Kids
Reagan finished CodeUp this year and is looking for work as a back-end web developer (primarily). He also is debating going to grad school in Computer Science. If you or anyone you know is looking to hire somebody in this space who has good coding skills (and a top-notch private university liberal arts education as a bonus), let me know and I'll pass your info along to him.
Hunter is a junior at Trinity and is double-majoring in Art and (somewhat reluctantly) Business. He likes college just fine, but likes being home on break more. He's interested in graphic design, photography, and environmental issues. He most emphatically does not want to be an accountant.
Hadley, along with roughly 15,000 other freshmen, claims to be the loudest and proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2020. She probably will major in business, education, or communication, but we won't know until the end of the spring semester. She has adjusted well and is having a good time. I'm not happy to have soccer games, team lunches, and pre-dance pictures behind me, but am managing OK for the most part.
Hollis is in 8th grade and finally is taller than Paige. He hopes to beat Hadley by next Christmas. We shall see. He's pretty much a math freak (I use that term in the most positive sense possible) but also is into percussion and cross-country. It is beyond weird that he doesn't look like a little kid anymore. I know all of the other kids went through the same transition, but it seems bizarre with him.
Us
Paige and I just celebrated our 27th anniversary. We are still doing our thing at Trinity. She is Dean of the School of Business and I'm Chair of the Accounting department. I traveled 12-15 times this year, including a trip to Florence that was quite nice. Paige was supposed to go but ended up not being able to ditch a meeting, so I had to manage alone (which stunk, to say the least). In addition to various other jaunts, we took Hadley to DC for high school graduation. She had never been and enjoyed all of the mandatory tourist stuff almost as much as the desserts at Ted's Bulletin.
Other
I taught a new class this fall that was centered on Adam Smith. Now that I've read most of his work -- some of it twice -- I can say that I'm not sure a more intelligent and insightful political economist / moralist / observer of human nature has ever lived. As such, I'm going to recommend that you take an extremely slow amble through Theory of Moral Sentiments. Obviously, Wealth of Nations is his more famous and more influential work, but it is gigantic and parts are extremely tedious. The text I used for my class has selections from both books and can be found here. Even if you refuse to read Theory of Moral Sentiments itself, you definitely should read How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life. I gave all of my students a copy for Christmas.
Other notables from the year include the Kingkiller Chronicles (Books 1 and 2 are available), The Cello Suites (if you are a classical music / Bach fan), Laurus (highly recommended), and -- on the much lighter side -- Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. I also continue to work my way through Spenser's The Faerie Queene and I have never enjoyed reading anything more (slow going though it may be). On the music side, I have only one recommendation -- Kate Rusby's new "Life in a Paper Boat" album, which is available in a variety of forms in a variety of places. As any semi-conscious reader of our annual updates knows, Kate is my favorite and anything she does is worth buying.
And that's where I'll leave it.
We hope that your Season is merry and that you have a peaceful and joyous 2017.
God Bless,
The Wilkins Crew
*****
Mike Wilkins (mw0705@gmail.com)
Paige Fields (paigefields@satx.rr.com)
1009 Garraty Rd
San Antonio, TX 78209
