The Truth behind Sea Gulls

In 1955, Utah legislators named the “Sea Gull” the state bird. They were commemorating the 1848 “Miracle of the Seagulls,” when huge flocks of gulls ate up hoards of crickets, saving crops of the newly landed Mormon pioneers. This is funny on two counts: As […]

For want of a Darn Tough sock

For want of a sock the foot was sore, For want of a foot the hiker was sore, For want of a hiker the walk was lost, For want of a walk the day was lost, So the day was lost – all for want […]

Rock on, Salt Lake of yore

I got to chatting with Charley Hafen about Utah’s cultural scene in the 60s and 70s. Hafen knows about these things. He was in his teens and twenties back then, a card-carrying hippie who mixed with scores of other talented artists and musicians, he recalled. […]

Art, better than aspirin

Will it make us feel better? It’s the first question I ask when hanging something on the walls of our home. Turns out the same question was asked at the new Intermountain Health Care clinic in American Fork. That’s where I discovered beautiful prints hanging […]

Art, better than aspirin

The Sunday Supposition

A Salt Lake City man told me his friend, an out-of-state salesman, modified his wardrobe whenever approaching Utah businesses. He wore a white t-shirt under his dress shirt, making sure the shirt was thin enough for folks to see the tee underneath. There was a […]

The Sunday Supposition

Fit and Fit to be Tied

I’m getting a handle on this Clean Living thing, something Utah promotes as one of its intrinsic qualities. First, there’s the wilderness. Utah has more public land than any other state except Nevada and Alaska. People here get out! Even in the lesser known Oquirrh […]

Fit and Fit to be Tied

A Gem in the Sands of Sameness

There is a stunning contrast to many spaces in Utah, one of the fastest growing states in the country. The valleys are filling up with track housing and strip malls like sand flowing free from an hourglass. The wilderness, of which there is more here […]