Below are incredible images that I captured from the plane window as we departed Salt Lake City, Utah yesterday.  It was definitely worth having my flight cancelled over the weekend due to snow in Maryland.

April Sims
http://www.AprilSimsPhotography.com

Photo Coutesty Paul Alhadef Photography www.alhadefphoto.com

On a recent trip to Salt Lake City, our Good American Post (GAP) staff was able to indulge in the finest cupcake store we had ever encountered.  Mini’s Cupcakes, a locally-owned and eclectically-decorated cupcake store tantalized our sweet-tooth with various concoctions like:

- Breakfast at Tiffany’s -Madagascar Vanilla Bean Cupcake with Tiffany Blue Creme Cheese Frosting topped with edible gems

- The Diva – Dark Belgium Chocolate Cupcake with Pink Creme Cheese Frosting

- Lemon Pie – Lemon Cupcake filled with tart Lemon Curd with Toasted Swiss Meringue Frosting

- Southern Comfort - A traditional southern Red Velvet Cake (not so much red) with Creme Cheese Frosting topped with pecans

Leslie Fiet, the owner and chef-baker, was kind enough to let us take our time ordering and enjoying the cupcakes and various cupcake paraphernalia that is located throughout the shop.

Upon examining her menu, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of ingredients (nearly everything) sourced locally, and as a marketer, very happy to see her marketing these aspects of her business, that are key to enticing consumers like myself and our GAP-Staff.

“Mini’s is committed to buy local whenever possible for the products we use in our baking and sandwich making.  As a small business, we appreciate the support of our community and we in turn want to support other locally owned and operated businesses.”

In addition to this, she is committed to high-quality natural ingredients.

“In today’s world of fast and processed food we sometimes forget to ask what is in our food and where it comes from.  We are proud to tell you that our cupcakes are made from scratch using the best ingredients possible.  We are still looking for a few local providers for some items, so if you know of some place that we may be able to support please let us know.”

Cheers to this local business, we can’t wait to get back to Utah!

By Tisha Casida

The mighty Iceburn, reunited. Performing “Poem of Fire” at In the Venue in Salt Lake City, 8/11/07.

Written by Isaac

continued from email sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 12:15 PM

We were now in Salt Lake City and we learned that Jessica had passed away.

Since we were in Salt Lake City and God had already taken us that far, we felt that it was definitely for a reason.  After praying, we felt that we needed to continue to move forward.  The thing is, we felt called by God to lay hands on Jessica and pray for her healing.  As we sought God on the matter, we didn’t feel like He was changing what we were being called to do.

So that night in the hotel we felt that we had to move forward.  If God didn’t change our path,  we were going to lay hands on her and pray that God would even raise her from the dead.  Jesus did it, he empowered the disciples to do it in Matthew 10, and I’ve heard it happen in other countries.  So why not here and now?

Yeah, we know how radical and crazy that sounds, but we felt that we needed to be obedient to God.  That obedience meant physically praying over her regardless of her state.  We knew that there could be a lot of issues involved with seeing her body, family involved, hospital issues.  However, we felt God telling us to not worry about that and just walk in the obedience at hand.
We then made the call and communicated what we wanted to do to Brandon’s dad, since he was picking us up the next day.

That night we also had a conference call with the Huddle, who had met at my house to pray for us.  We informed them of our situation and we all just prayed about it.  It was really encouraging to see that these guys had our backs in prayer.

So the next day we got in to Seattle at 8am and Brandon’s dad took us to the hospital.

to be continued…

Creme de Broccoli

If you were the luckiest human on earth, an invited guest at a faerie feast, the wee folk would almost certainly offer you dishes just like you’ll find at Omar’s Rawtopia– right down to the edible flower petals sprinkled on top! Omar’s food is like a concentrated garden on your plate, bursting with color, texture, and flavor.  Everything from the drinks to the dessert is organic and raw, and as an added benefit, it’s naturally gluten-free and vegan! Omar’s Rawtopia, formerly known as Omar’s Living Cuisine, is located right in the heart of Sugarhouse (ok, immediately South of the hole in the ground where the heart used to be.)

Omar’s is our favorite restaurant: I’m admitting my bias right up front.  We try to go there every month or so as a couple.  It isn’t cheap, at about $15 for a main course, $3.50 for a drink, and $7/$8 for dessert, but no food could be more worth the price! I first met Omar Abou-Ismail about six years ago, when his restaurant was still fairly new.  I was still a meat-eater at the time, and highly skeptical of eating raw vegetables, but he took the time to talk to me about his passion for food and about the energy found in plants.  He has the aura of a man who has found his calling and is intent on changing the world with his work.  When Omar lists “love” as an ingredient in every dish, he’s absolutely sincere about it.  He’s willing to share that love with everyone he meets: while we ate today, he spent some time talking with two women at a nearby table about the reasons for eating raw food.  He called raw food a “beautiful journey”; one which is beautiful because it is challenging.

Mango Smoothie & Chocolate Goji

Raw food is a true art. Of course, fresh produce such as berries, cabbage, onions, and avocado are raw foods, and you’ll find those in the food here, but what’s really impressive is the variety of textures produced by soaking raw nuts overnight to soften them, then blending them into creamy hummus; or sprouting seeds for days; or dehydrating combinations of nuts, seeds and fruits into crisp crackers or a crunchy cheese-tasting topping.  The work and, yes, love, that goes into Omar’s food is incredible.  I always leave feeling like I’ve been given a beautiful, lovingly-crafted gift, which, of course, I have.

Today we started off with Chocolate Goji, a cool, creamy drink containing “chocolate, goji berries, baby coconut, almonds, agave nectar, and love.”  We also had a Mango Smoothie topped with the Chocolate Goji.  Both of these were the half-glass size.  The full glass, if I recall, is closer to pint-size.  There’s an interesting graininess in raw chocolate drinks, similar to the graininess of a pear.  The drinks look almost like pudding in the photo, but they’re more like thin but flavorful shakes.

After the drinks, we split the Creme de Broccoli Soup, an appetizer described as a “creamy seasoned broccoli almond soup, topped with onions, bell peppers, avocado, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, sprinkled with Rawtopia’s seed cheese, and love.”  It came in a charming heart-shaped bowl!  (See the top picture above.)  From the velvety texture of the pale green soup, I would have guessed it was broccoli and avocado, rather than almond.  In any case, generous chunks of avocado, along with diced tomato and other veggies are heaped on top, and the tangy cheese contrasts nicely with the smooth, mild soup.

Hummus Pizza

The Hummus Pizza is one of our recurring favorites.  A tip for first-time visitors: don’t expect the pizza to taste like any pizza you’ve had before, or the pasta like pasta, etc.  This isn’t the place to find “vegan food you’d never guess was vegan.”  For starters, nothing’s hot here, not even the soup, and there are no grains.  Keep an open mind and enjoy the new experience.  What you’ll get is a dish filled with flavor. This “pizza” starts with a crisp, thin crust made of flax, sprouted buckwheat, and apple.  It’s almost like a delicious and somewhat chewy flatbread cracker.  The crust is spread with plenty of rich almond hummus, and then piled with veggies like cucumber, kale, avocado, celery, cabbage, red onion, playful-looking sprouts, and salty dried olives.  The “cheese” on top is the crunchy seed grain topping that comes on the soup as well.  I want to buy this stuff by the barrel and sprinkle it on everything!  The overall effect is that of densely-packed flavor with a variety of textures in every bite.

Sadly, we didn’t have room for dessert, which isn’t Omar’s fault: his food never gives you that “I just ate too much” feeling – it actually energizes you! But we munched on snacks too late last night, so we had to skip what is usually the highlight of our visit: either a Fruit and Chocolate Moo (chocolate ice cream with pieces of fresh fruit, drizzled with fruit syrup and sprinkled with fresh coconut and cocoa bits!) or a slice of the Chocolate Fruit Creme Pie (like a pudding in a sweet and crumbly crust, again accented with the fruit sauce and toppings.)  If after reading this, you’re still hesitant about raw foods, just stop by Omar’s Rawtopia for dessert.  You’re likely to become hooked.  Before you know it, you’ll be trying the Spicy Curried Seaweed Roll - vegan, riceless sushi with curry dipping sauce!

Michael Lee Jones

Tara Brennan murder
Man convicted in murder of Salt Lake woman
Drug dealer convicted in 2004 slaying
Jones found guilty in 2004 Murder case
Addict is guilty of Utahn’s murder

It is with great excitement that the iconic cover of ‘Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam’ (Brookings, 2010) has just been released.  Here is a short synopsis of the book from the Journey blog for those who are not yet familiar with the nature of the study.  

I have also included the trailer for the Journey into America documentary

The book should be launching sometime in March…

The most comprehensive study ever done on the American Muslim community, ‘Journey into America’ explores and documents how Muslims are fitting into U.S. society, seeking to place the Muslim experience in the U.S. within the larger context of American identity.  In doing so, it is a major contribution to the study of American history and culture.

Renowned scholar Akbar Ahmed and his team of young researchers traveled through over seventy-five cities across the United States—from New York City to Salt Lake City; from Las Vegas to Miami; from large enclaves such as Dearborn, Michigan, to small towns like Arab, Alabama. They visited over one hundred mosques and visited homes and schools to discover what Muslims are thinking, what they are reading, and how they are living every day in America.

Ahmed illuminates unexplored Muslim-American communities through his pursuit of challenging questions: Can we expect an increase in homegrown terrorism? How do American Muslims of Arab descent differ from those of other origins (e.g. Somali or South Asian)? Why are so many white women converting to Islam? He also delves into the potentially sticky area of relations with other religions. For example, is there truly a deep divide between Muslims and Jews in America? And how well do Muslims get along with other larger religious groups, such as Mormons in Utah?

Much like Ahmed’s widely hailed ‘Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization’ (Brookings, 2007), ‘Journey into America’ is equal parts anthropological research, listening tour, and travelogue. Whereas the previous book took the reader into homes, schools, mosques, and public places in heavily Muslim nations, ‘Journey into America’ takes us into the heart of America’s Muslim communities in America. It is absolutely essential reading for anyone trying to make sense of America today, especially its Muslim population—the challenges it faces, the challenges it poses, and its prospects for the future.

When I was in Salt Lake City Back in December I went to visit the giant mormon temple. I walked though this giant Nativity scene. It was a big as a foodball field, Complete with religious music blasting from speakers everywhere.

Two times a year the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, is transformed from a typical convention center to the mecca for everything Outdoors.  That’s is correct the Outdoor Retailer Show is like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude on Steroids. (Ok, I admit it . . .  that is a terrible analogy.)

This show was really a lot of fun.  It was really great to walk around and just look at the incredible displays from so many of my favorite outdoor brands:  Marmot, PrAna, Arcteryx, Evolv and Camelback.  These companies had some of my favorite booths.  The time, money and dedication is remarkable.   It was also just fun to meet and interact with the people behind these great brands that you like so much.  Now granted, it was disapointing to see that some of the people were total db’s, but then some were really chill.

Another fun aspect I enjoyed was meeting people and then some would immediately look down several times at your chest to see if you were someone “important” from your badge.  It was really funny . . . I caught myself wanting to say, “Hey dude, eyes up here!”  After about an hour into my first day, I realized it would be more effective to just turn my badge around and then they would just have to talk to me regardless of my “position” or “company.”  Once again the people who would talk to you regardless of your position in life where refreshing, but somewhat few and far between.  If most these people believe in Karma . . . they’d better watch out!

The best part of the show is towards the end of the week (Late Saturday and Sunday.) Bring plenty of cash and just walk around.  The big brands will start selling off gear that they don’t want to ship back.  You can get some pretty sweet deals for cheap.  For example, I got a pair of climbing shoes that retail for $145 dollars for a mere $40 (They are the Evolv Pontas, the same one Chris Sharma wears . . . maybe some of his skillz will transfer to me.) Some don’t sell stuff, but you can always ask for Pro Deal cards and then get industry discounts on the gear you love.

The OR shows is not open to the public show, but with some creativity and persistence you should be able to figure a way in . . . I did . . . thanks Marie and Dave!

Iceburn Collective (Double Trio)
Speed of Light/Voice of Thunder
(Iceburn Records, 1999)

1. Blow Your Top (2:31)
2. Speed Of Light (3:27)
3. Search For Strength (2:41)
4. Screaming Lung (4:31)
5. Breathe (4:15)
6. Circle (3:38)
7. Rite Of Ascension (3:05)
8. Double Demon (3:54)
9. Birds of prey (3:25)
10. Space (Universal) (6:22)
11. Sonic Hammer (4:59)
12. Voice of thunder (3:07)
13. Speed of darkness (2:04)
14. Cosmic Motion (4:25)
15. Shadow Realm (3:56)
16. Ritualized Torture By Women (3:37)
17. painsticks (2:16)
18. Spirit Ascend (1:57)
19. Ritual Silence (1:57)
20. Pure Fire (1:56)
21. Death Ritual (2:00)
22. Peace (3:06)
23. Fuck ‘em (0:05)

This one is noisy as hell. It’s a very obvious homage to Ornette Coleman’s “Free Jazz” album. The band is listed as a double trio and the sound is quite similar, accept for having one long song, here there are 23 separate pieces.

I got one of these CD’s because i worked at Kinko’s with the Tenor Sax player Aaron Hansen. He had the covers printed locally and when they came in complete he gave me one. Yes, the cover has Klingon writing on it.

listen

PHOTO BY RILEY JENSEN - Crosby Jensen is all smiles as his father Kirk attend the signing day of his son's declaration to play for Mt. SAC.

Special Note: The Jensen brothers, Crosby and Riley said there were no violations or rule-breaking of any kind regarding the introductions and arrangements of the schools meeting with the family.

I talked with Jensen hours after the first story broke about his declaration to play for Mt. SAC and engaged in a conversation about him, his past, his present and his future:

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
(Right-click and Open Link in New Tab)

Wednesday February 3rd, 2010 – Chicago, IL/Milwaukee, WI

I’m in a splendiferistic place in my head right now and I never want to leave. Things are falling into place in many areas and I can feel that I’m in the prime of my life. That might end before the weekend, or last for thirty years. Either way, I‘m feeling at peace TODAY.

Maybe this is the manic part of manic depression, but I don’t feel that way. I’ve had ups and downs my whole life, but this is different. There is just an inner energy that is pulsing through me that is completely engulfing me in a feeling of confidence, direction and dare I say it – love. That’s a powerful word, but that’s how I’m describing what I’m feeling.

What really put me in a good frame of mind this morning was getting an email from my web guy for the Uranus website Mark Huelskamp. We’ve been going back and forth for a couple of weeks now, and he’s taken control of this project from my friend Shelley who’d been helping me before. Shelley has been great, but I needed to take it to a higher level.

Shelley has a job and family and was doing it to help me as a friend. I totally appreciate that, but if I’m going to make a dream happen, I have to dive in all the way. Mark does it for a living, and he’s the brother in law of my comedian friend Jim McHugh. I don’t trust a lot of people, but Jim I do and he’s the one who set us up. Today I was thrilled he did.

Mark sent me about 2000 different fonts to look at and a few mockup website templates and we went back and forth on it for a while. Today he sent me the final product and it hit me right between the eyes. He nailed it and I just about started crying. It was exactly what I wanted. It has great eye appeal and is what I had pictured all along. It lit up my being.

This whole project has taken a lot longer than I expected and cost a lot more money that I don’t have to pay for things I didn’t want to buy. I first thought of it all the way back on September 1st, 2007 at the Baymont Inn in Salt Lake City. It’s taken over two years to get it this far, and I still haven’t sold the first product yet. That being said, I know it’ll work.

I’ve experimented a little with the concept and have gotten an overwhelmingly positive response from everyone who has seen it. Uranus is funny. Period. It always has been, and I don’t care if they try to change the pronunciation for the kids today. It’s a giant butt joke and there are endless ways to get to it. Now it’s my job to find as many of them as I can.

I didn’t invent Uranus jokes, but I’m going to claim them for my own. David Letterman didn’t invent the top ten list, but he made that his own. He claimed it, and it became what most people know his show for. Good for him, a trademark is not easy to acquire. It’s not something someone sits down with a pen and pad and makes up. It just kind of happens.

That’s how this idea came about. I was in the shower and it hit me out of nowhere but I was smart enough to listen and get out and start writing it down. Ideas kept flowing and I kept writing, and I still have all those notes today. I just haven’t done as much with them as I should have, and I wish I knew why. I’ve been very inconsistent, but not anymore.

Looking at that website template sent electricity through my veins. I actually got to SEE it with my own eyes, and I knew right there I was going to make it happen. I have no idea how I’m going to do it, and/or why I’m so confident, but I just know. It’s a great feeling.

I’ve got a ton of work ahead of me and I’m sure there will be crisis situations and every problem I never expected, but I’m not worried about any of that. I’m GOING to do this, if for no other reason than because it’s fun. I thought of it, I like it, and I’m doing it. Period.

That’s totally what life is all about, or at least I think it should be. Whether I ever make a nickel or not, it’s already been a success. It’s made a ton of people laugh who’ve heard of it and nothing else. I had a Uranus bumper sticker on the car I wrecked and all kinds of people beeped and gave me a thumbs up and even took pictures of it with a cell phone.

What I have to do is create an entire world around Uranus. See? That’s funny just to say out loud. Try it. And guess what? I’m the KING! How cool is that? What does a King Of Uranus exactly do? I haven’t figured that out yet. Why is there a King? Beats me. What’s so great is that nobody else knows either. I get to make it up and decide on all of it. Cool!

I guess I’m getting the chance to be a kid I never got when I was that age. There was all that ugliness and dysfunction going on that I had to grow up before I got a chance to blow all this juvenile poo out of my system when I was nine like I should have. It’s still in there all these years later, and it’s taken root in my soul. I’m having fun just thinking about this.

I had lunch in Chicago today with Marc Schultz. He saw how excited I was, and he said he’s never seen me so giddy about anything, even being on The Late Late Show last year. I have to admit, he’s right. This is THE most fun I’ve ever had in my life, and it isn’t even an actual entity yet. It’s getting there, and today was a big step. But, it’s still not a reality.

I drove up to Milwaukee to have dinner with my cousin Brett. We don’t get time to just sit and talk so tonight was a treat. He saw how much I was glowing and I tried to figure it all out with him. He’s known me his whole life, and has seen the ups and downs. He’s an amazingly creative guy and we’re on a similar wavelength. He sees what I’m trying to do.

The one thing we agreed on was that anger toward the past and especially our fathers is not the answer, and never was. Maybe that’s what’s gone from my life and I’m finally in a position to enjoy the good things of life rather than be consumed by bitterness as I was for a lot of years. I missed out on a lot of good things, but I don’t feel I’m missing them now.

We had a Chinese buffet and it was delicious. Then we went to Leon’s and had sundaes and they were even better. I am realizing that the journey IS the happiness, and chasing is where the fun and adventure in any project is. I’ve now got the best chase I’ve ever had!

I’ve still got bills and rent and troubles and clutter and everything I had before I had my revelation today or whatever it was. The thing is, I don’t care about any of those things at all. I care about bringing this concept to life. My creative energy has an outlet in Uranus!

The crown jewel in long-distance Amtrak travel is the California Zephyr (also called “The Silver Lady”), which runs from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, crossing both the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas in the process.   I picked up the Zephyr at Denver’s historic Union Station, which opened in 1881.

Unfortunately, the Zephyr wouldn’t be traveling through the Rockies on this trip because the tracks through the mountains were being repaired.  Instead the train traveled north through Wyoming, entering Salt Lake City from the east and then resuming it’s normal course.  The neat thing about this route is that at least some of the section through Wyoming uses the original Union Pacific tracks that formed the eastern leg of the First Transcontinental Railroad.  We were going to be spending a good stretch of time on some deeply historical rails.

One of the most interesting things about riding trains is the fact that they always travel through the metaphorical backyards of cities,  a view that reveals what’s going on behind the facades that have been erected with the gazing eye of the automobile in mind.  Here’s a bit from the notebook that I carried with me on the Zephyr:

Leaving Denver we pass long lines of trains filled with scrap metal parked at one of the train yards.  Perhaps going to the recyclers to be melted down so it can take a new shape?  Taking the train reveals unseen routes of production — areas of the U.S. where things are made, scrapped, stored, and moved around, not simply sold as idealized objects that come out of nowhere.  These back trackways also reveal traces of the history of production and the signs of the passing of older economic regimes.  Also, you can see the squat and small housing of workers and the urban poor, located far from the newly manufactured suburban zones that popped up during the housing boom.  These homes are small and minimal, and yet somehow also a rejoinder to the super-sized plainness that everyone seems to be buying into these days.

Just passed some sort of refinery plant, all silver stacks and pipes.  And then a scrapyard full of junk metal, all in heaps, being stirred around by someone driving a backhoe.  In fact, the five piles of metal each have their own individual backhoe operator and the whole think kind of ends up looking like deep-sea lobsters or crabs, clawing through piles of food.  Then the train passes a steelworks where giant pipes are being welded together, and then a gravel yard heaped with mountains of pebbles.

It’s a bit unfortunate, really — we just passed through Greeley, Colorado, and out into farmland, but the haze from the Southern California wildfires is so thick that it’s impossible to see the horizon.  This must be what the so-called “yellow season” in Korea is like.  As my grandmother quipped about the fires when we first began hearing about them, “It’s a wonder they have any plants at all left to burn down there.”

10:00 a.m. — Not sure if we’re still in Colorado, or in Wyoming.  Out the window there are low hills and golden prairies, some scrub, and groups of buffalo off to the right.

12:00 p.m. — This part of Wyoming truly is land that is empty of all people.  We’ve been riding the train for hours, and there’s virtually no sign of inhabitation.  Many of the towns that we do pass through have fewer than 100 buildings.  Crispian, a fellow passenger, says, “You know how you know it’s actually a town?  It’s got a water tower.”  The Wyoming prairies are full of color.  Utterly beautiful.  Clouds too, forming a kind of vapor landscape that acts as a compliment to the actual landscape.

3:00 — The layered sandstone mesas in Wyoming (or are we in Utah now?) are absolutely beautiful.  Their pink and grey striation combines with the blue sky and the cotton clouds so that it feels strangely like traveling through one of Wayne Thiebaud’s pastel-hued cake paintings.

Now On Tour 2/3 – 3/11/2010

Key Arena – Seattle, WA
Rose Garden – Portland, OR
Oracle Arena – Oakland, CA
HP Pavilion – San Jose, CA
EnergySolutions Arena – Salt Lake City, UT
Pepsi Center – Denver, CO
Ford Center – Oklahoma City, OK
Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO
INTRUST Bank Arena – Wichita, KS
HSBC Arena – Buffalo, NY
Times Union Center – Albany, NY

Wonder what you would find if you frisked the Republican National Committee meetings in Hawaii last week?

Answer: They decided on four possible locations to host the 2012 RNC Convention.

Although the next batch of presidential campaigns won’t begin for over year, it is never too early to plan ahead. The National Journal’s Hotline reports:

The RNC has narrowed its search for a ‘12 convention location to 4 cities, several party sources tell Hotline OnCall.

In a vote at the Winter meetings in Honolulu late last week, the party narrowed its search to Salt Lake City, Tampa, Phoenix and Houston.

The RNC’s site selection committee, headed by MI committeewoman Holly Hughes, will visit each of the 4 cities later this year to go over logistics, examine hotel and conference capacity and the facility for the convention itself. An RNC spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

Each city has its perks for the GOP:

[...] Tampa and Phoenix sit in swing states, while TX has an exploding Hispanic population — a demographic GOPers are keen to attract after they appear to be slipping toward Dems.

And Salt Lake City would be the first inner-mountain West city for a GOP convention. Pres. Obama won NV, CO and NM in ‘08, 3 states the GOP must win to reclaim the WH.

Choose wisely Republican National Committee.

Let Frisk A Liberal know what you think:

None of them have ever been found!

Here’s the latest in our continuing “the Winter Olympics is sort of a bit shit” series, Steven Bradbury winning gold in the short-track speed skating during the 2002 Games at Salt Lake City:

There’s something pleasingly un-Australian about the way Bradbury glides apologetically over the line for victory. He should feel sheepish: exactly the same thing happened in the semi-final. It’s definitely fun, but in a slapstick Saturday night primetime way. You can’t help feeling that custard and Stuart Hall should be involved somehow, or at least Bobby Davro in a fat suit.

I shouldn’t mock: it would take me about four days to complete the distance. There’s only so much momentum you can build up if you aren’t able to take your hands off the side of the rink.

Diana DeRubertis of Planetizen brings us this story on some of the triumphs and follies of light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT).  BRT is cheaper and easier to implement than light rail, but it lacks the “tech-sexiness” of light rail.  Also, many municipalities, whether implementing light rail or BRT, have a habit of putting in one or two lines instead of doing a comprehensive system.  Salt Lake is a perfect example, although TRAX is becoming much more comprehensive.  DeRubertis calls these minimal efforts “light rail lite,” and argues that experts in the field say that even BRT needs separated “quickways” to become as efficient as other systems throughout the world.  There is also the problem of dropping rail stops in unwalkable areas.  The vast majority of Salt Lake’s TRAX stations are in sprawling suburban areas, although many of those areas have developed TOD zones around the stations in an effort to make them more dense.  However, municipalities that are afraid of density, such as Sandy, UT, have fought exactly the type of development that makes TOD work.  It’s hard to convince suburban municipalities that they need to change their development pattern to take advantage of the tools of the 21st century.  BRT, because it can use existing infrastructure, costs less per vehicle, and can leave dedicated “quickways” to reach outlying areas, is generally better suited for sprawl or sprawl-conversion, but people have questions about it.  People often still see a bus, which they think of as noisy, dirty, and slow, whereas rail is fast, clean and tech-sexy.  The author cites the example of Toronto, which actually diverted funds from freeway projects to fund rail, and has had overwhelming success with it.  So even though BRT may be the easier route, it may be better for some municipalities to make the leap right to light rail.  Either way, transit systems need to be comprehensive.

If you know SLC, our query this week is for you too!

Dear Ask Mormon Girl:

My sister, a 50-something non-Mormon single woman, has just recently moved to SLC for a job? How does she make new friends her age?  And I mean just friends — people to hang out with so she’s not so lonely.  She’s having a hard time because so many people her age in SLC are Mormons with families who don’t need new friends and are pretty set in their ways.  (And she definitely doesn’t want to be the subject of missionary work!)  And everyone she works with is much younger than she is.  She’s feeling very much the stranger in a strange land.

Sincerely,

Christina in Ohio

Dear Christina in Ohio (and big hello to Christina’s sister in SLC):

Salt Lake City is a company town.  Sure, it has all the vital features of a twenty-first century eco-vegan-tattoo-alterna-mountain-paradise.   But strip away the hemp lip balm and the yoga mats, and what stands beneath it all is an urban plan gridded out and still supervised by Brigham Young Himself.

The social ramifications of the Mormon origins of Salt Lake City are profound.  It’s possible to experience the city as two parallel universes, each pretending the other does not exist.

There are, on the one hand, the Mo’s-with-families-content-unto-themselves, many of whom may spend 10 – 20 hours a week on their Church attendance, activities, and volunteering.  For these folks, it’s true, Mormonism can provide a satisfyingly complete social environment, and little time or space for outsiders.

Then, on the other hand, you have the heck-no-we-ain’t-Mo’s, many of whom would like to pretend that Salt Lake is just Boulder-with-annoying- liquor-laws-and-God-issues.  Elite members of this group may pretend not to notice the Mormonism of SLC at all, dedicating incredible psychic resources to barricading themselves against the obvious.  Some strive to perform their non-Mormonness as dramatically as possible by, say, descanting loud and long on their alterna-politics while brandishing multi-piercings and a gourmet coffee.  And in the dive bars of Salt Lake City, you will find the most curious local subset of the “heck-no-we-ain’t-Mo” set:  the self-declared “used-to-be Mo’s,” who plunge themselves and innocent bystanders into drunken discourses on the darkest aspects of Mormon history and culture.  Please be gentle with them.  Their world is a complicated one.

Meeting quality people when you’re a single professional woman over 50 is no cakewalk any place.  My hunch about dealing with the added challenge of living and socializing in SLC depends on one’s ability to walk comfortably in, out, and between its parallel universes without losing a sense of equanimity.

To that end, I suggest that your sister make intellectual friends with the fact she’s living in an utterly unique American geo-political environ, the urban legacy of a powerful nineteenth-century social movement.  Make friends with its Mormon specificity and all the good things it brings:  excellent white bread, for example (try Grandma Sycamore’s), or exquisitely wide tree-lined avenues, or local folk art, or the Beehive Tea Room.  Read up a bit, and I don’t mean Jon Krakauer (more on him another time).  Start with Terry Tempest Williams’s Refuge.  Or, more briefly, this fascinating lefty take on SLC politics.

Then, I suggest that she get outside.  Mormons have a genius for real estate.  Just so happened Brigham Young established the heart of Mormon civilization in a gorgeous wilderness, with world-class alpine slopes and meadows to the east and an infinite matrix of red sandstone slot canyons to the south.  If she heads over to REI and signs up for a couple of classes (snowshoeing is the new skiing), or goes on an outing with the Sierra Club, she’ll meet people of all ages who get outside, and that, in my experience, is one of the best ways to keep your balance, even in city as divided as SLC.

A few other suggestions for regaining and retaining a sense of equanimity:  Park City.  The Salt Lake Film Society. King’s English Bookshop.   And don’t forget the Jewish Community Center, which has a gorgeous health club and book groups open to the community.  If your sister feels like a stranger in a strange land, she could probably learn a thing or two from the Jews, who a bit about making friends and keeping a sense of humor.

Thanks for writing, Christina.  Readers, many of you know SLC better than I do.  What advice do you have?  Can you help Christina’s sister?

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Check out these chubby little doves that Jeanette made! They are so sweet all in a row. These tiny treasures are speedy and simple to make if you know how to needle felt. If you would like to learn, you are in luck! We have a class on Friday, February 26th from 3:00-5:00. You come this one time and leave with you own teeny item of your choice completed. You can make an animal or flower or anything you can dream up! Call the shop to sign up, this class is almost full: 801-484-5890.