Frenemy

Listening on my Ipod to Googled:  The End of the World As we Know It by Ken Auletta, I kept hearing the word “frenemy”.  Each time I heard it, I was reminded of the talk Jeanne gave at Brent’s Missionary Farewell in 1986.  “If it had been coined when she talked about her brother, she would have used it,” I thought to myself.  Actually, unbeknown to me, it first appeared in print in 1953.

"Frenemy" (alternately spelled "frienemy") is a poartmanteau of “friend” and “enemy” that can refer to either an enemy disguised as a friend or someone who's both a friend and a rival. The term is used to describe personal, geopolitical, and commercial relationships both among individuals and groups or institutions.--Wikipedia

When some of the world's biggest media and advertising companies talk about Google Inc., they borrow a term from the teen flick "Mean Girls."  Google, as they see it, is a "frenemy" -- an enemy who acts like a friend, or part friend, part enemy. Martin Sorrell, chairman and chief executive of advertising giant WPP Group, is among the media executives who can't decide whether Google is trying to help their business or kill it.

In her remarks, Jeanne talked about what she says when people ask her what it’s like to be Brent’s sister.  She read the profile on Brent from the Temple Square Concert Series program, concluding, “That’s what it’s like being a sister to Brent.”  She closed with this ode that has stuck with me these 26 years: 

MY BROTHER, MY ENEMY, MY FRIEND

You have moved through my life

    Consistently;

--My Brother, My Enemy, My Friend—

And your movement takes many forms:

I hear you on the click of the

  computer keys

and in the voice of endless hours

  on ivory piano keys.

I hear you in the sound of turning pages

  as you read some more.

I hear you on the other end of the line

  because lately we’re always far apart.

I hear you teaching and laughing; and

  yelling at the dogs.

I hear you through memories when

  I was allowed to tag along;

And I hear you in the future because

  I’ll always be tagging along.

My Brother, my Enemy, my Friend.

 

                Brofrenemy?

Jeanne 1987

Brent 1986

My favorite quote of Jeanne's was given at her own missionary farewell:

"You can use any color you like,

As long as you stay in the lines."

 It’s her birthday today. A year after Brent left for his mission, she served in France.  He had no opportunity to retaliate. 

Temple Square Concert Series

BRENT HUGH IN RECITAL

May 24, 1986

Brent DeRay Hugh graduated from Brigham Young University in December 1985, receiving a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and science with a minor in German. He was enrolled Winter Semester in the Master’s program in mathematics at BYU.  He is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society; a National Merit Scholar; and is listed in Who’s Who Among American High School Students and America’s Outstanding Names and Faces.  In 1983, he accompanied the BYU Study Abroad group to Austria.  They traveled through Europe—including Russia, East Germany, and other Iron Bloc countries—and also in Israel.  He played the first movement of the Grieg Piano concerto in A Minor with the Davis High Symphonic Band at Weber College, performed in the “Young Artists in Concert” and the Fine Arts Ball at BYU, and has presented a concert in Steinway Hall in Salt Lake City.