Ivan Wolfe
Ivan Wolfe is married to Alexandra McKenize Wolfe (she is taller than he is) and has three children: Kara Morgan Wolfe (age: 8), Patrick McKenzie Wolfe (age: 6), and Thomas (age: 1) Ivan plays around a dozen different instruments, but mostly focuses on guitar, bouzouki, bodhran and mountain dulcimer. And he studies rhetoric and literature. History: Ivan Wolfe was born in Provo, Utah - but his parents immediately repented and moved to Homer, Alaska, where he was raised. Not as wise as his parents, Ivan eventually returned to Provo, Utah to get a BA and an MA in English from BYU. Ivan is now at the University of Texas - Austin working on a PhD in Rhetoric. Ivan also attended Ricks College and while there had leading roles in several (read: two) plays. He also learned to play the Guitar at Ricks and eventually spent part of the summer of 1997 touring Europe with the Ricks Folk Dance Team as part of the Bluegrass Band that accompanied them. This included a Pioneer day parade through the streets of Rome (the Church News covered the event: Ivan is a fuzzy blob in the back of one picture). At BYU, Ivan joined the BYU Folk Ensemble and formed a few bands of his own. Somehow he managed to make it onto several CDs. For example: on Mark Geslison and Geoff Groeberg's Covenant records release A Timeless Christmas Ivan plays guitar (and helped arrange) "The Wexford Carol". A few other CDs with a track or two featuring Ivan can be found here and here. In addition to all that, while at BYU, Ivan served on the committee for Life, the Universe and Everything - The Marion K. "Doc" Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy. In 2001, he served as the symposium chair - guests that year were Harry Turtledove, Tracy Hickman and Jeanne Cavelos. Overall, Ivan served on the main committee from 1997 to 2003. LTUE is also partially responsible for Ivan's marriage. There's nothing quite like a sci-fi geek marrying a sci-fi geek. Current status: Ivan has started work on his dissertation. Right now, it focuses on long forgotten works of late 19th and early 20th century American Utopian fiction and their connection to the then-fading rhetorical tradition. He is also written two chapters for an academic book on Battlestar Galactica. One chapter focuses on the Mormon elements in Galactica and how they have changed from incarnation to incarnation (from the original series to the various comic books to the recent novels by Richard Hatch and through the current "re-imagined" series on the Sci-Fi channel). The second chapter - well, he's already told you too much. He's sworn to secrecy on that one. He'll post an announcement once the book has been published.
All I ask is that the candidates court me until the bitter end.
Posted on September 30, 2008 - Filed Under Any, General, In real life | 3 Comments
[My first political post in a long, long while. This is my one statement on the current campaign. Other than here, I’m going to stay away from political posts because I abhor the lack of charity that permeates them. The basic idea behind this was borrowed from Ann Althouse].
Yes, I’m conservative (mostly). Yes, I’m an […]
How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 5 of 5: Delivery
Posted on September 18, 2008 - Filed Under Any, In real life, Sacrament meeting | 8 Comments
Part 4 (Memory) here. Part 3.5 (Using Analogies) here. Part 3 (Style) here. Part 2 (Arrangement) here. Part 1.5 (Sources) here. Part 1 (Invention) here. Part 0 (introduction) here.
Well, it’s been awhile, and despite the title, this is not the last installment.
Delivery is something that can be overdone, and when it is overdone, […]
My Father in the September Ensign. (And what didn’t make it in)
Posted on August 28, 2008 - Filed Under Any, Biography, Fun, In real life, Sports | 7 Comments
Page 19 -21. It’s part of a larger article (that starts on page 18_, but his anecdote about high school wrestling and promptings from the spirit can be found on those pages. Though the artists rendering on page 20 is all wrong. It looks nothing like my father and the school color and logo in […]
Read More..>>How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 4 of 5: Memory
Posted on August 11, 2008 - Filed Under General, In real life, Sacrament meeting | 7 Comments
Part 3.5 (Using Analogies) here. Part 3 (Style) here. Part 2 (Arrangement) here. Part 1.5 (Sources) here. Part 1 (Invention) here. Part 0 (introduction) here.
Sorry this is so late.
Anyway –
Memory is the most overlooked aspect of giving a great talk. Write your talk out (whether by hand or on a computer) and you […]
How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 3.5 of 5: Style (Analogies)
Posted on July 13, 2008 - Filed Under Any, General, In real life, Sacrament meeting, Sunday School | 7 Comments
Part 3 here. Part 2 here. Part 1.5 here. Part 1 here. Part 0 here.
Analogies, metaphors, similes, allegories, etc. all can work well in a sacrament meeting talk (or gospel lesson). They can also be where the talk (or lesson) fails completely. Because Jesus taught in parables (which, when asked, […]
Mormons appear in the most interesting places…. #2: Steroid Nation
Posted on July 3, 2008 - Filed Under Any, General, In real life, Sports | 12 Comments
Though my reading matter currently focuses on my dissertation, occasionally I read something not at all related, just to keep myself sane and my mind from becoming too specialized (although it’s interesting how often this “extracurricular” reading works its way into my dissertation).
Though I am not much of a sports guy, I do exercise regularly […]
How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 3 of 5: Style
Posted on June 30, 2008 - Filed Under Any, General, Sacrament meeting | 6 Comments
Part 2 here. Part 1.5 here. Part 1 here. Part 0 here.
I feel like Douglas Adams, trying to squeeze five books into a trilogy. This one will be split into two (or maybe three) parts.
How to Give a Great Sacrement Meeting Talk - Part 2 of 5: Arrangement
Posted on June 16, 2008 - Filed Under Any, General, In real life, Sacrament meeting | 7 Comments
Part 1.5 here. Part 1 here. Part 0 here.
Now that you have all of your sources in order, it’s time to arrange them. The standard idea of having an introduction, a body, and a conclusion works well for sacrament meeting talks. Introductions and conclusions are often overlooked, even though they can […]
How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 1.5 of 5: Invention to Arrangement
Posted on June 8, 2008 - Filed Under General, Sacrament meeting, Scripture Discussion | 13 Comments
Part One here. Part Zero here.
This section became longer than I expected. So, I’m breaking it in half. Instead of discussing arrangement this time, I will bridge the gap between invention and arrangement by discussing what sources could and should be used when creating your talk.
So, now you have a topic […]
How to Give a Great Sacrament Meeting Talk - Part 1 of 5: Invention.
Posted on May 30, 2008 - Filed Under Any, In real life, Sacrament meeting | 6 Comments
(Apologies for this being a day late. My Internet connection was down for a large chunk of time yesterday).
Invention, in the simplest definition, is coming up with the material to discuss – your topic, your thesis, etc. This is easy, right? After all, the bishop (or stake president, or whoever) assigns you […]
