City Weekly June 1, 2023

Cover Story

PRIDE ISSUE 2023

City Weekly celebrates Utah’s LGBTQ+ community and the parties, parades and people who are unapologetically proud.

Cover design by Lakyn Lou 19

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Diploma Milling

There is a grading system being used in several Utah school districts that needs the public’s attention. Proficiency Based Learning, or PBL, is a grading system designed to increase graduation rates without increasing student learning.

The districts will tell you that it was adopted because teachers were thoughtlessly assigning grades. I attended several trainings in which teachers were accused of not knowing the difference between an A, C and F, or giving so much extra credit

for Diet Cokes and tissues that students could go from an F to an A in minutes.

I have been teaching for more than 20 years, and such teachers and occurrences are rare. Obviously, some teachers are better than others. We have all had bad teachers. The difference here is that an entire grading system was changed based on the belief that most teachers were assigning grades arbitrarily, when really it was the districts’ agenda to raise graduation rates without increasing student learning.

PBL changes the A-F grading system to a 1-4 system. Four indicates that a student is highly proficient in a content area, while 1 means they need substantial improvement. There are no zeros, unless an assessment is missing. There is no late work, only one or two deadlines a term, and a student is given multiple opportunities to re-take all assessments. Homework is highly discouraged.

PBL proponents say that it removes “busy work” from the classroom, it pro-

motes mastery through retakes, and grades are based on assessments not attendance. This system, however, is hurting students. PBL teaches students that showing up is not important, deadlines are not real, preparedness is overrated, and having a work ethic is for losers. Schools are using PBL to graduate students who are not college or career ready.

There are nuances to the PBL problem that are too complicated to address here. But the truth is that half of my students are absent most of the time, but 90% of my students have at least a D-. This problem needs attention.

Parents need to question how PBL is affecting learning. The public needs to question what type of citizens this system is producing. The districts need to stop hyper-focusing on graduation rates and start focusing on how many students can read and write on grade level.

I and other educators have voiced our concerns to administrations and par-

ents with very little success being heard. I know in our world of media frenzies over drag queens holding read-a-thons and teachers brainwashing students with woke curriculums, this complaint is but a whisper in the media typhoon.

No community is going to complain about high graduation rates. No parent is going to complain about their kid passing English with 12 absences. No college is going to complain about collecting tuition from students who never show up to class. But I and other teachers are complaining because PBL is hurting kids, AND we don’t have a voice.

If you have kids in the public education system, question your administration and district about proficiency based learning.

MARY ANN WARD Salt Lake City

Care to sound off on a feature in our pages or about a local concern? Write to comments@ cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE WATER COOLER

Are you for or against the proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola?

Pete Saltas

The gondola is a vanity project meant to appease two privately held resorts with public funds. It gives zero incentive to avoid driving.

Wes Long

It doesn’t seem like it will solve the traffic problem, but will further deface the natural beauty of the landscape. I anticipate a future proposal to expand the roads when this turns out to not alleviate the problem it purports to solve.

Jerre Wroble

Anything that reduces air pollution and congestion in and outside the canyons is worth considering. The cost of the ticket must be affordable for Utahns.

Kelly Boyce

I think it’s stupid and there should simply be more bus routes and dedicated lanes for the buses.

Benjamin Wood

I’m not against the concept, but UDOT’s planning is all wrong. People will still have to drive to LCC, park in the garage and then ride the gondola, which means we’ll have the same traffic bottlenecks. Plus, the refusal to serve trailheads and Oktoberfest is laughable. If we tied into the Trax network instead, skiers could park anywhere along the rail routes.

Proud to Be Here

As we approach another Pride celebration in Salt Lake City—and as we are in the midst of producing our own Pride issue as I write this—I can’t help but recall all the difficulties the LGBTQ+ communities have overcome to reach this point. It’s never been easy—it’s always been hard.

City Weekly is proud to have been witness to and a primary documenter of the challenges that begat this colorful, robust and energized community for so many years.

I’ve been asked why I have supported the gay and lesbian community—because after all, I was born a real man, in the real mining town of Bingham, Utah, where men were real men. As soon as I’m asked that, I readily know that the question has been asked of me by an idiot who chose not to grow up.

Not by a bigot. Bigotry is a learned trait (groomed, perhaps?). That’s different from being an idiot.

So, I usually just give back a simple answer: Yes, I grew up in a mining town, and yes, I heard stories about the behavior of men in miner boarding houses or of other men who ventured into the valley to buy fancy shoes. I also heard the whispered rumors that certain women were not really sisters, nor widows. It was no big deal to me.

The community I grew up in was quite embracing of multi-ethnicities, and the private lives of the citizens were kept primarily private. I just cannot recall, at any point, another human being in Bingham being unkind to another human being (outside of bar fights) and therefore, I’m sorry for the people who ask me that question. I’m glad I didn’t grow up where they did.

Next, I’ll usually ask if they went to school—not to begrudge their education, but because it’s a certain com-

BY JOHN SALTAS @johnsaltas

monality everyone seems to share. I ask if they ever heard another person called a “sissy” or a “tomboy” on a school playground. They always have—always—which begets the next question: “So, you knew in the third grade that a classmate was ‘different.’ Did you still play with them? Oh, you did. That’s nice. Then, why don’t you play with them today? What changed?”

There’s only one thing that could have changed: they themselves. Why did they exchange the joy of a school playground for the bitterness of not allowing their old friends to buy a gay-themed wedding cake? It’s a lifelong mystery to me.

Why did my good buddies in third grade “choose” to grow up to be scorned, cornered, hated, abused, ostracized and beaten? They didn’t. None of them made that “choice.” They were just kids. They are just human beings now, as we all are. The choice is to be a good human or bad, not straight or gay.

These past six or eight years have been especially hard on all minority communities. This month of Pride isn’t about grooming the next generation of LGBTQ+ people but of recognizing that we all have important lives and souls and that life is less meaningful without vibrant connections to one another and of fully belonging to the whole of humanity.

It’s a tough row, however. Some people are quite content with being bigoted and mean. Some are taught that by their parents, some at work and some by religious mentors. Some, though, are violently acting out.

One of this newspaper’s very first stories about the gay community was on the subject of gay bashing. I asked my kids if they knew what that was, and they didn’t, which I took as a good thing. But just over 30 years ago, it wasn’t so easy for gay persons to openly mingle.

Today, most clubs are considered gay friendly. Back

then, however, Salt Lake City had a thriving gay club scene—The Sun Tavern, The Sun Trapp, The Deer Hunter, Puss N Boots, Radio City and others—that kept the gay and lesbian community separate (meaning out of sight) from the masses. Those clubs were often as not in slightly isolated parts of the city.

As such, it was not uncommon for a bunch of rowdy “straight” men to take baseball bats to the windshields of cars parked outside those clubs and bash the windows out. Others brazenly walked up to persons they suspected of being gay and knocked the crap out of them.

Our story was about such behavior and the crimes that arose but were, often as not, unreported to police. The story was a shock in some polite SLC circles, as they’d never heard of such a thing.

A number of local shops began asking for our paper because we told stories no one else would. And of course, a distribution drop-off location or two told us to get our “queer lover” newspapers out of there. At the time, we thought, “Are you kidding? This is a crime story.” Sigh.

The Sun Tavern then resided on west Second South (later destroyed through God’s will by the great tornado of 1999). I personally delivered our papers there for that particular gay bashing story issue and sat down to a beer.

I asked the bartender about the story. He just shrugged and said, “It’s bad, no one should be hurt, but those guys who did that will be my customers in a few years,” going on to explain that on numerous occasions, a customer came to him years later, after coming out as gay, to apologize and ask forgiveness for similar actions.

Then he told me that my beers were a buck-fifty. In that moment, I knew he and I were just two humans trying to get by. It shouldn’t be so hard. But it always is—it always is. CW

Send comments to john@cityweekly.net

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE | @kathybiele

MISS: Can’t Vouch for It

While Utah Republicans celebrate ESAs—the private school voucher aka “educational savings accounts”— all is not well in the real world. So far, eight states have some form of “school choice” on their books, claiming it will help … someone. In Arizona, many of the participating 50,000 students were already enrolled in private schools, accordingto to USA Today. In Florida, one mother took her money to several schools, none of which could enroll her child. And still, she didn’t have enough money for tuition. In rural areas, there is often no choice—other than homeschooling—for a child outside the public system. Private and religious schools can cap the number of students they admit; not so in the public system. Florida claims the vouchers will help bullied, low-income and disabled students, but isn’t that kind of “woke?”

HIT: Slow the Flow

California, Arizona and Nevada have agreed to use less water from the river in the coming years as population growth and climate change are sapping the reserves. The river has dropped by one-third while supporting 40 million people in seven Western states, The Salt Lake Tribune notes. Of course, the agreement was pushed by the Department of Interior, which warned of mandates if something wasn’t done. Beef and dairy production take about half the available water and, of course, low water isn’t good for hydroelectric power. In Utah, recreational opportunities may be lost, and communities like St. George may not be able to meet demands. Food costs will probably rise, too, but in a state that spurns federal mandates, voluntary conservation is absolutely imperative.

MISS: Debt Relief

Utah Senator Mike “my way or the highway” Lee is threatening to use “every procedural tool” to slow down a bill to raise the debt ceiling if it doesn’t include “substantial reforms,” The Hill reports. This comes as a deal is being brokered between the president and House Speaker, which means nothing unless the House and Senate agree. Republicans are determined to stop Biden’s “reckless spending spree,” even if spending levels were set under previous administrations. “Trump’s most enduring legacy could be the historic rise in the national debt,” a Washington Post headline read. Debt or no debt, this argument is about whether to pay bills already due. Arguments over spending should take place in budget talks.

Pride Lake City

By now, we’ve all seen the evidence. Whether it’s from Gallup polling data, Human Rights Campaign reports or random internet lists with dubious methodology—Salt Lake City is one of the most LGBTQ-friendly cities in America.

The Marmalade District—where you’ll appropriately find streets named for stone fruit, harkening back to the original orchards of the valley—gets the most coverage when it comes to identifying the gayest neighborhoods in SLC. However, the Avenues also ranks highly as well.

One has to walk only a few blocks to assemble a colorful collage of brightly painted houses (above photo), pass a rainbow-colored intersection at Third Avenue and K Street, or come across a business with a “Love Is Love” sign hanging out front.

But, where decades ago enclaves of so-called “gayborhoods” might have been confined to a few spots around town, nowadays, it doesn’t seem to be the case. Granted, it’s probably not the most scientific metric, but it’s easy to find Pride flags of all varieties waving proudly year-round in every neighborhood, from the highest elevations of the East Bench down to the westernmost points of Westpointe.

Unfortunately, some symbolic sights I’ve come across have lost their luster. Over the past few years, the crosswalk painted at Salt Lake Community College’s South City Campus on 1700 South and 200 East has slowly faded, was repainted and faded again (photo below), leaving an unsightly amalgamation of confusing color.

More personally, there was a tree outside a home on 1500 East and Bryan Avenue that served as an annual reminder of Pride Month for me. The trunk was re-wrapped each June with colorful wire mesh ever since I moved into the neighborhood over a decade ago. It’s gone unadorned the past few years—I presume the owners have since moved—but even now, every time I walk by, I still think about it.

Pride Month and all of its symbols will come and go in SLC this year, but there will invariably be lasting effects on both individuals and the community that far outreach the month-long festivities. That’s its real legacy. CW

The historic homes of The Avenues neighborhood span the full range of rainbow colors.

A faded rainbox crosswalk at Salt Lake Community

Disasterpiece Theater

The

BY BILL FROST comments@cityweekly.net

The world’s a disaster—so where are all the great disaster movies? The 2000s have been a mediocre, “is Pepsi OK?” period for catastrophe cinema: Geostorm, Moonfall, 2012, San Andreas, like 14 Sharknados—go home, 21st century, you’re not drunk enough

The golden age of summer tentpole disaster movies was obviously the ’90s, and here are seven of the decade’s best-ish to stream.

Daylight (1996; Tubi): A toxic waste truck explosion traps a demographically acceptable group of survivors in a New York tunnel, and it’s up to an ex-EMS chief (Sylvester Stallone) and, of course, a playwright (Amy Brennemen) to get them out. Fire, water, a collapsing tunnel, Stallone attempting to pronounce “hypothermia,” a respectable body count—Daylight has it all. And really, any movie that kills off Viggo Mortensen halfway through is

doing something right.

Twister (1996; AMC+): Storm-chasing meteorologists Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill (Bill Paxton) work to launch a tornado research device (named “Dorothy”—get it?) during an Oklahoma twister outbreak. You might remember this movie for its then-spectacular special F/X (including those flying cows) and still-baffling push to make Hunt an action star, but don’t forget that Twister also marked the last gasp of Van Hagar with their cringetastic (and therefore action-flick perfect) theme song.

Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996; Crackle, Tubi, Pluto TV): Set in the distant future of 2007, a pair of cops (Christopher Lambert and Natasha Henstridge) track a superhuman mutant in the sewers of Boston. Complicating matters, the city has been quarantined and walled-off from the rest of the country because that mutant has brought a deadly virus with him from Europe. Adrenalin: Fear the Rush is Contagion meets Escape From New York meets C.H.U.D. bloated on Sam Adams lah-gah.

Dante’s Peak (1997; Starz): Dante’s Peak was first of two volcano disaster epics released in 1997, this one starring Pierce Brosnan as a volcanologist whose fiancée was killed by an eruption in Columbia (traumatic foreshadowing). Years later, he’s investigating a potential volcanic eruption in the small Washington town of Dante’s Peak (spoiler: it erupts). Brosnan runs about spouting classic action-movie lines like “That … is a pyrotastic cloud”

while ’splodey mountain does its thing. Big, grey fun.

Volcano (1997; Starz): When a volcano forms in the La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles and lava begins flowing through the streets, it’s up to an emergency management officer (Tommy Lee Jones in paycheck-collecting mode) and a geologist (an especially feisty Anne Heche) to save the city. The best part? They have to demolish at least one eyesore condominium to do it. Volcano is flashier and more proudly stupid than Dante’s Peak , which is so on-brand for L.A.

Deep Impact (1998; YouTube): The most unbelievable part of Deep Impact is the idea of an MSNBC journalist (Téa Leoni) breaking any kind of story, much less one of a massive comet headed directly for Earth.

The best bet to avoid this extinction-level event is to blow up the comet, which a joint US/Russia nuclear space mission effs up spectacularly—buh-bye, East Coast. Fun fact: MSNBC participated in Deep Impact because CNN refused on journalistic principle. Times really have changed.

Hard Rain (1998; Pluto TV): During a Hard Rain that has caused the town to be evacuated, armored truck drivers Tom (Christian Slater) and Charlie (Ed Asner) are ambushed by Morgan Freeman, who’s also in most of the above movies, as well. Meanwhile, the town’s dam has opened, the corrupt local sheriff (Randy Quaid) and his goons are coming for the armored truck money, and only Tom and his ThinlyWritten Eyecandy Costar (Minnie Driver) to stop them. Suck it, Hurricane Heist CW

1990s were the golden age of the disaster movie—here are some of the best/worst.

Sylvester Stallone and Amy Brennemen in Daylight

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

City Weekly Pride Pageant

You only need to have been paying attention to national news literally at all to know that drag as an artform has been under attack—like so much in American queer life—in state legislatures and in the conservative media. But also like so much in American queer life, drag just keeps moving forward with a sense of joy and self-acceptance. In such an environment, City Weekly is more than proud to support that creative form with the annual Pride Pageant.

Local nonbinary drag artist Sequoia hosts the evening, which finds judges including Madazon CanCan and M’Lady Wood evaluating the skills of eight gifted aspiring royalty: Mari Cona, Kory Edgewood, Eva Chanel Stevens, Lady Façade, Nancy Raygun, Sophia Azul, Camille Leon and Cherry Poppins. The winner receives a $1000 grand prize (sponsored by Utah Pride Center), in addition to a $1200 summer residency with Quorum of the Queens. DJ Shede provides the beats for our performers, and the evening kicks off with a performance by Jax Creative aerialists. It’s the kind of evening where “fabulous” doesn’t even do full justice to the entertainment talents on display, and a chance to show all the love and support for these artists that SLC can muster.

The 12th annual City Weekly Pride Pageant sets up shop at Metro Music Hall (615 W. 100 South) on Thursday, June 1—doors 8 p.m., showtime 9 p.m.—as a kickoff to Salt Lake City’s Pride Weekend activities (see p.? for more). Tickets are $15 advance, $20 day of show; visit cwstore.cityweekly.net/EventMicroSite/12279 for tickets and additional event information. (Scott Renshaw)

COURTESY PHOTO

City Weekly Pride Pageant contestant Camille Leon

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Utah Asian Festival

While Utahns of all backgrounds, ethnicities and national origins enjoy attending the state’s many summer cultural festivals, it can be easy to forget the real human stories behind why those festivals—and the cultures they celebrate—are here. For those who identify as representing one of the 40+ different Asian ethnic groups in the state, the Utah Asian Festival is in part a reminder of the struggle and sacrifice that went into not just creating the festival itself, but getting to America in the first place.

“This celebration is important to us,” writes festival co-chair Gechlang Ear, “because we believe in the Utah that isn’t celebrated enough—the Utah that is home to over 60,000 asylum-seekers and thousands more like myself, who have come from faraway lands but take pride in calling this place our refuge.”

Now in its 46th year, the Utah Asian Festival continues to celebrate the Asian diaspora in Utah. The all-day event features more than 70 vendor booths of authentic crafts and merchandise, plus food representing the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian and Thai traditions along with many more. Two stages offer chances to enjoy music, dance and other live performances including traditional Japanese instrumental, Chinese lion dance (pictured), KPOP dance and martial arts.

The 2023 Utah Asian Festival visits the Utah State Fairpark (155 N. 1000 West) on Saturday, June 3, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with easy accessibility via the Trax Green Line, which will be free with a downloadable free event ticket. Visit utahasianfestival.org for tickets and additional event information. (SR)

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Holi Festival of Colors SLC

It may seem like an unusual mash-up at first: day-long festivities featuring Bollypop, EDM, hip hop, mantra bands and yoga all as part of a singular celebration. Then again, the family-friendly Festival of Colors is an event that’s clearly out of the ordinary.

It’s touted as “North America’s Greatest Chant & Dance Party,” and as such, it features an array of activities, such as interactive Bollywood and Bhakti dance performances, various deejays, yoga classes and cruelty-free cuisine, along with crafts, color throws and mantra bands allowing all manner of individual expression.

It’s also a chance to put aside stereotypes, make new cultural connections and learn about the way India fostered spirituality sourced from the philosophy gleaned from Eastern religion. The chances of actually visiting that fabled nation may be slim for some of us, but credit this fantastic festival with providing a glimpse into a country that’s captivated the world for centuries. So while Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama had to circle the Cape of Good Hope to reach India in 1498, Festival of Colors makes a current encounter far easier to navigate.

Festival of Colors takes place at Krishna Temple Salt Lake City (965 E. 3370 South) on Saturday, June 3 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tickets are $7 pre-registration. $10 admission on day of festival; advance VIP admission is $25 plus $1.75 service fee, and includes five bags of colors, one hot five-course meal at Krishna’s Cuisine Food Trailer, plus special access to dancing on stage with the artists. Kids 12 and under free. Visit festivalofcolorsusa.ticketspice.com/festival-of-colors-slc-2023.

(Lee Zimmerman)

COURTESY PHOTO

We share one world. Let’s make it a good one.

BY GEORGE B. SEVERSON | PRIDE ISSUE GUEST EDITOR | comments@cityweekly.net

Happy Pride Month, 2023! This June, Utah and communities around the nation are gathering for festivals, rallies and special events celebrating inclusivity, civility and equality. Members of the LGBTQ+ community—along with our allies, family, friends and those who are not yet ready to live out loud—are coming together in a safe space and solidarity to celebrate our pride, our shared values and our community spirit.

We also recognize and honor those who came before us—the pioneers of our community, who delivered us to where we proudly and unapologetically stand today. Every person has a unique journey and story. In this Pride edition of Salt Lake City Weekly, we’ll read about some of those stories describing the challenges, the triumphs and yes, the sorrow and pain felt by many along the way.

During Pride Month, it’s important to acknowledge that although every person is unique, we also share many values. It’s in this common space where we must be unapologetic about who we are, show our personal pride and celebrate both our similarities and differences as people—respectfully and without judgment. Despite ongoing challenges, conflict and continued injustices, I believe our community is surviving and thriving because of our strong commitment to see and hear one another for who we all are.

We share one world. Together, we have the power to make it a special place.

Pride Month is a wonderful reminder of what is possible. Last year, as I marched down the parade route with my peers representing Utah’s ABC4 and CW30, I noticed that the people walking beside me came together for two important reasons—to celebrate and to support. People with different backgrounds and interests—and in different phases in life as well—were together in solidarity. It made me proud.

For more than 30 years, I’ve been showing up at Pride events around the country. Sometimes, I show up to party and have fun. Sometimes, I show up to be seen, heard and counted—serious business. And sometimes, I show up to simply observe and soak up the fabulous energy and spirit of what’s taking place. My personal Pride journey continues and evolves as I grow older. I suspect so shall yours.

The Utah Pride Center identified a wonderful theme for the 2023 Pride Festival—“Queer Pride is Unapologetic.” I love it. This powerful statement embraces self-value and acceptance. I am who I am. We are who we are. And I/we are damned proud of it.

I recall the rallying cry of, “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it.” It had its time with its “in your face” demand for acceptance, and it served a meaningful purpose. But I think living unapologetically and out loud—showing your true colors—is more powerful. It fosters and cultivates inclusivity and respect, and it builds a productive, collaborative culture—something we all can be proud to be a part of in this world.

Amid all the festivities, parades and celebrations this month, take a moment to observe the community around you. Is it the space you want for yourself and your loved ones? If not, explore what you can do to make it better. If you like what you see, congratulations! Be sure to acknowledge that and celebrate it.

Take a stroll through your neighborhood this month and while doing so, please pay close attention to who and what you see. When I do this, I see my neighbors—some familiar to me and some who are complete strangers.

But what else am I noticing? I notice that the elderly person next door proudly displays her flag, just like I wave mine. I notice the couple holding hands as they walk down the street past our house. My husband and I don’t do that—why not?

I notice who has pets and who has children (I have fur babies). And I wonder who lives in the few houses where I never seem to see people outside in their yard or coming and going. Are they shy? Are they lonely? Should I knock on the door and say, “Hi”? Would I want someone to do that to me?

Overall, I’ve learned that we’re all on a journey—one that is uniquely our own—yet it’s a journey that often has shared experiences and values. I’ve learned more about myself and my world when I do this exercise. I find that a simple friendly gesture to a neighbor can break barriers and open up opportunities for discovery.

This Pride Month, let’s celebrate our unique journeys together. Our paths may be different, but oftentimes, the destinations are the same.

We share one world. Let’s be unapologetic about coexisting in it respectfully and with pride.

Happy Pride, Utah! CW

George B. Severson is a resident of Midvale along with his husband, Brian, and their three fur babies. Severson is the director of local programming and creative services at ABC4-CW30.

Louder and Prouder

Utah Pride organizers stress quality over quantity for this year’s festival and parade.

BY BENJAMIN WOOD bwood@cityweekly.net

The Utah Pride Festival and Parade are growing and shrinking for 2023.

For the first time, the two-day festival’s Washington Square location will expand to include the adjacent Library Square, opening new spaces for activation and enhanced food and beverage options. But the live entertainment program—with a high-profile roster of local and national performers—is being consolidated onto a single stage in what organizers say is an intentional focus on quality over quantity.

“It was really important that we professionalized the entire festival—we needed bigger, we needed better,” said Ted Nicholls, Utah Pride Center’s director of operations and special events. “We kind of outgrew some of the old ways. In the past, we’ve been very volunteer-reliant and that has caused some aspects of the festival to suffer.”

The Pride Parade on Sunday, June 3 (the second-largest in the state behind the Latter-day Saint-themed Days of ’47 Parade), will follow much of last year’s expanded route circling the festival grounds. But it’s technically one block shorter than 2022’s event and will begin this year on 100 South—due to the city’s ongoing construction of a transit-priority corridor on 200 South—before running south on 400 East and west on 700 South.

“Our loading zone will be right in front of the beautiful Salt Lake City [Latter-day Saint] Temple,” Nicholls said.

Those are just some of the ways that “everything is new,” Nicholls said. Following a period of high turnover—made all the more complicated by pandemic upheaval—the Utah Pride Center has a new leadership team, with new Pride organizers and a new spin on old events, like the rally and march from the State Capitol to the festival grounds (usually the other way around) on June 2, followed by an opening-night concert to kick off Pride weekend (a new event this year). The night before, on June 1, the Pride center will host a firstever Pride Gala at the downtown Hilton.

“Glitz, glam, cocktail attire—we really want to have an upscale, ritzy, splashy, glamorous gala,” Nicholls said.

He said that Pride, at its core, is about people celebrating life as their truest selves. And that sentiment is captured in this year’s theme: Queer Pride is Unapologetic

“As a kid who grew up in South Jordan, Utah, it wasn’t easy for me to meet and feel connected to other weird little boys like me who liked to draw and watch Sailor Moon and listen to Madonna and all sorts of gay shit,” Nicholls said. “Pride is a great platform for folks like me to meet folks like me.”

Pride Week is the largest source of funding for the Utah Pride Center, and co-CEO Jonathan Foulk emphasized that the sustainability of the center’s broader, year-round programming—from counseling and suicide prevention to hosting trivia nights and Dungeons & Dragons campaigns—is reliant on the success of the festival, parade and other Pride events.

Those real-world financial pressures inform the Pride center’s decisions around event size and

corporate sponsorship, an at-times divisive topic (locally and nationally) as Pride celebrations have shifted from smaller, LGBTQ+-specific events rooted in protest to more mainstream, big-tent community gatherings welcoming allies and coordination with private and public entities.

“We have to create a safe space for all and that doesn’t come free,” Foulk said. “We do need our corporate sponsors to help pay to make this happen, as well as small businesses and things like that.”

And Foulk was quick to point out that, while attendance and support for the Pride festival has grown, new waves of anti-LGBTQ+ hostility continue to wash up.

Large and visible celebrations of queer life and love, with the backing of government and commercial partners, he said, demonstrate the humanity of LGBTQ+ individuals and the coalition pushing for acceptance and equality.

“We’re having drag queens and trans folks being targeted, and we need to do everything we can to promote visibility and to be unapologetic— to be our true selves,” Foulk said. “The more that we can elevate, the more that we’re louder, the more that we’re prouder, the more that we’re unapologetic—the more that people, 365 days out of the year, will see us and see us as human.”

When Foulk came out to his adopted family, they told him he was better off dead. That led him to walk into a Pride center, he said, where he was connected with The Trevor Project and told, simply, “You’re loved. You’re not alone.” That was the start of his coming-out journey, Foulk said, and is a large part of why he joined the Utah Pride Center as co-CEO.

“There are many Jonathans out there who did not get that chance,” he said.

Roughly 90% of the performers at this year’s Pride will be making their Utah debut, Foulk said, and a new main stage bar will provide space for those interested in dancing and imbibing without exiting and re-entering the alcohol service space.

“If you look at the genre of artists, we have something for everyone,” he said. “We have something for dance, we have something country, we have vocalists, we have burlesque—you name it, we have it.”

And while the festival will host fewer stages overall, Nicholls—a local drag performer at The Exchange and other venues—said organizers have made a point to feature Utah and Salt Lake artists alongside their national peers.

“They get to share the exact same, huge, main stage as all of our headliners, instead of being kind of cast off to one of the smaller stages in a corner under a Diamond Rentals tent,” Nicholls said. “It was really important to me that I featured and honored our local artists as much as I could.”

On the topic of corporate sponsorship, Nicholls said there’s value to including space for “your Deltas and your American Expresses and your Wells Fargoes,” companies that have formally embraced pro-LGBTQ+ stances.

“We want to keep Pride as authentic and as queer as possible, but that doesn’t mean we should exclude our allies,” Nicholls said. “They should have a presence at Pride because they have publicly come out and said, ‘We are proud to nurture, protect, support and empower our queer employees.’

“I think that speaks volumes,” Nicholls continued. “These are brands that we see in our dayto-day lives.”

Asked about the future—of both Utah Pride events and the archaic politics that continue to injure the LGBTQ+ community—Nicholls was optimistic. He offered a full-throated endorsement of the new Pride center leadership and direction, and confidence that the community will continue to grow in strength and visibility.

“I’m very confident the leadership we’ve got on board now is committed to mission,” he said. “There’s a lot of synergy. There’s a lot of collaboration, exchanges of ideas and healthy dialogue. I think we’re going to be just fine if we continue to stick together and hold each other’s hands through this.” CW

True to Yourself

When it comes to ‘living out loud,’ these Utahns say it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL comments@cityweekly.net

Page Petrucka’s bright, bubbly face and cheerful smile have graced many screens, stages and classrooms. Last year, she played a diner owner in the Hallmark movie A Cozy Christmas Inn. It was a sequel to Christmas Under Wraps, in which she also appeared.

“I love the stage—being in someone else’s shoes,” she said. “Theater and film allow me to make people feel something.”

Petrucka said she discovered her theatrical passion in high school and that it’s what she wants to do for the rest of her life. And that discovery came a few years after she began to recognize another love that lived within her.

“When I was 11, just barely in the [Young Women’s] Beehive class at church. I felt something for this gal who was a Mia Maid. Back then, I couldn’t put my finger on it,” Petrucka said. “Now I know I had a crush on her.”

For many years, she didn’t want to admit her same-sex attraction. She said she was deeply rooted in the Latter-day Saint faith and thought she might not really be gay. As a result, her coming out was a long time coming.

She felt discouraged in her 30s, wondering how her life would work out. “I wasn’t living authentically, and I wasn’t happy,” she recalls. In her 40s, Petrucka earned her doctorate in fine arts, emphasizing acting, directing and playwriting. She also lived one street away from Ty Mansfield, a marriage and family therapist who cofounded North Star, a faith-based support organization for LDS people addressing sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Ty and his wife allowed me to admit the truth about myself,” Petrucka said. “The self-protective walls I had built started crumbling after that.”

So, she started coming out at 43. And after she left Utah and moved to Kansas, she found that people there didn’t care about her sexual identity. “They loved me for me,” she said. “My sexual orientation wasn’t an issue.”

In the future, Petrucka wants life to be that way for everyone— where acceptance is so broad that there’s almost no need to “come out” in a traditional sense. And yet, she also believes that coming out offers healing benefits in today’s society.

“Some people are very fearful and feel it is scary,” she said. “But the sooner you take the leap and come out, the closer you are to loving and accepting yourself.”

Petrucka says that while some immediate family members still struggle to accept her, her nieces and nephews are happy to hang out. She’s looking forward to soon spending time with a niece in New York City. Until then, she’s staying busy and living her best life teaching theater and spending time with her boxer dog.

Petrucka’s also convinced that finding a wife is in her future. “I’m telling you, she’s out there,” she said. “I gotta find her.”

Petrucka’s story parallels insights offered by Lisa Diamond, a distinguished professor of developmental psychology, health psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on sexual orientation development, sexual identity and bonding. For example, Diamond says that during the pandemic, when people were trapped indoors with only their own thoughts, it was probably familiar for them to ask, “What do I want?” or “What do I believe?”

Diamond feels that it is a false notion that people reach a singular moment of certainty regarding their sexual orientation, never to be reexamined for the rest of their lives. Human development, she said, is lifelong, and perceptions in a person’s 20s or 30s can become clearer over time.

“I’m 51,” Diamond said. “A lot of my high school friends, once they hit 45, started to look at a lot of thoughts and behaviors and reasoned, ‘Maybe I’m not as self-aware as I thought.”

She continued: “All of us have wild parts, protective parts and scared parts. Becoming authentic and loving yourself is a way of saying, ‘I am many things.’ Pride could be a reminder to try loving all the parts of ourselves without judgment.”

Turn it Off

Kent Carollo initially had no words for the difference he sensed about himself in elementary school.

“My interests and tendencies didn’t align with my peers. I wasn’t like other boys,” he recalls. “I was drawn to the arts, music and, eventually, theater.”

But while those around him didn’t share his interests, pursuing them offered him a sense of community and he developed friendships with several “comfortably out” young men.

“While I didn’t see all of myself in those people, I suspected that I was gay,” he said.

Carollo grew up in an orthodox LDS home where the dialogue regarding same-sex relationships was “absolutely not.” He said the message he lovingly received was that no one he knew, nor himself, could be gay.

“If you suspect such,” he said of his upbringing, “don’t entertain that part of yourself and move on.”

Carollo said the queer side of himself didn’t solidify until after he had served an LDS mission, graduated from college and married a woman, who he described as “incredible.”

“I was genuinely happy with her,” he said, “but not genuinely happy with myself.”

During his marriage, Carollo said he was terrified of becoming a father. He worried that he would be a bad influence or a dysfunctional parent. It prompted him, for the first time, to confront his sexuality and pay a visit to a therapist.

He and his wife later agreed to divorce. For him, it represented the closure of an internal conflict.

“My wife was understanding,” he said. “We communicated throughout the process, and I felt understood.”

Carollo then found himself in a new phase of coming out, living authentically and establishing a new way to practice his faith and spirituality on his own terms. In time, at a backyard barbecue for volunteers from an LGBTQ+ nonprofit, he met Cole Rasmussen.

“Cole introduced himself, then left the gathering,” Carollo remembers. In time, Rasmussen reached out on Facebook, saying it was nice to encounter Carollo at the barbecue. They swapped a few messages and met up for dinner, Carollo recalled.

Their relationship didn’t take off immediately. Carollo was newly out, navigating his sexuality. He briefly dated a few other men, but said he found himself drawn back to Rasmussen.

“Dating was overwhelming,” Carollo said.

After falling in love during COVID, the two married three years ago. Carollo said he is proud and glad that all of their family members attended the wedding. The two are now parents to a fur baby— a Jack Russell terrier named Olive.

To those beginning a similar journey, Carollo suggests: “The most important thing you can do is take the time to evaluate who you are. You don’t have to decide anything quickly—there is no right or wrong way to express your identity.”

Carollo added that a person doesn’t have to instantly replace their ideals—like those of Mormonism—with another. Some may find a way to include a prior faith community in their lives, and others may not.

“The most important thing is to take the time to evaluate who you are,” he said. “You are the best authority on what you need.”

Spin Cycle

Choreographer and dancer Brayden Singley recently finished a Broadway tour of Fiddler on the Roof. He says his Fiddler experience was exceptional, and that its themes of challenging traditions echoed his own journey that began with his earlier life in Utah.

“Many of my friends and family figured I was gay growing up,” he said, “but they let me figure it out on my own.”

Singley was all-in as a Latter-day Saint, he said, serving a mission and then staying in touch with his former companions. “I was quite happy as a closeted gay member of the LDS church,” he said. “But there was always something deep down that weighed on me.”

Singley said that when he would pray, he would regularly include apologies to God for his gay thoughts, as well as pleas to be healed.

“My highs were extremely high, but my lows were very low and frequent,” he recalled.

When Singley moved to New York, queer people who were comfortable with themselves surrounded him. As a result, he started shedding some of his belief traditions.

“My faith taught me that I couldn’t be happy being who I was and loving who I wanted to love,” he said. “I felt that I could either be kicked out of my faith or choose to leave. I chose to leave.”

Singley has had three boyfriends since he started dating in 2020, and he has now been single for about a year. He said it would be wrong to describe him as unhappy before and happy now, but he added that he struggled for a time with defining and describing the different kind of happiness he experiences today.

Singley said he used to feel trapped in a circular pattern, but that changed after coming out and stepping away from his former faith.

“I realize the difference in my happiness now is freedom. There is no more cycle,” Singley said. “My highs are frequent—daily even—and my lows are few and far between. I used to be happy and trapped, but now I am happy and free. I didn’t realize that happiness could feel weightless until now.”

Diamond, the University of Utah researcher, said that everyone who goes through the coming-out process and comes out the other side experiences periods of self-doubt. But with empathy and compassion, she said, they can arrive at a place of personal pride as well as community Pride, which Diamond described as a beautiful opportunity for LGBTQ+ individuals to check in with, love and celebrate themselves.

“Take pride in your everyday life and honor yourself,” she said. “Take a look at yourself with love, empathy and courage.” CW

Brayden Singley says he now feels “weightless.”

Kent Corollo and Cole Rasmussen met at a barbecue.

Page Petrucka discovered a love for acting in high school.

Researcher Lisa Diamond says selfexamination is a lifelong process.

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

A Bold Ministry

Honoring Salt Lake’s Metropolitan Community Church and its role in Utah’s LGBTQ+ history.

BY WES LONG wlong@cityweekly.net

Within the walls of a modest 1913 structure just north of Liberty Park on 600 East, Berry Payne prepares the chapel of Sacred Light of Christ Church. As music director, Payne is dutifully carrying out responsibilities that he has held for 13 years.

“This has been my home for a long time,” he says. “They’re another extension of my family.”

Acknowledging that he was gay when he was 12, the church has been a “sanctuary” for Payne—on and off—since he first became acquainted with it in the 1970s. Back then, it was known as the Metropolitan Community Church, a nondenominational Christian organization famous across the country for its pro-LGBTQ+ message.

Payne discounts the notion that “one church is better than the other.” For him, it’s where one feels most “at home” that matters. Besides, he said, “most churches are accepting now.”

Indeed, the road to increased acceptance has been as hardfought and painful as it has been joyous and exhilarating. This Pride Month, City Weekly looks back on the story of Salt Lake’s Metropolitan Community Church and the part it played as Utah’s LGBTQ+ community developed.

Lavender Scare

Prior to the mid-20th century, there were few community centers for gay and lesbian Salt Lakers to feel connected and nourished as their fullest selves. Cruising—or at least furtive gazing—was pursued by some, and locations like Liberty Park (900 S. 600 East, SLC) and what was Wasatch Springs Plunge (840 N. 300 West, SLC), and Deseret Gymnasium (formerly at 161 N. Main, SLC) provided semiprivate venues at which locals and travelers made brief forays.

But it was World War II, wrote Douglas A. Winkler, author of Lavender Sons of Zion: A History of Gay Men in Salt Lake City, 195079, that exposed men and women to “unprecedented opportunities for homosexual desire” in the barracks and the factories. American gays and lesbians began developing more defined subcultures in cities across the country, and Salt Lake was no exception. Starting in 1948 with Radio City Lounge (147 S. State, SLC), bars became the unofficial centers for Utah’s dispersed LGBTQ+ community.

“One man’s prison and another’s refuge,” observed Winkler, “Salt Lake never seemed large enough for some, while others appreciated its anonymity.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had also changed by the postwar era. A non-erotic culture of same-sex dynamics had been traditional within Mormonism, argued the late Mormon historian, D. Michael Quinn, in a 1996 study—one that could be traced back to 19th-century mores in its approach to what Quinn described as “extensive social interaction, emotional bonding and physical closeness.”

Homosexuality, on the other hand, was rarely broached, and when it was privately addressed, Quinn reports that church officials “responded to homoeroticism in ways that often seem restrained, even tolerant, today.”

This “live and let live” response was described by Earl Kofoed (1923-2000) in an April 1993 issue of the Affinity newsletter. Reminiscing about his days as a gay Brigham Young University student, he recounted a 1948 meeting between two fellow gay classmates and then-Church President George Albert Smith (1870-1951).

After declaring their love for each other, Kofoed wrote, “President Smith treated them with great kindness and told them, in effect, to live the best lives they could. They felt they had gambled and could have been excommunicated right then and there; instead, they went away feeling loved and valued.”

Conditions swiftly changed by the 1950s, however, as the socalled “Lavender Scare” of the Cold War era swept the country in the guise of federal and state purges—enhanced sodomy laws and frequent police raids of popular gay spaces. This was particularly true of then-Salt Lake City Police Chief Cleon Skousen, who, according to Winkler, embodied “both the national security state and an uncompromising, conservative brand of Mormonism. His admin -

istration was a harbinger of the LDS Church’s hardening stance toward homosexuality, which reached a fever pitch during the 1960s.”

Under the influence of such figures as J. Reuben Clark, Spencer W. Kimball and then-BYU president Ernest L. Wilkinson, homosexuality was now something that was talked about openly and in the most hostile of terms. To these prominent leaders, homosexuality was not an aspect of a person, but an act requiring eradication by any means necessary, from shock treatment and spying to psychiatric confinement and police entrapment.

But two events at the close of the 1960s heralded dramatic changes to come. The first came by way of a defrocked pastor in Los Angeles, the other from a tavern in New York.

Having been ejected from his Pentecostal ministry in the East, Troy Perry relocated to Los Angeles to start anew as an openly gay man. Outraged by the raids used by local police to target gay clubs—and the devastating effects such practices had upon loved ones—Perry resolved to act with his calling.

“Tremendous need existed for a bold ministry,” Perry later wrote. “Literally tens of thousands of homosexual sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, plus our friends and the friendless in every age group from puberty on, who had been robbed of their self-esteem, were waiting to find and heed our basic message, ‘God loves you!’”

The 1970s ‘Renaissance’

Starting with a small group at Perry’s home in the fall of 1968, the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) began. In four years, his church had grown to 35 congregations across 19 states. In an era before marriage equality, MCC even started performing same-sex weddings—or “Holy Unions”—in 1969.

And while the MCC was spreading around the country, another revolution boiled over at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

Like countless other gay meeting places, the Greenwich Village bar was a routine police target. But during one early morning raid on June 28, 1969, the patrons at the Stonewall had had enough, erupting into a spontaneous riot against police violence.

A Pride Parade float for the Sacred Light of Christ Church.

Pride Issue

By the following year, communities around the nation began marking the occasion with Gay Pride celebrations, and a more assertive form of gay rights advocacy by groups like Gay Liberation Front had come into being.

Ben Williams is a long-standing chronicler of local gay history. Of Utah’s gay community following Stonewall, the retired teacher considers the 1970s a “Renaissance period.”

“I met so many really valiant people here, against all odds when we had no allies,” he said.

It would not be long before an MCC congregation began its ministry in the Beehive State. And according to Williams’ chronology, locals met at a private Bountiful home in the early 1970s to organize an outreach. “All this stuff starts with a few brave people coming out and doing things,” Williams said.

The Salt Lake chapter of MCC began meeting at the Unitarian Church at 569 S. 1300 East, SLC, in 1972. Before long, it relocated to 740 S. 700 East, SLC, under the leadership of Richard L. Groh, who performed Salt Lake’s first Holy Union that November.

A letter from Troy Perry celebrated the chartering of the new church, with the hope that it would become “a real lighthouse in the Rocky Mountain states.”

Already, by early 1973, Utah’s first gay hotline was established through the Salt Lake Community Mental Health Center, whose staff trained five members of the MCC congregation in crisis intervention. In return, as one MCC publication reported, “the mental health personnel underwent a most interesting training session as to crisis intervention in our ‘special community.’”

Relocating again to 870 W. 400 South, SLC, MCC enjoyed its first real opportunity to interact with the larger public, for the building was also used by other local organizations and clubs.

Candace Naisbitt remembers her time as Salt Lake’s MCC pastor as “a gift.” Originally from Ohio, Naisbitt discovered MCC in California’s San Fernando Valley in the early 1970s.

Training for the pastorship and serving in Stockton with Alice Jones (1937-2013), they were MCC’s first team ministry, coming to Salt Lake City to replace Michael E. England after the latter resigned from that all-too-familiar malady: burnout.

The

Sacred Light of Christ Church, as

it stands today

In 1977, Bob Waldrop led groundbreaking protests against Utah’s thenlieutenant governor as well as singer Anita Bryant.

Pastor Bruce Barton, center, and church volunteers offered what aid they could during the AIDS epidemic.

DEE BRADSHAW

DEE BRADSHAW

DEE BRADSHAW

WES LONG

Although she and Jones differed in approach, “we worked well together,” Naisbitt recalls.

They served a congregation that has fluctuated in size—anywhere from a small handful to more than 100. Internal dissension led some factions to start anew elsewhere, but Naisbitt recalls a warm and generous group during her stay between 1975-1976.

“Most of the church members lived on a very, very tight thread,” she remembers, and operating the church with few resources was a struggle in her role as clergy. Most of her labors included hospital visits and helping congregants to regain their confidence by erasing the notion that LGBTQ+ people were going to some erroneous concept of hell.

“They were looking for a place to become,” Naisbitt concludes, and the “rich” experience of helping them has instilled in her a spirit of gratitude to this day.

Utah’s Stonewall

By the time Bob Waldrop (1952-2019) arrived to take the reins as MCC’s pastor in 1977, much had changed for gays and lesbians in Salt Lake City. By then, Joe Redburn (1938-2020) and Nikki Boyer had established the state’s first openly gay bar with The Sun Tavern in 1973 and even organized gay celebration events in places like City Creek Canyon.

MCC had been responsible for the state’s first gay-friendly newsletter with The Cricket, but since then, Utah gays and lesbians had established their own newsletters in the mid-1970s, like The Gayzette, The Salt Lick and The Open Door. The Imperial Court—which presented extravagant drag shows to raise money for charity—also began serving the community at this time.

To many in the larger public, gays and lesbians did not yet have a voice to which anyone felt obligated to take heed. In some respects, Waldrop supplied that needed voice at a critical time. Remembered as “a firebrand” by Williams, Waldrop was a key figure in a 1977 protest that scholars came to refer to as “Utah’s Stonewall.”

“[Waldrop] was taking on the government, taking on the state, taking on the [LDS] Church, taking on everybody,” Williams said.

Waldrop’s efforts came to a head when then-Lt. Gov. David S. Monson revoked MCC’s approval to hold a dance in the Capitol, which coincided with a national, anti-gay “Save Our Children” campaign, spearheaded by singer/spokeswoman Anita Bryant. Working with the ACLU to sue Monson, Waldrop became, in the words of University of Utah researcher Charles Perry, “a dynamic spokesman

for the gay community, articulating its aspirations and outrage.”

Utilizing the networks afforded them through the local bars, MCC, Imperial Court and other groups, Utah’s gays and lesbians came together to protest the lieutenant governor. And when Bryant was booked to appear at the Utah State Fair, enough was enough.

Waldrop brought leaders of various gay organizations together in the basement of the MCC to coordinate their response and prepare a protest at the fairgrounds, as well as other events like a dance and talent contest by MCC, an Imperial Court kegger, special programs by the Sun Tavern, Radio City Lounge and the lesbian bar Uptown, as well as a candlelight vigil in Memory Grove under the direction of the group Women Aware.

“The Anita Bryant protest provided myriad opportunities to heighten morale, gather resources and foster community,” Charles Perry wrote of the occasion.

The protest invigorated local gays and lesbians and even found some sympathetic observers. However, the general solidarity throughout the gay community would be fragile, as divisions and fatigue took their toll.

Williams reports that Waldrop himself began to burn out, compounded further by the numerous death threats he personally received, the vandalism routinely directed at MCC, and the unsolved murder of his friend, Anthony “Tony” Williams (1953-1978).

The MCC moved back to the Unitarian building and was largely held together in the absence of an active pastor by committed members like Dan Wilcox (1940-1994), who appealed to local Utah publishers Jack Gallivan (The Salt Lake Tribune) and Wendell J. Ashton ( Deseret News) to allow MCC to run advertising space in their newspapers again.

“The religious grounds for discrimination against gays are crumbling as scriptural research on the subject has become more responsible,” Wilcox observed in 1980.

The silent tragedy of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s devastated Utah as hundreds of gay men died in the absence of state and federal action. Dr. Kristen Ries was practically alone in diagnosing and providing care to these patients.

“Thank God for the women,” Bruce Barton (1946-2017) related in an oral history. Numerous local women assisted Barton—who became MCC’s pastor in 1983—to tend to the needs of the sick, whether they were congregants or not.

“We were so limited in what we could provide temporally, but we could provide people,” he added. “We could provide emotional and spiritual support, which I think falls through the cracks.”

Kelly Byrnes, who assisted Barton, relishes the spaghetti dinners, dances, workshops and regional conferences they held in those days. Most of all, he remembers the labors they undertook to support the dying and grieving.

“It was a lot of work, but it was good work,” he said. Barton ministered to people in the bars rather than waiting for them to come to him. He brought the renamed Resurrection-MCC, for the first time, to a building that they owned outright rather than renting from another. Re-settled in August 1986, this is the location the church occupies today at 823 S. 600 East, SLC.

An Opened World

Cindy Solomon-Klebba replaced Barton in 1994 and, until her departure, she provided continued aid and interfaith efforts to the community. She particularly cherishes the support that the church gave to local Utah high school students in their struggle with the state Legislature over establishing Gay-Straight Alliance clubs (a controversy covered by City Weekly in February 1996 under the Private Eye masthead).

“We’re always going to be on the forefront of justice; that’s what we do,” Solomon-Klebba remarked. “We believe that being Jesus in the world means doing justice to the people in the world.”

With Solomon-Klebba—and her successor, Dee Bradshaw—the renamed Sacred Light of Christ Church was a fixture at Pride events and even contributed floats for the parades.

Branches of MCC operated in Ogden and Logan concurrently with Salt Lake for several years, but by the 2000s, these additional branches had closed and the Sacred Light of Christ Church broke from the larger MCC Fellowship.

Today, Kay Sidwell and Korina Garcia serve as the new team ministry for the Sacred Light of Christ Church. Having implemented group meetings in person and virtually, they are eager to engage with and serve the community, whether LGBTQ+ or not.

And they are in good company, for much has changed since those earlier years.

Many more religious denominations today are welcoming people of varying colors of the rainbow, Sidwell and Garcia noted, and with increased iridescence comes added beauty, both to matters of the heart and to those of the spirit. Faith and sexuality, in their view, don’t have to be an “either-or” situation.

“Once I came out, the whole world opened up because I wasn’t hiding,” Sidwell related. “I wasn’t hiding part of who I was.” CW

Hey, Ladies

Be a stronger ally by using inclusive language and offering inclusive spaces.

BY CAT PALMER comments@cityweekly.net

“Table for two, ladies?” the host at a five-star Park City resort asked us. “Right this way, ladies,” they directed as they showed us to our table.

My spouse and I were both wearing the types of suits one would most likely find in the menswear section of a department store. My spouse is gender-neutral, uses they/them pronouns, has been on testosterone for two years and has a gender marker X on their government documents.

We are not “ladies.”

I eventually asked the host to use more inclusive language, explaining that we don’t always know to whom we are speaking. And even if our intent is to flatter or be polite, there are many ways to do that without using gendered language. When I encounter service industry employees who already do this, I notice and appreciate it. That training and awareness makes me far more likely to frequent the establishments I know aren’t going to misgender their customers.

Truth is—there are so many ways to be inclusive of everyone, and most of them will take minimal effort from you.

For example, words like “sir,” “ma’am,” “ladies” and “gentleman” are not as polite as they once were. I know many people mean well and it can be a hard habit to break, but the fact is that when you use these words, you may be shutting a large group of people out of the opportunity to receive your message at all.

Plus, you are assuming a person’s gender based on how they look, and the sound of a person’s voice does not always match their gender (even outside of the LGBTQ+ community). Please find another way of greeting people.

“Hello there!” is completely fine. When approaching a table, “Hello, friends,” or simply “Good evening,” will do. When greeting an audience, consider using, “Welcome, distinguished guests.” When you’re talking to a classroom: “Good morning, children!” Or, for any of the above audiences and more, take a page from the Southern handbook and just use “y’all.” It’s inclusive and fun to say!

Being aware of trans- and non-binary-friendly language is a form of allyship. If you work at, or frequently visit, a company that has outdated forms (looking at you University of Utah Medical Centers— love that rainbow U and your presence at Pride, though!), consider starting a conversation with HR or management suggesting the addition of boxes for gender marker X, non-binary, or simply “other.”

Do you go to places with single-use restrooms that could easily be converted to any-gender restrooms? Many places in town have moved to this model, and it matters.

My spouse is one of many people who do not use the restroom when they are in public because of the number of cis-gendered women approaching them in the restroom to tell them they are in the wrong space. We recently discovered Refuge Restrooms, a website and app crowdsourcing non-gendered restroom locations—please use this and add to the growing list of safe spaces for our trans and non-binary friends.

My spouse had an awful experience at a certain downtown mall a few months back. They were denied the use of a family single-use restroom and were told they had to use the women’s restroom by security. My spouse had to cross their legs, hold their pee and come home. This is not an allyship. (Speaking of restrooms, having period products available in all facilities is allyship.)

I know that it can feel strange at first when you shift your language. This is especially true when you’re using new pronouns for a person you’ve known for a while.

I am still learning this lesson. Not long ago, I falsely assumed a person’s pronouns were the same as they were when I last saw them. I apologized and got their pronouns correct for the rest of our time together, but I should have asked again that day.

People will not be offended if you ask their preferred pronouns. They will, instead, be grateful you’re giving them an opportunity to be seen and heard.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we all want?

I assume if you are reading this you are an ally who wants to learn and do better. For this, I thank you. CW

Gender-neutral

phrases like “Hello, friends” or even “Y’all” can help everyone and anyone to feel included.

Wishes Coming True

Utah author A.J. Irving on writing for queer kids the books she wishes she’d had.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

The ongoing controversies over books for children and youth featuring queer content usually focus on those loudly announcing what it is they don’t want their children to see. Far less predominant in the conversation is the idea of what gay children—which Utah author A.J. Irving once was—might have needed to see.

“I remember struggling to fall asleep at night because I loved girls,” Irving recalled. “Absolutely, I wish books like The Wishing Flower had existed when I was growing up.”

The Wishing Flower—a picture book featuring Irving’s story and illustrations by Iranian/English queer artist Kip Alizadeh—follows a young girl named Birdie, an introverted child who finally finds a closeness she longs for when a new girl named

Sunny comes to her school. It’s a restrained but clear narrative about a budding sense of queer self-awareness, and wishing desperately to have that feeling of isolation go away.

Irving started work on the book in 2020 while still living in small-town Wyoming, before relocating to Salt Lake City. “The first words came to me on a hike, and I ran home and wrote the first draft that same day,” Irving said. “I had the sense I was on to something special, because all of these childhood emotions came back to me.”

The story is Irving’s, but a picture book doesn’t fully become itself without the work of the artist.

Irving feels she hit the jackpot with Alizadeh. “In a lot of cases, the author isn’t part of the illustratorselection process at all; that was the case with my first book [Dance Like a Leaf ],” Irving said. “But Kip was my No. 1 choice. While Kip was working on the art, I’d see sketches, and I’d make suggestions, but there weren’t really that many.

She continued: “Seeing the art is always my favorite part of the process. … As an author, I try not to picture it in my mind, because it’s not my job to decide what the characters look like. Now, I couldn’t imagine it any other way. I think Kip just brought Birdie and Sunny’s story to life in such a magical way.”

This magical children’s story is a queer story, though, and, as such, it emerges in the middle of a difficult time for such content. Irving acknowledges that if she still lived in Wyoming, she would be more concerned personally about receiving hate mail, but the fate of the book itself remains the subject of possible challenges by conservative activists.

“It’s absolutely terrifying; I feel like we’re going backward,” Irving said, “Moms for Liberty and Proud Boys—it breaks my heart. Sometimes I feel so helpless, but then I try to focus on what I can do and what I can control, and that’s what I write.”

She said the writing community is unified on the need to fight against censorship.

“We have a lot of conversations and a lot of webinars about how we can fight back,” she said. “Most importantly, supporting books by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators. A lot of authors have bigger platforms [than I do]. I have not engaged personally, but I have a lot of colleagues that do. My biggest weapon is my pen, and I’m going to continue to write queer books for kids.”

Irving did note one unexpected response to writing The Wishing Flower as a queer book for kids—discovering that there were some readers who didn’t interpret it that way.

“The thing that surprises me is the other side of this, bloggers who haven’t been reading this as a queer book” she says. “My style of writing is very gentle; I’ve never been very blunt. But children pick up on things; they spend more times with the spreads.”

Those children are the audience Irving wants to reach with The Wishing Flower, trying to give them the affirming story she didn’t have as a child. It’s a case for why representation matters, and providing kids with a sense that even when they’re struggling with their place in the world, their own stories can have happy endings.

“I was Birdie,” Irving says. “But just like Birdie, my wish came true.” CW

A.J. IRVING: THE WISHING FLOWER

A.J. Irving, author of The Wishing Flower

Protect Your Loved Ones

Every Day Pride

Portrait series celebrates LGBTQ+ Utahns as their truest selves.

BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL comments@cityweekly.net

Maddie Fox’s Every Day Pride photo session was the first time she presented publicly as female.

She had first explored her gender identity through women’s clothes, trying on the pieces her mother wore. It made Fox feel whole, she said, and the longing never went away.

“I started with underwear, then moved along to dresses,” she said.

Later, she began meeting with a group of people—some of whom were transgender and some who wore opposite-gender clothing. In time, she met with a therapist who gave her the tools to approach and explore her gender identity.

And once Fox understood and accepted that she is transgender, she said, a weight lifted from off her shoulders.

Today, Fox typically wears gender-neutral clothing, but still likes to don feminine items when she can. She lives with her family, and they do not yet know she is transgender.

Fox sat for an Every Day Pride photo shoot in 2022, and plans to again. With the full treatment of a hair and makeup artist, and the eye of a professional photographer, she was made to feel as beautiful and feminine outside as she feels inside.

“Working with Every Day Pride was a great ex-

Pride Issue

perience,” Fox said. “It was gender confirming.”

Asked what advice she had for others, Fox said to follow your heart. “You are who you are,” she said, “and you are valid.”

Blakelee Ellis founded Every Day Pride, or EDP, a portrait series featuring LGBTQ+ subjects. Last year’s images are still viewable on the instagram account @every_day_pride and for the 2023 series, Ellis plans to post a new photo every day during June’s Pride Month.

Ellis said the project originated in part from her personal experience with an unusual family dynamic. Ellis is the middle child, and only straight child, in a family of three children.

“My brother and sister both identify as gay,” Ellis said. “Watching them deal with prejudice, homophobia and societal pressure has rocked me to my core.”

Ellis said she experiences Pride as an ally to her siblings, and that she hopes to be an ally to others through her photography.

Her EDP project seeks to capture and celebrate LGBTQ+ individuals’ truest selves, she said, and to help them feel beautiful in their identities and to elevate their voices.

“As your ally, I will be with you as you fight queerphobia,” she said. “I can’t wait to highlight each individual and show how phenomenal they are. LGBTQ people are not a monolith. There is no specific way to be queer—just a way to be you.”

In Focus

Each Every Day Pride photo shoot begins with the photo subject sending Ellis an introductory bio. “I leave it up to them to say as little or as much as they want,” Ellis said. “There can be a lot of selfstruggles. While society is improving, there could be self-hate resulting in internalized homophobia, especially if they were raised with the idea that homosexuality is a sin.”

An image from Blakelee Ellis’ Every Day Pride project, which features portraits of LGBTQ+ Utahns.

Pride Event

Karaoke: 8:00PM

Wiener and Taco food specials

Opportunity Drawings all day!

Proceeds from drawing and all Anheuser-Busch sales going to Project Rainbow!

SATURDAY

JUNE 3RD 2023

365 W Paxton Ave. SLC UT

However, she adds that many of her subjects knew themselves at a young age—say 7 or 8—and that they were somehow different. “They describe what their journey has been like, how they came to accept themselves for who they are, where they have landed now, and what their dreams are,” Ellis said.

Alicia Anderson, a dance teacher and one of Ellis’ lifelong friends, said the photos are all about the subjects. Ellis is also willing to photograph subjects who don’t want their pictures displayed on her Instagram

“Blakelee asks if there is certain music they want to play during the photo shoot,” Anderson said. “They can invite friends, family, anyone who will make them feel the most comfortable.”

On her parents’ 39th wedding anniversary, Ellis featured an EDP photo of her brother, Chase, who says his journey has been long, and “honestly, being gay is only part of me.” He said he feels blessed and lucky to have a family where his sexual orientation wasn’t a huge issue.

“At the time it was, but we all tried to handle it the best we could, and it turned out great compared to others I know,” he said. “I’ve lived and grown through coming out, being a homeless drug-and-alcohol addict, and figuring out my mental health disorder.”

Julee Iorg—Chase and Blakelee Ellis’ mother— says that her Latter-day Saint upbringing focused on “What would Jesus do?” and helped her maintain loving relationships as she understood that two of her three children are gay. While she never imagined hosting a gay backyard wedding, a family-only ceremony evolved naturally after years of unconditional love toward her children and their LGBTQ+ friends.

”We had a curfew. There was no drinking, smoking or premarital sex,” Iorg says. “Other than that, my house was always open to whoever visited—I wasn’t going to take that away from [my children].”

When Ellis was 13, pancreatitis sent her to a hospital intensive care unit for six weeks and afterward, Iorg prayed that she wouldn’t have to lose one of her children. Later, she recalls seeing a statistic about the high rates of suicidal ideation among children who are conflicted about their sexuality, and she vowed that it wouldn’t happen to her family.

Today, Iorg views the experience of almost losing her daughter as a form of preparation for acceptance when her son came out. She’d heard of parents who asked their children to leave home and for Iorg, that was never in the cards.

“I saw how some people treated their gay children back in 2000,” Iorg said. “I wasn’t going to lose Chase—no matter what.”

Troy Williams, executive director of Equality Utah, said the best tool for advancing equality is the sharing of authentic stories. And he added that art can be a powerful way to reveal and celebrate the humanity that all share.

“The more we can courageously open our lives to others, the easier it is to dispel the cynical myths and stereotypes that some people hold,” he said. “Humans are wired to make genuine and meaningful connections with people. We suffer when we are disconnected and isolated.”

Close -Up

Evie Roberts (who requested her name be changed for this article) came out only to herself and a couple of friends before participating in Every Day Pride last year. Back then, she perceived herself as asexual.

“I thought if I didn’t like guys, I must not like anyone,” she said.

Roberts said Ellis’ kind acceptance helped her feel comfortable at her photo shoot even though she hadn’t yet come out publicly. She thanks Ellis for helping her practice bravery.

“Telling everyone in the form of an Instagram post was scary,” she said. “I didn’t know how some people would react, but being brave is another label I try to embrace.”

Over the past year, Roberts has embraced her attraction to women, reaching an understanding that she is not asexual. During a Latter–day Saint ward party, she saw a woman she always liked as a friend. “It hit me like a sack of rocks that maybe this was more than me thinking she was cool, and maybe I would like to be with her,” Roberts said.

The more Roberts considered the idea that she could be gay, the more the possibility made sense to her. “It was like puzzle pieces clicking together,” she said.

Roberts considers herself to be a devout Latter-day Saint. But, she adds, “it’s wonderful to see how much progress I’ve made spiritually as I have accepted being gay.”

She said she feels much closer to her heavenly parents, and that she can better connect to her LDS patriarchal blessing if she rereads it from the context that she is gay.

“It’s as if God is saying, ‘I knew you were gay before you knew you were gay,’” Roberts said. “This reality was a part of my path, and it was intentional.”

When Roberts told Ellis she had resolved her identity since last year, Ellis replied with “congratulations.” It struck Roberts that she was more used to talk of being “tempted by same-sex attraction.”

“This experience was my first time viewing it as celebratory,” she said.

Colette Dalton is a therapist and owner of Queerful Counseling. She participated in the Every Day Pride project last year. She recalled how Ellis was accompanied by a couple of “hype women” who offered praise and encouragement.

“They would say, ‘Oh, you look so good!’” Dalton said. “It was so much fun.”

She also said she appreciates how Ellis, as a straight person, utilizes her privilege to elevate marginalized voices.

“It was very empowering to share my own story and not have someone else share it for me,” she said.

“There are so many wonderful allies.” Dalton continued. “When people are learning allyship, they sometimes forget to step aside and realize that sometimes we don’t need help—we need the microphone.” CW

In Thai We Trust

Traditional flavors and hidden gems abound at Thai 101.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

When discussing the merits of Utah’s Thai restaurants with any local foodie, you inevitably get into a stalemate of opinion; it’s a lot like trying to reach consensus on the greatest band or film director of all time. We’re blessed with a wide variety of good Thai spots that can generate such nuanced discourse, that’s for sure. Perhaps this is why I get a little excited whenever we get a buzzy new addition to our ranks like Thai 101

Ever since Thai 101 opened back in February, my Instagram feed has been filled with people raving about the Chef Specials section of the menu. There’s plenty of time to get into that, as I’ve visited this place a few times now, but my first experience was what led me to believe all the hype I’d been seeing online.

I went in to check out the lunch menu, as it had a solid lineup of Thai classics, which also gave me an opportunity to try their massaman curry ($9.95)—my litmus test for any new Thai restaurant. I also thought the curry dumplings ($10) sounded interesting, so I ordered some of those as well. At the moment, the interior could use some sprucing up. Some art on the walls or a few plants here and there to give the place a bit of personality would go a long way.

When my food arrived, I could see that Thai 101 was borrowing from the family-style playbook. The massaman curry itself came in its own large bowl along with another bowl of rice that could be scooped onto your own plate, making this place a great place to visit with a group. The massaman curry maintained the rich color and aroma that I like, and my excitement to dig in was intensified each time I added a large spoonful to my rice. As massaman curries go, this one is excellent. The flavors are excellently balanced, and it has just the right amount of peanutty flavor.

I hopped between my massaman and the curry dumplings, which arrived steamed and doused in Thai 101’s green curry. I liked having the chance to compare the massaman and green curries side by side; I’ll typically always enjoy massaman, but green curry has been hit-and-miss for me over the years. The green curry at Thai 101, however, is a definite hit. It’s herbaceous, slightly acidic, and goes very well with a bowl of homemade dumplings. This lunchtime visit was everything you’d want from a Thai restaurant: quick service and great food with a few pleasant surprises in the appetizer section.

As nice as this place is if you’re looking to treat yourself to a quick lunch during the workday, I think Thai 101’s true character is revealed on the dinner menu. Taking my cues from social media, I took a trip into the Chef Specialties, and had a very difficult time deciding what to try. In the end, it was the yaowaraj crab fried rice ($18) and the krabi ba me moo ($18) that won me over.

For those of us like yours truly who grew up with ham fried rice from Chinese takeout joints, the crab fried rice at Thai 101 is a nice mix of familiar and new. All the base flavors are there, but when you throw in some thick chunks of Dungeness

crab meat, your fried rice experience gets a whole new spin. The crab meat adds a light note of sweetness to the overall savory dish, and it feels like a slightly grown-up version of the traditional ham fried rice. Like its porcine cousin, this dish is usually best when occupying a supporting role. The biggest surprise for me was the krabi ba me moo, which sounded right up my alley on the menu. It’s a mix of egg noodles, pork, dumplings, bok choy, crispy pork belly and hard-boiled eggs that comes with a hot, savory broth. I was ready to dive right in without really thinking about the arrangement, but I paused to ask my server how best to approach the dish. He explained that the pork-and-noodle mix needs to be stirred together before hitting it with the savory broth. I took his advice, and I could see why this was the preferred method. The finished product is a composition that includes so many of my favorite things— the roast pork, noodles and dumplings in a soup is a comfort food combo that felt like a warm hug in the middle of winter.

Based on my past experiences, Thai 101 has set itself up as a fixture in my dining ecosystem. I am determined to try every one of the chef specials; the Crying Tiger Curry ($27) with its grilled ribeye and red curry sounds particularly intriguing. Regardless of whether you want something familiar and comforting or new and exciting, Thai 101 is ready to take its place among our local Thai all-stars. CW

THAI 101

214 W. 600 South 385-227-8060 Thai101slc.com

ALEX SPRINGER

HopkinsBrewi ngCompany.co m

1048 E 2100 S Sugar House

2 Row Brewing

6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com

Avenues Proper 376 8th Ave, SLC

avenuesproper.com

On Tap: Blizzard Wizard - Hazy

Pale Ale

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC

BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap: El Guapo – Coffee Vienna Lager

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

Bonneville Brewery

1641 N. Main, Tooele

BonnevilleBrewery.com

On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

Chappell Brewing

2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115

chappell.beer

On Tap: Sploosh - Blackberry

Bischoff Sour

Craft by Proper 1053 E. 2100 So., SLC

craftbyproper.com

On Tap: That’s a Knife - Australian Cold IPA

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square, SLC

DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap: Tropical Fruit Storm

Pale Ale

Epic Brewing Co.

825 S. State, SLC

EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Spiral Jetty IPA

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC

FisherBeer.com

On Tap: Rotation of up to 17 Fresh Beers!

Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Extra Pale Ale

Helper Beer 159 N Main Street Helper, UT 84526 helperbeer.com/

Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

On Tap: Friendly Introduction Pale Ale

Kiitos Brewing

608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, S.Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Philly Sour Fruit Bat Bingo ($1,000 jackpot): Wednesdays at 7pm

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap: Golden Sproket Wit

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com

On Tap: Pomme Paloma

Offset Bier Co 1755 Bonanza Dr Unit C, Park City offsetbier.com/ On Tap: DOPO IPA

Ogden Beer Company 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com

On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA

Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com

Prodigy Brewing 25 W Center St. Logan Prodigy-brewing.com

On Tap: It’s Complicated Sour

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC

ProperBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Cloud Chaser - Kölsch with Strawberry and Watermelon

Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191 Moab, Utah 84532

On Tap: Angus McCloud- Scottish Ale

Red Rock Brewing 254 So. 200 West RedRockBrewing.com

On Tap: Gypsy Scratch

Red Rock Fashion Place 6227 So. State Redrockbrewing.com

On Tap: Munich Dunkel

Red Rock Kimball Junction Redrockbrewing.com

1640 Redstone Center

On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: Flash Flood Belgian

Pale Ale

Brewers Select: Pink Boots Society Hibiscus IPA

Roosters Brewing

Multiple Locations

RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Identity Crisis Session West Coast Hazy Cold IPA – the name says it all!

SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com

On Tap: Deep Dive Series - Steam Beer

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com

On Tap: Kiss Whoever You Want IPL release.

Pride party May 27th

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com

On Tap: Scion Cider ROSÉ RUCKUS - 6.9%

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, S. Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Limited Release Prickly Pear Sour Ale, “Sounds Gay, I’m in” 6.5%

Live Music: Thursdays

Shades On State 366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Mexican Lager Karaoke: Wednesdays

Silver Reef 4391 S. Enterprise Drive, St. George StGeorgeBev.com

Squatters Pub Brewery / Salt Lake Brewing Co. 147 W. Broadway, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/squatters

On Tap: Salt Lake Brewing Co. Kreator Kolsch

Squatters and Wasatch Brewery 1763 So 300 West SLC UT 84115 Utahbeers.com

On Tap: Squatters & Pink Boots

Collab Healthy Boundaries Black IPA, 5%

Strap Tank Brewery

Multiple Locations

StrapTankBrewery.com

Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter

Stratford Proper 1588 Stratford Ave., SLC stratfordproper.com

On Tap: Yacht Rock Juice Box - Juicy IPA

TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC

TFBrewing.com

On Tap: Edel Pils

Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com

On Tap: King Slayer- Pilsner

Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com

On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com

On Tap: Love Punch for us –Tropical Hefeweizen-5% ABV. Pride beer! A portion of proceeds are donated to Project Rainbow

Vernal Brewing

55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com

Wasatch

2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/wasatch

On Tap: Wasatch Salt Lime Cerveza (SLC)

Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com

Zolupez

205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

Strange Fruit

Two new local brews on different ends of the fruitiness spectrum

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

Saltfire - Mobius Trip (Blueberry): The latest in Saltfire’s foeder sour program features a blueberry infusion. If you’re not familiar, foeders are large oak vats that ferment beers and wines, and impart woody character to the finished products. Saltfire’s foeders are dosed with brettanomyces, and aged to enhance that yeast’s souring profile. When ready, it can be served as is, or dosed with fruit.

This version has a reddish-purple color, almost like cranberry juice. The pour is azy, with a thin white head that fades and a good amount of visible carbonation. It fills the room with an acetic tartness immediately after opening the bottle. The beer’s aroma is different, though, revealing much more fruit—ripe, juicy blueberries along with red wine barrels, and even mulled wine, providing a fruity sweetness. This gets coated up by a fermented fruit tartness, but it exhibits more of a supportive quality, rather than swallowing the beer’s fruitiness, which happens in many other sour/funky ales. It’s really lovely on the nose with a marmalade note to it, blending perfectly into a pleasant funkiness.

The taste begins almost sparkling, revealing a dough minerality among bready malts and a defined lemon-peel tartness. The fruits are definitely there, while not as pronounced as on the nose, somehow hidden underneath the lively carbonation. Blueberries form an interesting flavor, picking up the bready malts from the beginning, while adding sweeter pulp features to it, which then turn dry, due to notable lemon rind. It finishes with a slightly tart blueberry

fruitiness on the back end of the palate, which turns out rich and multi-layered after the high carbonation settles down a bit. It has a lower carbonation and a light, truly refreshing body.

Verdict: One of the better locallymade barrel sours I have had in some time. While being focused on the fruits, the beer provides enough sourness to let the blueberries become interesting on the tongue, while remaining incredibly refreshing and easy-drinking. It has a great, soft mouthfeel to it, with a very balanced sourness, highlighting the fruit.

Wasatch - Women of Wasatch Imperial Hazy: This beer was made with the 2023 Pink Boots hop blend, and pours a very hazy light orange-juice color, with a one-finger head of fluffy white foam featuring a good level of retention, fading over time to leave a decent sum of foamy lace on the sides of the glass. The aroma is rather strong with sweet citrus, including tons of tangerine and orange. Along with these smells comes a moderately strong showing of sweet grapefruit, as well as some light smells of herb and grass. Overall, it’s sweet and inviting.

The taste begins as one may have expected from the nose with lots of sweeter citrus, as well as some light grapefruit and grassy hop. The citrus is mostly of a tangerine nature, but is accompanied by some orange juice and light tropical fruit sweetness as well. At the same time, some herbal and more grassy hop notes begin working their way onto the tongue, all while the tangerine gets slightly stronger. Toward the end of the taste, a little bit of hay joins the rest and ends up leaving one with a sweet and citrusy taste to linger on the tongue.

Verdict: It’s a decent NEIPA that is accessible, and one of the better options out there. I think that the nicest thing about it is that it does achieve that citrus effect without advertising itself as such. In my experience, the ones that claim to achieve the juicy profile often fall short.

These are both in limited production, so move on these sooner rather than later. As always, cheers! CW

MIKE RIEDEL

MIKE RIEDEL

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Food Fight SLC

Those after a way to help contribute to reproductive rights in Utah will want to check out Food Fight SLC (foodfightslc.com) on June 11. It’s a fundraiser that will gather plenty of local vendors under one roof at Publik Coffee Roasters (975 S. West Temple) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for some good food, drinks and live entertainment. So far, the list of food vendors who will be onsite with some signature dishes includes Takashi, Pago on Main, Central 9th Market, Urban Hill and Stanza, just to name a few. This all-ages event will also feature raffles and other ways to raise funds that will support Planned Parenthood of Utah and the Utah Abortion Fund. Tickets are available via the Food Fight SLC website.

Manoli’s Reopens

After close to five months of renovations following a burst water pipe, Manoli’s (402 E. 900 South, manolison9th.com) is finally open for business once more. In addition to repairing the damage caused by the burst pipe, the Manoli’s team has made some improvements to their patio and revamped their menu as well. Though the closure presented its share of difficulties for Manoli’s, it seems like the team used the hiatus wisely, and has come back to the Utah culinary scene with a few new tricks up its sleeve. It’s always tragic to hear about a beloved local restaurant falling victim to adversity, but we love seeing our favorites bounce back better than before.

Mark of the Beastro Nets PETA Recognition

The plant-based seitan worshippers at Mark of the Beastro (666 S. State Street, markofthebeastro. com) recently got some national recognition from PETA. As it turns out, the national animal-rights activist group is a huge fan of the Beastro’s garlic mushroom burger, which was included on their Top 10 list of best vegan burgers in the country. As a longtime fan of the Beastro’s menu, I can confirm that their plant-based diner food hits all the right notes, and the garlic mushroom burger is no exception. In a city that takes garlic burgers quite seriously, this iteration from the Beastro can go toe-to-toe with all comers.

Quote of the Week: “I’m not serving a menu, I’m serving a story. I’m serving my soul. I’m serving a conversation, and I want you to talk back to me.” –Dominque Crenn

Master and Salve

The psychological drama of Sanctuary transcends a lurid plot summary for a tale of healing honesty.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

There are plenty of reasons why pearlclutching reactionaries shouldn’t have much say in anything having to do with art, but one of the best is that certain subject matter is almost certain to have them focusing entirely on whatever surface-level material might give them the heebie-jeebies. Usually it’s gender and/or sexuality, sometimes it’s religion, but the common thread is folks reading a one-sentence synopsis and requiring no additional context or information to be certain that the book/movie/TV show/whatever in question is meritless and obscene. It’s the aesthetic equivalent of ignoring those socialmedia site pleas of “would you like to read this article before commenting on it?”

Take, for example, the case of Sanctuary, which seems to scream “lurid” in the most rudimentary description of its premise: “A dominatrix tries to keep a wealthy client from firing her.” If you paid attention only to that synopsis, it’s entirely possible you’d miss what’s percolating deeper in Micah Bloomberg’s screenplay: The question of how you deal with a disconnect between the way people expect you to present yourself to the world, and the person that, in you heart of hearts, you know that you truly are.

So yeah, it’s nominally that story of “a dominatrix tries to keep a wealthy client from firing her.” We meet Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott) in a fancy hotel suite, and Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) as she arrives for what initially seems to be a legal errand for Hal’s company. But it’s all a scripted scenario, as Rebecca proceeds to humiliate and denigrate Hal on the floor of his bathroom. Hal soon tells her that this has to be their last encounter, as his planned ascension to the CEO role for his company following the death of his father could be compromised if his peccadilloes were public—which is all that Rebecca needs to hear to start making it clear to Hal that she’s not interested in going quietly.

The psychological drama that emerges from that point is almost entirely the kind of two-hander that could have originated as a one-act stage play, and director Zachary Wigon only occasionally over-complicates the direction with stuff like turning the camera upside-down, or marking scene transitions with blurry color fields. He’s certainly effective at guiding the performances, however, leaning into the shifting power dynamics of his two char-

acters. Abbott nails the anxiety of a scion of wealth terrified at the prospect of having to live up to the standards of his successful father and being exposed as a failson with a fetish kink; think of it as the lustier version of a certain prestige cable drama, a Sexcession if you will.

Qualley, meanwhile, is an absolute force of nature as Rebecca, bringing a ferocious energy to a character who is fundamentally an actor. Wigon captures her in moments when she’s basically doing warmup exercises, and trying to decide at any given moment what angle she can work to get what she wants from Hal. Qualley has been a magnetic screen presence for a while already, but Sanctuary marks the kind of performance where she feels like a legitimate star.

Both of those performances become most effective because they’re serving a story that’s not fundamentally about dominance & submission, or even the tug-of-war between wealth and workers. Sanctuary is a movie about identity—and more specifically, about closeted identity. Neither Bloomberg nor Wigon might have planned it directly as a metaphor for queer

experience, but it absolutely works that way, since Hal’s basic fear is that he will be seen for who he really is, and rejected on that basis. And Rebecca similarly uses her particular genre of sex work as a way to exercise a sense of power she otherwise feels is denied to her, as a woman and as a laborer.

So while Sanctuary includes sex, it’s not about sex, nor is it salacious. I’d argue that as much as it’s a psychological drama, it’s actually also a romantic comedy, including all of the requisite obstacles to our protagonists’ “will they or won’t they.” In fact, it’s about the kind of love story that everyone deserves—one where you know someone really loves you, because you’ve shown them every part of yourself that you’ve been afraid to show other people, and they love you all the same. CW

SANCTUARY BBB

Margaret Qualley Christopher Abbott Rated R Available June 2 in theaters

ACROSS THE SPIDER VERSE

Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott in Sanctuary NEON FILMS

THURSDAYS

FRIDAYS DJ FRESH(NESS)

SATURDAYS POKER @ 2PM DJ DELMAGGIO

SHARK SUNDAYS POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY JARED AND TANNER

MONDAYS REGGAE MONDAY WITH DJ NAPO

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

TUESDAYS

A Heckin’ Good Time

Utah label Heck Records releases compilation album of local classics

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

If you’ve lived in Utah for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the phrase “Oh my heck” uttered a few dozen times— which is where local label Heck Records got its name. “That’s our sense of humor,” said Heck Records co-founder Chris Hrynyshyn. “We’ll embrace heck and frick— the nice way of saying, ‘Sorry about that.’ A nice way of saying naughty things.”

“But,” said the other half of the label, Brad Rhoades, “we say the naughty things.”

DIY label Heck Records got its start when Rhoades and Hrynyshyn got the idea to put together a compilation album of some of their favorite local acts from when they were younger in the post-Y2K and post-9/11 world of the early 2000s. The two have been friends since their junior high days; growing up in the same neighborhood cemented their relationship, and they’ve been friends ever since.

“We’ve always been kind of involved in the music scenes in specifically Utah County, really,” Hrynyshyn explained. “Brad has always been the musical one out of the two of us, and I would like to consider myself music-adjacent, if that’s a thing. So, in the same circles of people, going to shows together, knowing the same people.”

In recent years, Hrynyshyn has moved away from Utah, but still feels nostalgic for the bands the two always saw during those formative years of their lives. “We had the idea to do the compilation before we had

the name,” Rhoades said. Once they had the name for the idea, the rest was history. They got to work putting together a collection of some of those long-forgotten songs from locals in the early aughts.

Thus, Echoes From the Valley (heckrecords.bandcamp.com) was born. Rhoades and Hrynyshyn brainstormed and wrote out a list of some of their favorite bands they loved when they were younger, and began reaching out to them to see if they were open to having their songs featured on the album. The songs that ended up on the compilation are from about 20002006. “We didn’t want to just slap together a cassette tape and sell it without permission,” Rhoades explained.

Luckily, they got a pretty good response—enough to create a balanced compilation that preserves some great local music history. The decision to put the album on cassette comes from a mix of nostalgia, and tapes coming back in a big way. Everyone from major pop acts to local groups are putting out cassettes, which is just a fun way to consume music. Rhoades put out a punk cassette tape with his band Frick, and seeing how well those sold put the idea in his and Hrynyshyn’s mind to do this album the same way.

“In my opinion, there’s always something more when you have something tangible to go with it,” Hrynyshyn said. “CDs are easy—they’re cheap to make and all this stuff, but I don’t know that anyone really gets excited about that, or thinks it’s anything interesting. … This is probably pretty niche, but it was just kind of a fun project for Brad and I to just see what this could be.”

The name of the album is poetic as it relates to the contents, but it also just sounds cool—like you’re diving into a fantastical world, ready to discover new treasures. It was easy to give this collection a loving name from a special time in the local scene. “We grew up in Utah Valley and Salt Lake Valley,” Hrynyshyn said. “There’s multiple valleys, but I think everyone has an association with the area that they call theirs. Echoes just seemed appropriate because it’s something that, it’s a sound that’s not currently happen-

MUSIC

ing, but you still hear it. I’d like to say that it was this super-brilliant idea I had, but I think it was more a cool name and we found a way to associate it.”

Going forward, Heck Records is open to producing another compilation album, and potentially working with current artists who need help getting their music out into the community. “I think we’re kind of waiting it out to see how these tapes sell and everything and see if there’s people that still want them,” Rhoades said.

For now though, preservation and giving some of these older bands the recognition they deserve is the main focus. “You can listen to stuff on the radio anytime, but these smaller bands, they don’t last forever,” Rhoades said. “Being able to get them to a point, if we can put out a tape or a CD or something of this really cool local

band, if they don’t last another five years or something, we have that and that lives forever, rather than just them playing in the garage and not recording anything.”

“I also think there’s quite a bit that had never been released in any real way,” Hrynyshyn added. “I actually think there’s a lot out there that would be really sad to just disappear and never get its time to shine. I think in keeping with that sort of nostalgic thing, if there were opportunities for us to put out some of these things that maybe went under the radar or never released, I think that would be really cool too.”

So, what the heck? Why not check out a time capsule of great artists from around the valley and discover something new?

Echoes From the Void is limited to a 50-cassette run, so grab yours over on BandCamp while you still can. CW

Brad Rhoades (left) and Chris Hrynyshyn (right) SHALLISE HARPER

Melanie Martinez @ Sandy Amphitheater 6/1

If you’ve seen Melanie Martinez in the news lately, you’ve probably seen her with full costume makeup and prosthetics on her face, making her look like a beautiful creature straight out of a woodland fairy realm. All of this is to support her latest album PORTALS, a fairycore adventure full of otherworldly themes. The concept album comes after a brief post-pandemic hiatus, her last album having been released in 2020. Martinez rebranded herself with this new album, going from a childlike, Lolita-esque character to nearly-unrecognizable fantasy figure. What has remained the same, however, are her crystal clear and enchanting vocals, which lend themselves well to the fantastical themes of this album. The journey through the songs features contrasting ideas of lightness and darkness, nature and the unknown, wrapped up in an alluring bow, knowing the costume Martinez presents in. The alt-pop singer will be performing as her fairy character for the entirety of her North American tour, which will surely be a sight to behold. Come get lost in an alluring and fanciful world with Martinez on Thursday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $190+ at sandyamp.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

Protect Your Loved Ones

Melanie Martinez

Pride 2023 @ Kilby Court 6/1

As summer kicks off, there’s an abundance of great events happening, especially in the month of June. While plenty of shows take advantage of the nice weather and people’s desire to get out, Pride Month 2023 is also kicking off June 1. With Pride comes an amazing show at Kilby Court, featuring some of the best queer artists in the area: Suchii, The Pho3nix Child, Leetham, Corbin Bronson, Ms. Meredith, Mik Jäger, Notta Genda, Jenna Tailia, Whorechata and Honee Hee. The lineup features not only great pop artists, but great drag performers as well. Suchii has just released a new single that will be perfect for this event. “Like a Harley” is a track heavy on the dance elements: vibrating bass, a fast beat and Euro-dance vibes. Corbin Bronson’s most recent project, “they don’t understand me,” was recorded with NYC pop artist Calliope Wren, and takes a more somber approach, but is a moving track that many in the LGBT+ community can probably relate to. Pop artist Leetham continues to perform hits from their 2022 self-titled debut album around town, but has new music in the works for the month of June. The Pho3nix Child makes addicting hip-hop beats that are an easy listen, but still bring great skill and intricacy with their rhymes. Overall, this is not a show to miss if you are excited for Pride Month, and want to get out to support the community. Kilby’s Pride show is on Thursday, June 1 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $15, which is a steal considering how many fantastic performers will be there. Grab tickets at kilbycourt.com. (EA)

MUSIC PICK S

By Emilee Atkinson

Ms.

MUSIC PICK S

By Emilee Atkinson

Josh Ritter @ Egyptian Theater 6/1-4

A brilliant singer/songwriter, as well as an acclaimed novelist, Josh Ritter has rightfully been hailed as one of the most perceptive artists making music today. Dedicated to the memory of his mother, his new album Spectral Lines proves the point. It’s not only a thoughtful set of songs, but one that boasts the kind of atmospheric ambiance hinted at in its title. Its themes are universal, shared through tracks that explore the basic bonds of love and devotion, as well as what it means to hold fast to ourselves and one another. “I don’t know about you, but for me, this past year has had more than its fair share of long nights of the soul,” Ritter was quoted as saying in the announcement that preceded his new tour. “Whether in song or prose or one of those weird creatures that lives between, I’ve returned to stories over and over again for sustenance and counsel and forgetting.” Indeed, those sentiments are especially meaningful given today’s division and discontent. With four forthcoming performances, there’s ample opportunity to understand why there’s such an abundance of admiration. Josh Ritter performs at Egyptian Theatre in Park City Thursday, June 1 -Sunday, June 4 at varying times, so double check on the venue’s website. Tickets cost $35 - $65. Go to tickets.egyptiantheatrecompany.org.

(Lee Zimmerman)

Ogden Music Festival @ Ogden BDO 6/2-4

Just a swift train ride over from downtown Salt Lake City stands the hustle and bustle of another town with impressive music-booking propensity as of late: Ogden, Utah. After a notable few years spent bringing top-tier artists to their iteration of the Twilight Concert Series, Ogden affirms their success once again with the introduction of this year’s Ogden Music Festival. Featuring magnificent headliners Dan Tyminski Band and Thee Sacred Souls, other big names such as John Craigie, Della Mae, and hometown heroes Pixie & The Partygrass Boys, as well as countless vendors, food options and opportunities to camp, this music festival guarantees a ‘round-the-campfire authenticity while still awarding a superstar line-up of highly sought-after musical acts. Thee Sacred Souls headline this festival following the release of their critically acclaimed self-titled 2022 release,

featuring hits like “Can I Call You Rose” and “Easier

Said Than

Done.” Made famous for their nostalgic blend of classic R&B and Motown, they’ve quickly become an act to watch, comparable to legendary predecessors such as The Temptations and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Country and bluegrass legend Dan Tyminksi consistently wows with his signature guitar string sound, as well as his renowned cover of Avicii’s “Hey Brother,” infusing a wistful breath into an electronic hit. These two acts paired with the entire lineup promise nights on end of show-stopping sounds. Tickets for the all-ages fest are on sale now at ofoam.com and can be purchased as single day, three day, or three day with camping passes. Note that the location has been moved to the Ogden BDO due to flooding of the originally announced location. (Sophie Caligiuri)

Spirit Mother @ Aces High Saloon 6/6

If you asked Spirit Mother what their sound is, they’d say it’s a “lush, ranging, folk-informed psychedelic unfurling,” or at least that’s what they say on their website. The enigmatic group made their debut in 2020 with their album Cadets, introducing the world to their brand of heavy symphonic rock vibes. Cadets has a definite ethereal feel to it—with track names like “Space Cadets,” “Ether,” “Premonitions” and “Shapeshifters,” you’ll find yourself drifting away with their eerie, psychedelic sounds. After their debut, Spirit Mother put out a live album, but aside from that there’s not a whole ton of new stuff from them. However, this past March the group dropped a little something to keep fans satiated—a new single called “Locust,” an intense and heavy track that’s perfect to headbang to. They’ll fit right in at Aces High Saloon. Spirit Mother has the typical rock and metal aspects: heavy guitar, distorted vocals and a fast pace. One thing that makes them stand out from the crowd is some violin tossed into the mix. Violinist Camille Getz lends her orchestral instrument to the rock recipe, giving them an interesting and unique twist on the genre. The combination of psychedelic sounds paired with a violin is not something you’d automatically think to pair, but it just works. Come check out Spirit Mother’s unique brand of genre-bending sounds on Tuesday, June 6 at 8 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $15 and can be found at aceshighsaloon.com. (EA)

LAURA WILSON TRAVIS TRAUTT

Josh Ritter

Spirit Mother

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

History tells us that Albert Einstein was a brilliant genius. After his death, the brain of the pioneer physicist was saved and studied for years in the hope of analyzing the secrets of why it produced so many great ideas. Science writer Stephen Jay Gould provided a different perspective. He said, “I am less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” I bring this to your attention, Aries, in the hope it will inspire you to pay closer attention to the unsung and underappreciated elements of your own life—both in yourself and the people around you.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Human life sometimes features sudden reversals of fortune that may seem almost miraculous. A twist in my own destiny is an example. As an adult, I was indigent for 18 years—the most starving artist of all the starving artists I have ever known. Then, in the course of a few months, all the years I had devoted to improving my craft as a writer paid off spectacularly. My horoscope column got widely syndicated, and I began to earn a decent wage. I predict a comparable turn of events for you in the coming months, Taurus—not necessarily in your finances, but in a pivotal area of your life.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

I am weary of gurus who tell us the ego is bad and must be shamed. In my view, we need a strong and healthy ego to fuel our quest for meaning. In that spirit and in accordance with astrological omens, I designate June as Celebrate Your Ego Month for you Geminis. You have a mandate to unabashedly embrace the beauty of your unique self. I hope you will celebrate and flaunt your special gifts. I hope you will honor your distinctive desires as the treasures they are. You are authorized to brag more than usual!

CANCER

(June

21-July 22)

One study reveals that British people own a significant amount of clothing they never wear. Other research suggests that the average American woman has over a hundred items of clothing but considers just 10 percent of them to be “wearable.” If your relationship to your wardrobe is similar, Cancerian, it’s a favorable time to cull unused, unliked and unsuitable stuff. You would also benefit from a comparable approach to other areas of your life. Get rid of possessions, influences and ideas that take up space but serve no important purpose and are no longer aligned with who you really are.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

In July 1969, Leo astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon. But he almost missed his chance. Years earlier, his original application to become part of NASA’s space exploration team arrived a week past the deadline. But Armstrong’s buddy, Dick Day, who worked at NASA, sneaked it into the pile of applications that had come in time. I foresee the possibility of you receiving comparable assistance, Leo. Tell your friends and allies to be alert for ways they might be able to help you with either straightforward or surreptitious moves.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Great shearwaters are birds that travel a lot, covering 13,000 miles every year. From January to March, they breed in the South Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Africa and South America. Around May, they fly west for a while and then head north, many of them as far as Canada and Greenland. When August comes, they head east to Europe, and later they migrate south along the coast of Africa to return to their breeding grounds. I am tempted to make this globetrotting bird your spirit creature for the next 12 months. You may be more inclined than ever before to go on journeys, and I expect you will be well rewarded for your journeys. At the very least, I hope you will enjoy mindopening voyages in your imagination.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

One of the central myths of Western culture is the Holy Grail. For over 800 years, storytellers have spun legends about the search for a precious chalice with magical qualities, including the power to heal and offer eternal youth. Sober scholars are more likely to say that the Holy Grail isn’t an actual physical object hidden away in a cave or catacomb, but a symbol of a spiritual awakening or an enlightening epiphany. For the purposes of your horoscope, I’m going to focus on the latter interpretation. I suspect you are gearing up for an encounter with a Holy Grail. Be alert! The revelations and insights and breakthroughs could come when you least expect them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

June is Dare to Diminish Your Pain Month for you Scorpios. I hope you will aggressively pursue measures to alleviate discomfort and suffering. To address the physical variety, how about acupuncture or massage? Or supplements like boswellia, turmeric, devil’s claw root, white willow bark and omega-3 fatty acids? Other ideas: sunshine, heating pad, warm baths with Epsom salts, restorative sleep and exercise that simulates natural endorphins. Please be equally dynamic in treating your emotional and spiritual pain, dear Scorpio. Spend as much money as you can afford on skillful healers. Solicit the help of empathetic friends. Pray and meditate. Seek out in activities that make you laugh.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

A hungry humpback whale can hold more than 15,000 gallons of water in its mouth at once—enough to fill 400 bathtubs. In a funny way, their ability reminds me of you right now. You, too, have a huge capacity for whatever you feel like absorbing and engaging with. But I suggest you choose carefully what you want to absorb and engage with. Be open and receptive to only the most high-quality stuff that will enrich your life and provide a lot of fun. Don’t get filled up with trivia and nonsense and dross.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Funny story: A renowned Hollywood movie mogul was overheard at a dinner party regaling an aspiring actor with a long monologue about his achievements. The actor couldn’t get in a word edgewise. Finally, the mogul paused and said, “Well, enough about me. What do you think of me?” If I had been in the actor’s place, I might have said, “You, sir, are an insufferable, grandiose and boring narcissist who pathologically overestimates your own importance and has zero emotional intelligence.” The only downside to speaking my mind like that would be that the mogul might ruin my hopes of having a career in the movie business. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I hope you will consistently find a middle ground between telling the brazen truth to those who need to hear it and protecting your precious goals and well-being.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

When faced with important decisions, most of us benefit from calling on all forms of intelligence. Simply consulting our analytical mind is not sufficient. Nor is checking in with only our deep feelings. Even drawing from our spunky intuition alone is not adequate. We are most likely to get practical clarity if we access the guidance of our analytical mind, gut feelings and sparkly intuition. This is always true, but it’s extra relevant now. You need to get the full blessing of the synergistic blend. PS: Ask your body to give you a few hints, too!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

Has your intuition been nudging you to revise and refine your sense of home? Have you been reorganizing the domestic vibes and bolstering your stability? I hope so. That’s what the cosmic rhythms are inviting you to do. If you have indeed responded to the call, congratulations. Buy yourself a nice homecoming present. But if you have resisted the flow of life’s guidance, please take corrective measures. Maybe start by reorganizing the décor and furniture. Clean up festering messes. Say sweet things to your housemates and family members. Manage issues that may be restricting your love of home.

ACROSS

1. Crafty website

5. Lip

9. Face-planted

14. Half of seis

15. Trade show

16. Gas-X rival

17. Los Angeles dispensary with a penchant for marijuana and wordplay (and, yes, it really exists)

19. “____!” “Polo!”

20. Prefix with center

21. Largest island in the Bahamas

23. What aspirin can prevent

24. Permissible

26. Denver dispensary with a penchant for marijuana and wordplay (and, yes, it really exists)

28. The “N” of the celeb whose Twitter handle is @ActuallyNPH

31. Neighbor of an Omani

32. Somali-born supermodel

35. Oscar-winning 2020 Pixar film

38. Spooky

39. Gumshoe

40. Washington State dispensary with a penchant for marijuana and wordplay (and, yes, it really exists)

42. Extra WNBA periods

43. “Good thinking!”

45. Actress Polo

46. Obnoxious sort

47. Lose one’s hearing

49. “My Way” memoirist Paul

51. With locations in Portland and Bend, dispensary chain with a penchant for marijuana and wordplay (and, yes, it really exists)

54. John who sings “Cold Heart” with Dua Lipa

58. Docile

59. Most festive

62. Regret

63. How checks are written

65. Alaska dispensary with a penchant for marijuana and wordplay (and, yes, it really exists)

67. 1701, on cornerstones 68. “Night” author Wiesel

DOWN

1. Tony winner Merman

2. Familiar theme

3. Former MLB commissioner Bud 4. DKNY rival

Starter Home Help

Back in February, the state of Utah ended its COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance program that was funded by the feds to the tune of more than $350 million. In the past several years, local rents have gone up substantially, with Salt Lake County rents hiking 37%, Davis County up 42% and Weber County by just over 18%.

My friend is a property manager for landlords and told me that Utah is the only state in the nation where you get an eviction notice with only 3 days notice to move out—or suffer terrible damages and court fees tacked onto what you owe in back rent. And being evicted can be a nail in your coffin when trying to get a new home loan.

It’s highly unlikely that your landlord will write a letter to your mortgage broker saying you’re a great tenant and always paid on time. But know that most lenders, especially local mortgage brokers, can help you repair your credit for free to get you into a home.

Data Analyst(American Fork, UT) Analyze, manipulate, or process large sets of data using statistical software. Create graphs, charts, or other visualizations to convey the results of data analysis using specialized software. Identify business problems or management objectives through data analysis. Prepare & present evaluation and predictive reports. 40hrs/wk, Bachelor’s degree in Statistics or related required. Resume to Nutricost Fulfillment, LLC Attn. KIM, Saemi, 351 E 1750 N, Vineyard, UT 84059

10. “I want to learn!”

Last week’s answers

This July, the Utah Housing Corporation will be overseeing the new $20,000 grants for first-time homebuyers that our Legislature put into place this past winter. It’s funded from the huge tax surplus sitting in the state’s coffers, with $50 million allocated to fund—hopefully—2,500 buyers in the state.

This sounds great, right? Three things to know: First, you must buy something newly built that will cost no more than $450,000; second, if you’re already under contract for a new home, townhome or condo, you can still qualify to get the $20,000; and lastly, you cannot have owned (or your spouse) any principal residence in the past three years.

SUDOKU X Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

Sounds reasonable, right? Well good freakin’ luck finding much along the Wasatch Front for less than $450,000! Developers are not building condos, they’re building apartments. And homes in that price range are still getting multiple offers and going under contract in a day or two.

Basically, if you want to find new construction for under $450,000, you’re going to have to look in the suburbs and rural Utah. I know, as I’ve been trying to find a decent home for clients for the past two months, and all we’ve been able to find is fixer-uppers or flippers who skimped on work in favor of profit.

Realtor.com recently reported that Americans have increased their down payment amounts across the country, with a peak of 14.1% in 2022 and lowering slightly in the first quarter of this year to 13%. There is no rule for how much down payment a buyer must put down, except for what the lender requires for you to get a particular loan.

I’ve written contracts over the years with buyers who were offering no down payment because they knew the seller. Veterans and folks in active military duty can get zero-down loans, and FHA loans typically require low down payments. n

WITH BABS DELAY Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

NEWS of the WEIRD

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

News You Can Use

Not a moment too soon, the Oscar Mayer company announced on May 17 that it will be changing the name of its iconic Wienermobile to the Frankmobile, CNN reported. The company says the name change “pays homage” to its new recipe for hot dogs, which are set to start rolling out this summer. Uh-huh. An Oscar Mayer company spokesperson said the change is a test and that they’ll have “to see if it cuts the mustard” with fans. The Wienermobile first appeared in 1936, and now, 23 of the eye-catching vehicles travel around the country.

Extreme Measures

In vino, vie ... or something like that. Lillian Ip of Cheltenham, Australia, was stranded in the country’s remote bushland for five days in late April after she took a wrong turn and became stuck in mud, United Press International reported. Sgt. Martin Torpey of the Wodonga police said Ip had planned just a day trip, “so she had taken a couple of snacks and lollies with her, but no water. The only liquid Lillian, who doesn’t drink, had with her was a bottle of wine she had bought as a gift for her mother.” Without cell service, Ip couldn’t call for help. Her family notified police about her absence, and a four-day search over the region included helicopters. Finally, Ip was spotted waving her arms, and police were directed to her location. “I thought I was going to die there,” she said.

Unclear on the Concept

When cake-baker Brianna Romero of El Paso, Texas, got an order for a custom birthday cake this spring, she was on board, NBC New York reported on May 10. The customer wanted an “emo” cake, so Romero put her newly perfected black icing to the test and constructed a moody confection. But before she delivered it, she said, she asked the client if they wanted any numbers or other decorations on the cake. “Yes,” the client answered, “it’s for my granddaughter and she’s turning 4.” Romero, at first, “thought it was a little bit weird ... but maybe she just likes [the Netflix series] ‘Wednesday’ or something like that.” Still, wanting to cover her bases, she asked the client for the theme of the party. When she got the answer—”Sesame Street”—it all became clear. “I misread emo and it says ‘Elmo cake.’” Romero rushed to a local grocery, where the bakery topped the cake with an Elmo image; Romero gave the cake to the client for free. Social media ate the story up, with more than 10 million views on Twitter.

Bright Idea

Students will go to just about any lengths to get out of a test—even outer space, apparently. So it was in Hemlock, Michigan, on May 16, when an enterprising young student reported an alien invasion to avoid a math test, according to KTVZ-TV. The student reported that ETs came from the skies in flying saucers and landed on the playground, and the rumors quickly began circulating among the student body on social media. But Superintendent Don Killingbeck wasn’t having it: “We have thoroughly investigated the situation, and there is no evidence of any alien activity on our school grounds,” he said. The prankster has been disciplined, he added.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Two families went at each other on May 15 at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Fox35-TV reported. The fight was reportedly all over who could stand next to a sign commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Disney Co. According to police, one family was standing in front of the sign when another group wanted to snap a photo. When the second group asked the first to step aside, punches were thrown. At least one person was treated for injuries at the site, but they didn’t want to press charges. Two people were removed from the park.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

When a 36-year-old woman in Providence, Rhode Island, couldn’t afford conventional dental care for her painful teeth, a friend recommended “Yorki,” WPRI-TV reported on May 18. The woman contacted Altagracia Yorquis Adames, 57, and went to her home basement “dental practice.” There, Yorki allegedly removed instruments from a dresser drawer—some that were visibly rusty—then numbed the victim’s molar and pulled on it until it came out. She then numbed and drilled on the patient’s front teeth. Later that night, when her pain worsened, she texted with Yorki, who told her to take painkillers and ice her mouth. The next day, the victim checked into a hospital and was told she was “very sick.” Police said Yorki was a licensed dentist in the Dominican Republic but not licensed in Rhode Island; she is due back in court in August.

Precocious

Two brothers in Langkawi, Malaysia, were detained after crashing the car one was driving into a lamp post on May 10, CNN reported. It’s not hard to imagine why driving might have been difficult for them: They are 6 and 3 years old. Police Chief Shariman Ashari said the Toyota Vios they were in attracted attention from other drivers, who thought the driver might be intoxicated. The boys sneaked out of their home and took the car, hoping to buy a toy car at the local shops. “Mama is at home, and we are going to the store,” the 6-year-old said. “We want to buy a black car,” the 3-year-old elaborated. The only injury was a cut to one boy’s chin.

Cheeky

British IBM IT professional Ian Clifford, 50, has not worked since September 2008 as he battled mental-health issues and stage 4 leukemia, Business Insider reported. Clifford has been on sick leave for 15 years, collecting a salary of almost $68,000 per year after reaching an agreement with IBM in 2013. But in February 2022, Clifford testified in an employment tribunal that he had been treated unfairly because he hadn’t had a salary increase since the 2013 agreement went into place. He argued that inflation was causing his income to “wither” and sought a pay raise of 2.5%. “Your mortgage doesn’t go down because you are sick,” he noted. This spring, Paul Housego, an employment judge, rejected Clifford’s argument, saying Clifford was treated more favorably than others because he was being paid without having to work. Clifford plans to appeal.

Field Report

On May 9, officers from Boone County and Watauga County, North Carolina, tried to chase down Joshua Minton, 34, after he was pulled over for reckless driving, CBS News reported. Minton ran into an “undeveloped area,” where law enforcement got an unlikely helping ... hoof. Cows in the field “quickly assisted our officers by leading them directly to where the suspect was hiding,” police announced in a Facebook post. “The cows communicated with the officers as best they could and finally just had the officers follow them to the suspect’s location.” Minton was arrested on multiple charges.

Weird Science

Spring weather can be unpredictable, but a man in Ankara, Turkey, got an up-close glimpse of exactly what intense winds can do on May 17, Metro News reported. As Onur Kalmaz looked out his window, trying to check on his car during the storm, he captured on video a sofa flying from a balcony of a 35-story block of apartments nearby. Kalmaz said the sofa crashed into other buildings before falling to the ground. “No one was hurt, but we were pretty scared,” he said.

EOE.

Sr. Robotics Engineer needed at Teal Drones, Inc. in South Salt Lake, UT. Must have Master’s degree in Robotics or closely related. Must have knowledge of & project exp in: C++, Python, Matlab/Octave, & ROS; Computer vision, motion planning, controls; Multi-camera visual SLAM. Send resumes to jobs@tealdronescom. EOE

Moises Systems Inc. seeks Software Developer in Salt Lake City, UT. Qualified candidates must have at least a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related; 5 years of experience in software development and operations, including system design, automated testing, telemetry, and writing infrastructure code; proficiency in GitOps, immutable infrastructure principles, 12-factor applications, Kubernetes, public cloud environments, Python/NodeJS, and advanced software testing principles. Remote work benefit available. Interested candidates should submit a resume & cover letter to HR, Moises Systems Inc., 4001 S 700 E, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, UT, 84107.