Love Is In The Air

PJ Raval and Curran Nault met through mutual acquaintances and were good friends before making it official in 2011. They collaborated on various art projects together and tied the knot in 2019.

“We have two anniversaries, May 6 and May 4, 2019, our wedding,” Curran said. “We were married in a hut next to the ocean and then partied it up with the drag queens of Galveston.”

Curran sees himself as the more emotional and philosophical partner, and PJ as the more practical one, which PJ agrees on.

“Speaking of smart, Curran is technically Dr. Curran Nault,” PJ said. “But guess who knows how to get the internet working or when the utility bill is due?”

Around the dinner table they sometimes find themselves talking about their cats, Lil' Boo and the late Bucket McBeans.

“As a cinephile couple, we're often watching something while we're eating and discussing it during or afterward,” Curran said. “Otherwise, we talk about our days, future plans, and sometimes some good gay gossip.”

Curran has learned to celebrate PJ as his partner and to embrace the complexity that comes with relationships. For him, the commitment and love they share matters much more than any small annoyances.

PJ finds a lot of parallels between his love and professional lives.

“I’ve learned to trust in the relationship. In film directing we often tell actors to ‘get out of their head’ and just do and feel, to be in the moment,” PJ said. “Those are great lessons for being in a relationship too.”

Josh and Jennifer Barbour first met during graduate school while at a mutual friend’s house for dinner. However, Josh remembered Jennifer from before they were officially introduced.

“I first came to know Jennifer when I happened upon her in the shared graduate student offices while she confronted another graduate student,” Josh said.

“This person had unplugged the only telephone available for about 40 graduate students to use as a prop during meetings with his students. Jennifer was explaining, loudly and forcefully, why this use of the phone was not appropriate and would not continue.”

Jennifer loves Josh’s silliness. Josh loves Jennifer’s sense of justice. But when asked to determine who is smarter, they both agreed it is equal.

“We decided it was a tie,” Jennifer said. “Though our daughter announced ‘Mommy’ while we were talking about it, so it depends on whom you ask.”

The Barbours have a no technology rule during dinner and opt to spend the time as a family.

“We talk about all kinds of things,” Jennifer said. “Last night it was lines from ‘Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail’ and ‘The Mitchells vs the Machines.’”

Throughout their marriage, they have learned to rely on each other in their respective strengths.

“The most important thing we've learned in our marriage is that you don't have to be good at everything,” Josh said. “You can rely on your partner to do the things they are good at and trust that they will rely on you.”

Dave Junker and Lee Ann Kahlor both teach in the Stan Richards School of Advertising & Public Relations, but their relationship goes all the way back to their undergrad years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

“A mutual friend introduced us, and the rest is history,” Junker said. “In a matter of weeks, we were named Madison’s Cutest Couple by the Onion, the legendary satirical newspaper that was still local at the time.”

As parents to five kids, these two have their hands full at the dinner table. When it comes to dinner conversation, they’re usually talking about which one is in trouble.

Junker finds they barely talk at all. When they do, they just get interrupted.

“We love our kids," he said.

Though Junker believes Kahlor is the smartest in the relationship, she says they both have their moments.

“He’s better read, more cultured and has some really deep pockets of knowledge that blow my mind, especially about music, history and literature,” Kahlor said. “My knowledge has a lot of breadth. I’m who you turn to for random facts.”

Kahlor shared both love and career advice.

“My love advice is to find someone who makes you laugh and sees you clearly,” Kahlor said. “My career advice is to accept that you can’t control very much in your early career, so just roll with it and be willing to take chances and pick new paths.”

Robert and Emily Quigley met through work at the Austin American-Statesman at the beginning of their journalism careers.

“I was a news copy editor, and he was a page designer. We worked the night shift, weekends and holidays,” Emily said. “I think it would have been difficult to date someone who didn’t understand that crazy schedule.”

When it comes to who’s smarter, Emily says Robert has a better mind for historical facts but knows she would be the one to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Robert sees more than one side to having intelligence.

“Smart is difficult to define because I believe there are different ways to show intelligence,” Robert said. “However, no matter how you slice it she is definitely smarter.”

At dinner, the Quigleys find they often talk about their kids and the latest news.

“We’re both former journalists who teach journalism, so that’s natural,” Robert said. “We have slightly different areas of interest, but as you can imagine, we both love current events.”

As for life advice, Robert encourages students to build their network and not to stress too much about the future. Regarding love, he believes it should not be hard work.

Emily finds a commonality between careers and relationships.

“For jobs or relationships, know your worth,” Emily said. “Don’t accept bad behavior but do realize that nothing is perfect.”

Scott and Talia Stroud met as undergraduates on the speech and debate team at the University of the Pacific in California.

“After a 22-hour train ride to a speech tournament in another state, she was the only one I wanted to sit next to by the end of it, and she could actually stand being around me,” Scott said. “I knew it was destiny at that point.”

Scott is confident Talia is smarter, though he thinks he is funnier.

Talia, however, finds her husband to be more book smart, while she handles and remembers the day-to-day activities.

They both agree that their kids dominate the dinner table conversation.

Scott feels lucky to have similar interests and research passions as Talia, so they often have overlap when balancing their relationship and their work.

“Our different approaches to the same problem, how to form community out of a group of people that don’t always agree with each other, often gives us a common interest to share,” Scott said. “And then there’s the trashy reality TV programs that I make Talia watch when we get a chance to unwind.”

Scott and Talia both find the hard work in their relationship to be worth it, seeing each other as a team that helps each other grow individually.

“There are great times and there are tough times,” Talia said. “Taking time to remember how lucky you are to have this person in your life will get you through the tough times and having someone with whom to share the great times makes them even greater.”

Samantha Shorey and Samuel Woolley met while working at the school newspaper at the University of San Diego.

Samantha was a writer. She described Samuel as “the hipster Art & Culture editor.”

Samuel said Samantha told one of their mutual friends she thought he was cute.

“I was thrilled at this news and asked her out,” he said.

Samuel loves Samantha’s empathetic nature and how she can connect with people on a genuine level.

Samantha’s favorite thing about Samuel is his versatility when it comes to his approach to life. “He’s this totally rare combination of dependable and adventurous,” she said. “He keeps everything together in our day-to-day life, while encouraging us to have big experiences and big dreams.”

The two both think the other is smarter, though they interpret it differently. Samantha insists Samuel is a bolder thinker, and that he is better with finding his keys.

“I've been saying this since 2007, Samantha is way smarter,” Samuel said. “She's so sharp, but she's also very sweet. People underestimate her at their peril. She's also a better scholar than me.”

Samantha said she and Samuel never run out of things to talk about, chatting throughout the day, from work to going on neighborhood walks with their son.

“We even go out to lunch during the workday just to hang out,” Samantha said. “But at dinner time, we love to sit at the coffee table and watch a TV show together. It's honestly one of my favorite routines.”

When asked if he has any advice for couples, Samuel said the most important thing he’s learned is to listen and to really be there for his partner.

Samantha shared some advice from Samuel’s grandmother.

“Advice from Sam's Granny, Alwyn, is ‘when you're wrong, admit it, when you're right, shut up,’” she said. “As academics we both love being right.”