them. I used to keep a "story blog" but haven't updated it in a long time. With any luck, that will soon change.  I'm hoping that the expansion of the web will help me get my foot in the door and my words out there someday, but in my heart of hearts I'm still hoping to get published in the traditional manner; with a hardcover copy sitting on display in bookstores.

My experience with digital media hasn't been very extensive. My mom wouldn't even let me get on closed chat rooms with my friends when I was in High School. I wasn't allowed to get a facebook until after I graduated and I still don't have a phone that can get online. As I delved into the electronic world once I arrived in college my analysis of the digital world was less-than-positive. I would read articles online and then scroll down into the comments and read what the people of the internet had to say. Needless to remark, my faith in humanity was frequently questioned until I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be online at all. Or if I was, maybe I would just spend all of my time on tumblr looking at pictures of cats.

But, like everything, I've come to the realization that the internet has its share of good things and bad things. It's wonderful that people can share their ideas without the constant rejection from the "gatekeepers" as well as express what they think. Sometimes people don't agree, but that's life and it's important to keep that information going. At least, that's what I'm starting to think. Hopefully I'll be able to become more amiable minded as long as I stay away from the comments on political articles.

Anyway, I'm excited for this class! I'm excited to read Moby Dick and find out how it correlates with what we're learning, as well as learn more about the digital age and how I can integrate myself into it without being too thoroughly left behind.