Neal and Leila's blog

Hello to our friends and family on the worldwide web. We hope to connect with you more and share some of the delights and pleasures of our current happy life in Provo, Utah.

First of all, we have been married for thirty-three years, almost. We have five daughters, eight granddaughters, and a little grandson on the way. We have been very happy most of the time of our marriage and that rises to ecstatic from time to time. We are still in love. I sometimes shiver ever so slightly when she makes eye contact with me across the room.

We own a small house in Provo that meets our needs.

Leila is a full-time library worker at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University. She maintains and grows the ever-expanding collection of electronic journals available online through the library. Some of her many other interests include reading, especially Harry Potter, Twilight, Anne Perry Mysteries, and all Jane Austen-related fiction. She loves to cook, sew, and use power tools, of which she is the proud owner of many. She loves her granddaughters, and especially enjoys playing the Barbie Game with them.

Neal's academic interests include studying the interplay of language, religion, literature, and politics in England in the 17th century, hermeneutics, and Mormon Literature. He has served on the Board of the Inner-City Youth Charitable Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, the Board of the Association for Mormon Letters (twice) and served two years as the AML President. He has authored numerous articles and reviews in various journals along with work anthologized in Colloquium: Essays in Literature and Belief, Faithful History, and Abiding by Its Precepts. He is now or has been a member of Phi Kappa Phi, RMMLA, RMMRA, The Milton Society of America, AML, NCTE, and The Association of Mormon Scholars in the Humanities. He has presented multiple papers over the years at their annual meetings across the intermountain west and in England and Wales. He has also made the time to serve twice as an administrator: Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Chicago and Assistant Dean for University Writing at BYU.

We look forward to connecting with the Collins and the Chambers and their networks of delightful friends.