Down We Plunge to the Prison of My Mind

It seems like lately, everything in the world has had to do with Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Perhaps Foucauldian thought permeates everything so thoroughly that no one can escape. Foucault is a French philosopher and this book is about prisons and how they are a psychological punishment whereas torture and public executions were bodily punishment. He talks about surveillance, isolation, spaces, schools, and so on.

So, everything I read mentions Foucault--probably cuz I'm reading about Japanese American internment.

We went to a play called Our Country's Good about British convicts in Australia.

Someone is always watching, and this is law enforcement without law officers. Just as Foucault would note and tell me that it's a part of surveillance.

And there are other things. Such as my favorite lines from Phantom of the Opera. Imagine:

"Down once more to my black despair,
Down we plunge to the prison of my mind,
Down that path into darkness deep as hell!"

Ahh, love it.

Another favorite from Phantom is all of the "Music of the Night." Maybe I just like dark music.

Speaking of Foucault and musical, I love "Stars" from Les Miserables, which is sung by the justice-driven man, Javert.

Another awesome moment in musical movies that has nothing to do with Foucault is the bottle dance in Fiddler on the Roof and then when all the Jewish guys are dancing in a frenzy. Why don't we dance like that anymore? Seriously, since the people of the past always danced in choreographed sequences (some did, and they are called folk dances).

The point is: when one reads philosophy, they suddenly see everything as having to do with that topic.

Ice Fishing Fun

We went ice fishing at Hyrum reservoir last Saturday. It wasn't terrible cold, but the wind was blowing.

Andrew broke his fishing pole. He was sad. I was certain he had caught a tiger muskee! But he just caught a perch. It was an old pole. He was very sad.


I caught a trout! I actually caught 3 trout and one perch. Andrew caught like 10 perch and one trout. We are awesome.

Wesley and friend William were nice BYU people and came to Logan to fish with us. People always want us to visit them instead of visiting us. It must be that the distance from Logan to anywhere is less than from anywhere else to Logan. But they were nice so we went to clean the sink at Angie's.

We cleaned it and the waitress said we were fast. Ice cream and ice fishing! YIPPEE!!

Snowshoeing in Green Canyon

Andrew went to UCUR (Utah Conference of Undergraduate Research) so I was alone in the morning. On top of that, I had no work to do at work, so I decided to just not go (I love that I don't have to come in each day, as long as my work gets done).

I decided to go snowshoeing! I went to Green Canyon--it's about a 5 minute drive from our apartment. I can't believe I haven't ever been hiking there. It isn't as big as Logan Canyon and there aren't as many trails, but it was a great place to go for a hike. I also felt safe, as it is so close to civilization there are only deer and bunnies in the canyon. No moose, wolves, or mountain lions. And, it is winter so I wasn't worried about rattlesnakes; they are the reason I never hike by myself.

Except today I did go by myself, and it was just fine. I would have loved a dog to keep me company, but someday I'll have one.

The snow was nice and fresh from our storm two nights ago. The canyon was beautiful. It was relatively warm. I had a blast!


There are beautiful rock formations in Green Canyon. I loved the way the snow stood out against the rock.



Me--yay for 8 a.m. snowshoeing fests! The gray rocky mountain in the background is a key landmark in this hike. It took me an hour to get there, and the canyon keeps on going around the bend. I'd like to finish the trail, but I had to pee when I got there, so I turned around. I didn't want to pee in front of all the cross-country skiers. And I didn't have toilet paper.


Green Canyon cave. Sweet! I didn't go over there today.

The camera ran out of batteries or I would have taken more pictures. I'm really glad that I got up and went out in this beautiful snow!

Cheesey Post About My Valentine

I've wanted to do a post about how sexy my husband is for a few weeks, so I am combining it with the obligatory and cheesey post about Valentine's Day. But seriously, I love this silly guy!

Andrew is amazing for many reasons. To name a few...
He is so serious about fishing and he has always been eager to share his passion with me.


He likes to play with kids and is so hilarious when he does so.

He is sexy, no?

I love Andrew so much! I am a babe in the above picture, and Andrew is way studly! It is from our wedding (duh, cuz I'm in a wedding gown).

It's pretty cool being married to one's best friend. And although sometimes I get short with him (not height, I mean), I love him a lot!

If you aren't married or if you don't have a significant other, that's ok. Someone loves you, whether they are a friend or family member. And that makes the world worthwhile!

Sick Again

The week before school started in January, I got a very nasty cold. I laid on the couch for 3 days and watched documentaries on Netflix. It took me a week to get over it. And now, I am coughing a lot. Not cool.

I used to not get sick very often.

And then I got mono in May 2008. It really must have screwed up my immune system cuz I got some bad colds that fall and spring. Then, when Andrew and I got married, I got sick at least once every month. Moral of the story: boys make girls sick--must be the cooties. I hardly got sick during the most recent summer and fall, but this winter has been no good.

Today I went home from work early cuz I was coughing my lungs out. But first I sanitized my desk with Clorox wipes.

At least I don't feel as sick this time as I did during my last cold. Hopefully, this one won't wipe me out and kill my exercising fests and ice fishing plans and snow shoeing dreams. But I will probably just keep doing those things anyway.

And now that I just ate a huge bowl of popcorn for lunch (you can have these sorts of things for lunch when you are sick), I think I will go floss.

On the Subject of Babies

We have hung out with a lot of babies lately.

Andrew and Kaylee were playing computer.

It was Roller Coaster Tycoon, and you might be able to see it on the screen. Kaylee was fascinated. Her dad T-Roy is in the background.

She's very cute.

Our friends Spencer and Abby had a baby. Her name is Maggie and we went to visit.
Andrew actually held a newborn (Spencer forced him to).

Little Maggie.

Now before you go all, "Oh my gosh Sarah! Andrew will be such a good daddy! You should have a baby! Oh and I will take care of it while you finish your Master's degree! Or better yet, you should drop out of your program! Oh you would have such cute babies! And then your mom and mother-in-law could finally be grandmothers and your siblings could be aunts and uncles and even your dad and father-in-law would be happy to be grandpas!" Let me tell you a story of pathetic-ness.

Behold, my Facebook status of January 25th.

Sarah

The car is paid off!

Top of Form

• Jessica, Melanie, Karen and 8 others like this. (The 8 others are Christina, Elise, Heather, Tasha, Rachel, Scott, JoyAnne, and Sheree.)

Ashley Isn't that the best feeling ever!?

Heidi (Mom-in-Law) Yea! Andrew's wish finally came true!

Kristy Yeah!

Sarah It is definitely a great feeling. :D Now Andrew is going to want to save for a while and then buy a truck.

Heidi ‎:) what do you get?

Sarah Probably nothing cuz I can live with less than Andrew (he's high maintenance, you know). Or maybe I'll demand a house.

· LikeUnlike · 1 person (Kathleen, aka Gma-in-Law)

Heidi Go for the house! YOur his major hobby now, keeping you happy!

Melanie (my sister) HOORAY!!! You should save up for a baby, then you and Andrew don't have to beg for a niece or nephew because you'll have your own little munchkin. :)

· LikeUnlike · 1 person (once again, Gma-in-law)

Sarah Ya, but I still have to go to school and work and Andrew might be gone in the spring, so who would take care of it?

Heidi I will!

· LikeUnlike · 1 person (Gma-in-Law again; are you noticing a trend?)

Sarah Oh man, this conversation has strayed way too far from the subject of a car.

LikeUnlike · 1 person (Thank you Christina)

Melanie Well, maybe you could save up your money now for a house. Then you could get one of the adorable puppies at the humane society for only 25 dollars!!!!

Kathleen (Gma-in-Law) remind Andrew Happy Wife, Happy life. Too so true, Your grandpa still is trying to figure out, It is what I want, not always what he thinks I want.

Christina I vote house!

Wesley (Brother-in-Law) Sarah! I second the baby... look the Mom already volunteered to take care of it...

· 1 person (Gma-in-Law again)

And this resulted in the following, very pissed-off Facebook status:

Sarah

Due to her most recent status, Sarah's sex/reproductive life will now be determined by Facebook.

Top of Form

Rebecca really? hmm thats interesting

Scott WHAT?

Becka Ok... :|

Sarah Just look at my status about paying off our car, and all will be made clear.

Michael So does that mean that we get to decide when you guys...ya' know...

Rebecca hmm makes sense now

Sarah You are the facebook users in charge of when we "ya'know", stop birth control pills, use or not use other forms of contraceptives, try to have babies, etc.

Heidi (Mom-in-Law) blame your sister and brother-in-law!

Kevin dear sarah, since your reproductive status is now part of the commons (I think Rediker would be very proud of you, btw), I would like to submit that you are a great asset to the scholarly community and that having demon children might interrupt your contributions. I vote for escuela rather than chicos :)

1 person (That would be ME)

Joe When y'all "ya know" I vote never to know.

David TMI!!!!! Your as bad as the ******** [the family from which the Mom-in-Law and Gma-in-Law are from]!!!!

Christina Hahahaha Sarah I love you! You and Andrew are my favorites.

Tasha Dear Sarah....All I keep thinking is AFJ and Juniper Take-out, wherein you described the details of AFJ. You couldn't have planned better.

Karen After that particular post, I dreamed you were pregnant, just keeping it a secret for a while.
Sorry, my dreams are so random and weird.

1 person (Heidi, The Mom-in-Law)

So now you know the story. This is the most comments I have ever gotten on a status posting. And I hope that the point got across.

When Andrew and I choose to have children is NOBODY's business but ours. Someday, we will have children. After the first status, I may get my PhD before I have kids. But we will have them. The time is not right. Let me tell you why.

I am going to school right now and it is important to me that I finish and get my MA. Andrew is going to school right now. He will be gone for the summer and I will be here. And I am not being hugely pregnant while he's gone. Then, he is going to probably start a job next Spring semester, and he won't be around to play stay-at-home-dad. Plus, if you were the new dad, would you want to miss the first few months of your child's life if you could help it? The time is not now.

So there. Leave our reproductive lives alone.