Happy New Year from The Yamane Family

DAVID
In January, David began a new job teaching at Wake Forest University. The school's mascot, visible on the ice scuplture in the picture to the right, is the Demon Deacon. This photo was taken at the Inaugural Ball for Wake Forest's new president, Nathan Hatch, who followed David to Wake from Notre Dame. Hatch was the provost who was responsible for hiring David at Notre Dame, so David thought he would return the favor, since Notre Dame was not the same for Provost Hatch after David left.

On New Year's Day, David, Paul, and Hannah left South Bend and drove to Winston-Salem, moving into a faculty apartment on campus. Megan and Mark stayed behind in South Bend to sell our house there. Living with 10 and 8 year-olds as a single parent for four months was not easy, but the kids did seem to enjoy all of the corn dogs, pizza, and fried chicken we ate. And for the first time in more than 10 years, David was able to enjoy cable TV (which was provided gratis in the apartment complex). There's nothing quite like staying up until 2:00am watching "The Surreal Life" and "Iron Chef" the night before teaching.

Like Notre Dame, Wake Forest is one of the top 30 national universities according to US News' ranking, so the students are very capable. Unlike Notre Dame, Wake Forest does not have any doctoral programs in the social sciences, so the educational focus is strictly on the undergraduates. That's been very good for David. And his colleagues in the sociology department have been very welcoming.

Despite all of the transitions at home and work, David still managed to get some work done beyond teaching his teaching. In September, he took over as editor of the professional journal Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review and published his second book, The Catholic Church in State Politics.

On the personal front, David has been cultivating his inner McEnroe by playing tennis regularly in leagues at the public park and Wake Forest's indoor tennis center. As someone who cut his teeth on the hard courts of California, he -- and his creaky, old knees! -- have enjoyed playing on clay courts for the first time.

Favorite Movie of 2005: "Sideways"

Favorite Novel of 2005: "On Beauty" by Zadie Smith

Favorite Album of 2005: "Be" by Common

Favorite Songs of 2005: "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" (remix) by Kanye West and "Sunshine to the Rain" by Miri Ben-Ari

David's Wish for 2006: Social solidarity and fewer SUVs.

David's New Year's Resolution: To be more patient and generous.

MEGAN
After David, Paul, and Hannah were out of the way, Megan (and Mark) got busy selling the South Bend house. Although it took longer than expected -- we closed at the end of May -- she got near her asking price, so it was worth the wait. Plus, she didn't have David around for several months, so she had that going for her!

Moving day was sad because she had to say goodbye to some good friends like June Peer (pictured) and Paula Laskowski, to the farmer's market near our home, and to Little Flower Catholic Church. Although we had to drag Megan kicking and screaming out of Madison, Wisconsin, she came to love many things about South Bend over the seven years we lived there, so we had to drag her kicking and screaming out of South Bend, too.

The rest of the year was given over to dealing with the stresses and strains of moving: trying to figure out how to fit all of our belongings into a smaller house, to understand people speaking with southern accents (e.g., Kaaang = King), to negotiate a city that has absolutely no pedestrian walkways and an inadequate public library system, to deal with the many pinheads running the schools, and so on.

On the bright side, Megan has a new friend across the street who is introducing her to daily walking and bridge. In the fall, she began teaching Sunday school in the 3rd grade class at our new church, Our Lady of Mercy. And she is trying to set the record for most volunteer hours at Jefferson Elementary School, including teaching art in Mark's kindergarten class and running the "Globalympics" program for Paul's and Hannah's classes.

Since she's working so much already, in 2006 she's considering getting paid for it.

PAUL
Paul turned 10 on March 24, 2005, successfully completed 4th grade at Speas Elementary School, and began 5th grade at Jefferson Elementary School. Paul has attended five different elementary schools from kindergarten through fifth grade, including two different Jeffersons. Next year he changes school again when he begins middle school. Hopefully things will become more stable for him from here on out. In school, he takes after his mother in doing very well at math. He also enjoys reading and can write pretty well, so his long term future could be in the social sciences -- like father, like son -- if he's lucky!

As this photo indicates, Paul is a big football fan. He was especially happy to see Notre Dame do so well in '05 under new head coach Charlie Weis. Although it is ultimately impossible to name a single favorite, he has a special fondness for Victor "Bonecrusher" Abiamiri. He hasn't quite taken to Demon Deacon football, yet! He probably won't, either, as long as Notre Dame is winning.

Fortunately for him, his parents do not allow him to play football because of the inherent danger and violence of the game. He has instead focused on safer, more elegant sports like tennis and baseball. He played in the spring and fall for the Winston-Salem National Little League Braves, having been drafted into the Major Division a year early. And he is trying to emulate his two favorite tennis players: Rafael Nadal and Steve "Mad Dog" Bass.

Paul's Wish for 2006: That the war in Iraq would end.

Paul's New Year's Resolution: To play outside more instead of sitting around doing nothing.

HANNAH
Hannah turned 8 on April 25, 2005, successfully completed 2nd grade at Speas Elementary School, and began 3rd grade at Jefferson Elementary School.

Hannah loves pets, especially her cat "Angel." When we were finally ready to leave South Bend for good at the end of May, Angel disappeared. It was 6:00pm, the movers had left hours earlier, and the house was empty. Had she climbed into one of the moving trucks? Would she show up in time for us to leave, or would we have to leave without her? After a half an hour of desperate searching throughout the neighborhood, she finally showed up! We were all very relieved -- especially Hannah.

Over the summer, Hannah took tennis lessons and began taking gymnastics class at the local recreation center, which she continued through the fall. Many days at home you can find her doing splits and summersaults and whatnot. She also continues to have a great interest in art. One of her works from second grade was displayed in an exhibit at Salem College in the spring.

In the fall, Hannah donated 10 inches of hair to the "Locks of Love" program for the second time. Locks of Love uses the donated hair to provide hair prosthetics for needy children with long-term medical hair loss.

Hannah has made some good friends in our new neighborhood (called "New Sherwood Forest") here in Winston-Salem, especially "Emily 1" (Scott) and "Emily 2" (Bannigan). Over the summer she enjoyed going to the neighborhood pool with them, and by the end of the summer she had worked her way up to going off the diving board in the deep, deep end of the pool.

MARK
2005 was a big year for Mark. He turned 5 on February 3rd and spent the whole spring as an only child with a single mom in South Bend. Then in the fall, he started kindergarten at Jefferson Elementary School in Winston-Salem.

Leaving South Bend was sad for Mark, as it was for all of us. He misses his buddies there, most especially Jared Laskowski.

In the summer, he played t-ball, tennis, and swam and swam and swam at the neighborhood swimming pool. He also is the resident entomologist of our family, so any time there is a bug inside or outside the house (and there are many in North Carolina) he is called upon to examine and, if necessary, remove it.

Mark is a big fan of anything that involves dueling, including but not limited to: Power Rangers, Yu-Gi-Oh, Star Wars, Megaman, and Pokemon. He likes to watch the shows, play the card games, enact the battles, and play with the action figures. He especially likes to do all of those things with his buddies from the block, Jackson Scott and Lucas Bannigan.

Mark's Wish for 2006: For people without homes or money to get homes and money.

Mark's New Year's Resolution: To be more kind to other people.

 

David
Megan
Paul
Hannah