Where We’ve Been

Sorry I haven’t written for a few months. Things have been pretty crazy around here for us. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Over the summer, I started interning at the Disability Law Center in downtown Salt Lake City. This job has been a blast where I’ve been working on the abuse and neglect team to help protect persons with disabilities.
• Also over the summer, I took a class on Equality, Liberty, and Civil Rights which required me to write a huge research paper. I wrote on a plan that a few GOP lawmakers have to introduce bills that would keep children born to undocumented aliens from receiving birth certificates. After wading through thousands of pages of legal work, I ultimately concluded that neither the US Congress or individual state could do such a thing without violating the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. When I wasn’t working that summer, I was writing that beast.
• Jen and I were called as missionaries to help teach English at our local Spanish Branch. Ever since we got engaged two years ago, Jen and I have been missionary companions now in three different areas (Spokane, Provo and now SLC). At one point I was pretty good at Spanish thanks to Riverview Jr. High and Murray High School, but now my Spanish comes out jumbled with Tongan. Even though I don’t have time to study Spanish full time, I’m slowly getting better.
• Jen is pregnant with a baby boy. That is awesome! 

  

  When we discovered we had a "little spot" inside of Jen.
  
  

  We are soo excited for this little guy to come fill our home with love and wildness. Louie and Rudy are pretty excited too. “Little Boy” is due sometime around April 6th.

  

  Little Boy

• Jen and I had a fun trip to California in June. We crashed my cousin Katie’s wedding reception, then went to Angelica and John’s in Madera. Jen gave me the tour of Stockton and Fresno where she grew up, and we had fun celebrating our first anniversary at Lake Tahoe.

  

  We saw some cheesy touristy brochure that advertised holding a pine cone on Lake Tahoe. We couldn't stop laughing at it, and though we would recreate it ourselves.

• Jen walked in the BYU graduation in August. She looked really hott, and I am so proud of my wife for graduating.
• Rudy got fat. He gained 20 lbs. this year, and has been put on a diet. My dad also has started coming by to run with the dogs every Saturday. He’s since lost 10 lbs. in two months, which is like losing 30 lbs. for a human.

  

  Rudy before his diet.
  
  

  

  Rudy after his diet started, and minus 10 lbs.

• Fall semester was pretty crazy for us. I was taking 17 credits of classes (Business Organizations, Bankruptcy, Trusts and Estates, Evidence, and Judicial Process) and working, in addition to church and other responsibilities. Basically, I spent every waking minute studying. Jen was also student teaching at Riverview Jr. High while pregnant. Everyday our calendars would be completely scheduled and accounted for.
• The week before Thanksgiving, we all went to Las Vegas and California on vacation. This was a much needed break to allow us to rest for a few days. We went to a friend’s wedding in the Las Vegas Temple, before heading to California. 

  

  Louie and Rudy cuddling while on a roadtrip to Vegas.

  We then spent the rest of the week preparing a 90th Birthday present for Jen’s grandpa. His favorite magazine is Time, so we made a huge book for him with all of the cover stories from each birthday that he’s had. Grandpa Perlmutter later pulled me aside and secretly told me, “Don’t tell anyone, but this is the best present I’ve ever gotten.”

  

  Izzy Perlmutter: Man of the Year

  Louie also enjoyed the sunshine while in California, and got into a lot of mischief when he somehow snuck outside and jumped into the swimming pool. His tail, which normally whirls around like a helicopter, actually went limp for a day from the shock of the cold water. Thankfully, we got our happy lab tail back the next day once he was able to spend enough time basking in sunlight.



Louie loves sunshine almost as much as mischief.

• Once I survived my four tests and two papers, I’m not enjoying my winter break. We spent Christmas in SLC with my parents and at the Marshallese peet party. A few days later, we went back to California for another week to celebrate our anniversary and spend time with Jen’s family. We went to the San Diego Temple and Olive Garden on New Year's Eve before celebrating the new year and our engagement anniversary on Sunset Beach with fireworks.

Proposal

Recently, Jen and I celebrated the two year anniversary of the time when I proposed to her. Here is something that I wrote around that time to recount those events:

Back in September 2008, I went to visit Hawai'i to for Matson Matthew's wedding. While staying in Downtown Puputown, Waipahu, I found myself thinking about Jen all of the time and wishing she was there with me. I realized, to my great surprise, that I loved her more than I love Hawai'i.

This was a strange realization for me because I'd never thought I could love anything more than Hawai'i. I loved my mission there very much, and would always think about it. But I realized that I had begun to think about Jen more than I thought about Hawai'i.

I realized this was serious.

I realized that I wanted to marry her.

I began brainstorming about how to propose to her. Jen and I were both strongly opposed to the idea of ring shopping together before officially being engaged. We both agreed that if we were to get engaged, it should be a surprise. A temporary ring would be acceptable until after I proposed, when we could get a permanent engagement ring together.

When I came to visit in September, I brought a Marshallese Amimono flower that Handy Ceaser had helped me make for Jen. She absolutely loved this flower, so I got the idea that I should make her a Marshallese Amimono ring. I thought this was romantic, like the old traditions where guys would make something for their brides. In Wales for example, the guys would carve spoons to show their feelings for their brides. The more work they put into carving the spoon, the more love they showed for the woman.

The Marshallese Shell Ring that I made for Jen

Within a few weeks after returning to Spokane, I practiced making rings every weekend until coming up with my favorite design. I may have gotten carried away with putting shells on top because it was pretty top heavy. I quickly realized it probably wasn't as durable or practical as I'd originally though, so I then began my search for a substitute temporary engagement ring.

In keeping with the traditionalist theme, I decided upon an Irish Claddagh ring. The Claddagh design has two hands holding a heart with a crown on top. This was a traditional friendship and engagement ring. I first saw this design when I was in Blarney, Ireland almost ten years ago, and I remember thinking it was the most beautiful ring design I'd ever seen (which remained true until I saw Jen's wedding ring...now nothing can compare to that). I thought the Claddagh would be a great ring to give to Jen because not only was she my best friend whom I wanted to marry, but I would also be honoring my Irish heritage (my other island heritage).

The Irish Claddagh Ring I got for Jen

Once again I set off on a quest to find the perfect temporary engagement ring for my girl. After scouring all of the malls in the Spokane region, I couldn't find a single Claddagh ring. Around Thanksgiving, I began searching online and finally found a beautiful ring with a cubic zirconium in the heart. I thought it was a beautiful ring for my gorgeous girlfriend.

Flash forward a few weeks. Suddenly I find myself trapped in Spokane, snowed in and unable to get back to Jen. I had two engagement rings burning a hole in my pocket and I was going crazy. Soon everyone in the airports I visited knew I was fighting to get back to my girlfriend to propose to her, and gave me all sorts of advice ("Don't get cold feet in all of the snow. Heh heh.").

But as previously reported, I did in fact escape, and I was able to surprise Jen. We had a great Christmas together, and had a lot of protection while traveling down to California (We were in a scary snow storm going from SLC to Provo on Christmas. The next day in Arizona, we hit a random Semi-Truck tire that was rolling down the dark interstate, but it didn't do any damage to the car). Originally, I'd planned to ask her on Post-Boxing Day (December 27th), which was a holiday I'd celebrated every year since I was a teenager as being the day you have you last big adventure for the year (i.e. hiking, sledding, etc.). My rational was what better adventure is there than to get engaged? But alas, the moment just didn't feel right, and I decided to wait until New Year's Eve.

I then planned to propose on December 30th, but then Jen’s mom stuck her fingers in a food chopper and needed to go to the hospital. We saved my future mother-in-law’s fingers, but I had to postpone my surprise again.

For New Year's Eve, Jen and I had been talking about going to Disneyland for months. Upon discovering tickets were $90 a person however, we tried looking online for discounted tickets. We were able to find a good deal for New Year's Day, which ruined my original plan to propose outside her favorite ride, "It's a Small World." Instead, we had a fun day of adventure and spontaneity. I declared upfront that I wanted to have a really romantic night and to woo her, so it was a great day being able to plan it together.

We first went to downtown LA to the fashion district, which feels like you've stepped into a South American marketplace. I loved it, and we found some really cool clothes there. Dinnertime came, and we went to her favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden. I happened to have a gift card that I'd earned from successfully walking 100 miles at my old job over the summer. Jen and I had covered that distance together by walking her dog, Rudy, together, so it was appropriate that we share the reward for the contest together.

After dinner, we decided to try to go to the beach for change of the New Year. Originally, we'd thought to find a fireworks show on the coast, but decided that we wanted to have our own private New Year's celebration. We drove through thick fog to the first random beach we found, Sunset Beach. The fog was soo thick, we could only seen the road a few feet ahead of us. At the beach however, the fog made the scene more magical and mysterious.

We laid our blankets down on the cold, gritty sand and began dancing together to music we had on our cell phones. We listened to songs that were really special for both of us and helped set a romantic mood. Midnight came and we kissed to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Farther down the beach fireworks were set off, which appeared as colored flashes in the fog. Seeing the romantic scenario I'd set up, I knew my time to act had come.

Scared to death, I told Jen that I had one last present for her. I had given her a series of small Christmas gifts during our time together, so I don't this surprised her very much. I pulled out the Claddagh ring and proposed marriage to her. It seemed to last for several blissful hours, but I don't think it lasted more than a few minutes, with me saying all sorts of wonderful things about her and telling her I wanted to marry her. She was amazed and overjoyed, to put it lightly. She kept shouting into the misty night, "I'm going to marry this boy! I'm going to marry Brian Tanner!" She was the happiest woman and the world, and my heart soared because I knew I was the source of her joy.

We left the beach that night as an engaged couple, and I left with extra burden on my shoulders. I felt I had become a man by proposing to my girlfriend. I was no longer just floating through life. I had a purpose and a family to provide for.

It was simply awesome!

Nuke It

You know, the other day I made the joke about using nuclear weapons to clean up the Gulf oil spill. We did the same thing with Bikini Atoll, and that worked great for fixing the Cold War in scaring the Russians into giving us respect. And sure the atoll is still uninhabitable, but at least we won the Cold War! When she heard me say this, Jen looked at me like I was crazy.

And then I found this:

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Bobby Ray (aka B.o.B.)

For Mother's Day, I gave Jen a CD of B.o.B's mixtape that was released for free on the internet. B.o.B. recently released his first commercial album, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard pop charts. Last year before he was famous, Jen and I saw him open for Q-Tip at a free concert, and both of us were amazed at how talented he was. Jen was sad he didn't give a longer concert, even though she loved Q-Tip's work in A Tribe Called Quest for several years.

What was cool about that hip-hop concert was we took two neighbor kids, and had some wild adventures learning not to give Mt. Dew to minors. This is seriously the kind of parents we are going to be.

Anyway, here is one of her favorite songs from the mixtape:

Party in My Tummy

Since Jen and I discovered this video last year, we seriously sing this song at every meal. When we have kids, we are totally going to watch shows like this with them. We can't wait.

R.I.P. Hank Jones

Hank Jones, a famous jazz pianist, passed away two days ago at age 91. Here is probably my favorite song he contributed to, "Love For Sale", with Cannonball Adderly, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey (all of whom are among the best jazz musicians in history).

Illegal Immigration and Arizona SB 1070

For my internship at the SLC Immigration Court and Immigration Law Class, I’ve spent the past four months intensely studying the federal Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) that controls immigration issues into this country. I’ve become more aware than ever of the inherent contradictions in existing laws that have incentivized illegal immigration.

For example, say an illegal immigrant in Utah marries a U.S. citizen. The U.S. citizen can then petition for their spouse to get a visa to be here legally. However, the immigrant must go back to their home country to pick up the visa at their country’s U.S. counselor’s office. But under the current INA, if an illegal immigrant leaves the U.S., they automatically receive a 10 year bar preventing their return. So because people don’t really want to wait ten years to be with their loved ones again, they are forced to wait in the shadows until the INA changes.

Another example is the number of work visas that are available every year. The Department of Homeland Security released their Annual Flow Report a few weeks ago that said last year 144,034 work visas were issued, compared to 747,413 family sponsored visas. Of those work visas, only a few thousand were issued to low skill workers. But there is a demand for hundreds of thousands of low skill workers to work in farming, construction, cleaning, etc.

The policy idea behind this is we want American jobs to go to Americans. But the policy doesn’t consider whether Americans want those jobs. Thus is born the inequality between the demand for workers and numbers of visas available.

Thousands of illegal immigrants are now in our country, but contrary to popular belief, they are not generally criminals. The Immigration Policy Center in 2007 issued a statistical study finding that Immigrants have lower incarcerations rates than natives, even among those who are high-school dropouts. Immigrant groups generally have larger incarceration rates once their children become assimilated. Studies like this one suggest that fears of illegal immigrants maybe greatly exaggerated.

But while the danger of illegal immigrants may be exaggerated, many people view it as a serious problem that must be dealt before it gets any worse. In recent years, many states, including Utah, have passed discriminatory legislation to attack the scourge of illegal immigration.

The new Arizona state anti-immigration law, SB 1070, makes being an illegal immigrant a state crime. It requires police to stop those whom they have a “reasonable suspicion” of being here illegally, and requiring everyone to carry documents showing proof of legal residency. If they are not carrying documents to demonstrate their legal status, the police can arrest them. It also enables citizens to sue police officers for not effectively enforcing the law.

The law is unconstitutional for several reasons. First, it is a violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution which basically states that when there are conflicting State and Federal laws, the Federal law is supreme. Because the federal INA already makes illegal immigration a federal offense, states cannot make it a state crime. Thus the state law is unconstitutional for its preemption of federal law.

The other major reason why the law is unconstitutional is because of its discriminatory intent and effect on Hispanics. The law, while facially neutral, is intended to target Hispanics. And this discriminatory effect is a violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.

In my Counterterrorism class we have learned about how the public will look to leaders in times of crisis to quickly address the problem. Elected officials have a responsibility to protect their people. However, if the leaders act quickly on instinct and don’t carefully think through the implications of their policies, their decisions can lead to violations of individual rights.  Conversely, if the leaders don’t do anything to act, they will appear weak, and the people will look to leadership elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the Governor of Arizona wasn’t looking to the long term effects of her signing the law, but was instead focused on the short-term goal of only getting re-elected. Soon Arizonans, both legal and illegal, will begin to have their rights be violated.

I sincerely hope that Congress will have the courage to amend the INA in ways to fix our broken immigration system. I hope that our elected officials will make correct decisions, not just for short-term political gains, but for the long-term benefit of all Americans. And if the current leaders are incapable of effecting these changes, I hope that voters in November will elect new ones who will make responsible changes.

Kids, Don’t Rap at the Drive-through in Utah or You’ll Be Arrested

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These kids should have done it B-Money style with clean lyrics...oh wait...they did.

UMA Marshallese Education Classes

A few weeks ago, Jen and I stayed up very late into the night because we were unable to sleep. We were talking about many of the serious problems the Marshallese community faces here in Utah, and how many people that we know and love are facing tough times right now.

And then a series of ideas began to come to us of how to help. Along with the new ideas came an impression to write down all of our thoughts so we wouldn’t forget them in the morning. I’ve experienced revelation like this before, and I’ve come to recognize it as the Spirit guiding our thoughts and conversation to answer our prayers.

One of these revealed ideas was for the Utah Marshallese Association to host a series of education classes to help teach responsible adult behavior. Our proposed list of classes includes:

• Financial and credit responsibility
• Sexual education
• Healthy lifestyle management
• American citizenship and naturalization classes
• College enrollment
• Crime and fire prevention

One example of how these classes can help is with sexual education. Over the past two decades, Marshallese people have one of the highest fertility rates in the world. Marshallese women typically begin having children while teenagers, which can greatly inhibit their educational and work opportunities. By limiting their educational experiences, Marshallese women are limited in their ability to teach their children while raising them.

Adultery and extramarital relationships are also a big problem. Up in Spokane, Jen and I were amazed at how almost every family had a pastor who was having affairs with their wives’ sisters. Often these couples do not legally divorce, even if they have been separated for years and have multiple children with subsequent partners. This widespread adultery prevents their posterity from enjoying the full blessings of the law of chastity.

By teaching a Marshallese language class on the blessings of the law of chastity and dangers of unprotected sex, hopefully we can cut eliminate adultery and decrease the number of teenage pregnancies.

We are very excited for this and the other UMA classes. UMA is currently negotiating with West Valley City to use their City Hall for our forum. If you have other suggestions or ideas for this program, be sure to let me know!

Valleys of Neptune

I love Jimi Hendrix’s music. His creative approach to playing the guitar forever changed rock ‘n roll for the better.

A new Hendrix album came out a few weeks ago called Valleys of Neptune. Comprised of previously unreleased music, simply put, it’s awesome. I can’t stop listening to it!

Here’s a music video to accompany the new album: