October 2016

Why another play about Joe Hill? There has already been a play, a one-man musical, a movie, a documentary, and several books. Why another? Three reasons. One is that William Adler has written a terrific new history of Joe Hill’s trial, and he has uncov …

What to consider when a cemetary reaches capacity. It was late September, 1848, when George B. Wallace walked out of the new Mormon pioneer settlement of Salt Lake City, away from the muddy streets crowded with people, horses and wagons, and into the s …

It’s easy to imagine how Herk Harvey conceived of Carnival of Souls, his 1962 cult classic movie, as he drove past the old Saltair a year or two earlier. At the end of the pier reaching out into Great Salt Lake, the abandoned amusement park and dance h …

Seven Canyons Trust aims to bring daylight to Salt Lake City’s seven buried streams. In the spring of 2014, Professor Stephen Goldsmith, former Salt Lake City Planning Director, Artspace co-founder and director of the Center For the Living City, welcom …

Scientists, citizens and lawmakers object to Schedule 1 classification for this Asian pain-killer. Editor’s note: For more background, see “The Kratom Chronicles” by Alice Toler in the May 2016 edition of CATALYST. On August 31, the United States’ Drug …

A poet-teacher and his students visit the Bears Ears. This April, I joined a group of my students from Salt Lake City’s Rowland Hall Upper School on a camping trip to the proposed Bears Ears National Monument, in the area that is now Natural Bridges Na …

Daily life continues to be a fairly rough ride and, unfortunately, the stresses and strains continue for the next couple of weeks. Anticipate mounting exasperation as difficult circumstances either evade reasonable resolution or implode or explode from …

Salt Lake Valley resident Michelle Ashton chronicles her transition from apartment renter to tiny house builder, owner and, eventually, dweller. I was living with my two sisters, my niece and nephew, and my cousin when I decided I was going to build a …

Utahns consistently rank poor air quality as one of their biggest concerns, so you’d think that the Utah Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) would be trying to comply with federal clean air regulations. Wrong. In July the U.S. Environmental Protect …

A monthly compendium of random wisdom for the home, garden and natural world. OCT 1 If you’re still in the mood, there’s plenty to plant now, like shrubs, trees, roses, spring bulbs, lilies, garlic, rhubarb and cover crops. Don’t fertilize, but do use …

On September 14 the House Public Lands Subcommittee held a hearing on Rep. Rob Bishop’s (R-UT-1) Public Lands Initiative bill. Neil Kornze, Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) slammed the bill saying, “The Department opposes the nonstandard …

Intuitive patterns for October 2016. Osho Zen Tarot:  Adventure, Slowing Down, Experiencing Medicine Cards: Mouse, Lizard Mayan Oracle: Harmonic Resonance, Center Ancient Egyptian Tarot: The Chariot, Prince of Wands, Queen of Wands Aleister Crowley Dec …

Getting the best carbon/nitrogen ratio is an autumn project. I love composting. Growing, harvesting and eating the bounty of my garden is honestly a secondary benefit of my primary goal; building luscious, thick, rich loamy soil. It’s literally a slow …

On September 23 a group calling themselves Utah Art Attack postered downtown, 9th & 9th and Sugar House with images supplied by the godfather of political guerrilla poster art, Robbie Conal.  This work features two separate images of Donald Trump i …

We gather to cook, taste, dine. Harvest festivals bring the best of fall. Pick over pumpkin patches, take the kids for a hayride, gather in a bundle of dried corn stalks to decorate the season. Then give thanks to the bees at the annual Utah Honey Harv …

Winners of the 10th Annual Eat Local Challenge recipe contest. Last month, Utahns participated in an exercise to “localize” their diet—that is, find foods that were grown within our own bioregion. Events included a recipe contest. Congratulations to th …

A collection of folk mask from the UMFA’s Education Collection. More masks can be seen at the Discovery Gateway throughout October. PHOTO BY ADELAIDE RYDER   During the Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead, families gather to celebrate their lov …

Is it just me or are the transition seasons easier for instilling new and releasing old habits? It is of essence this month to consciously take the season change in stride and create new routines for better health. Let’s hop on the self-care bandwagon …

Got a window that gets six hours of sun a day? You can grow herbs indoors! With fall  upon us, it is a bit disheartening to look out at the abundant fresh herb supply and imagine it covered in a quiet blanket of snow. But take heart, while making your …

There are things during the 2nd half of the 2nd year that kept me from working on my tiny house to completion. This included living in my sister’s house with all the hipster coolness of having a tiny house and none of the inconvenience. I had my own ro …

A profound sense of psychic dislocation underlies regular routines this week. Nothing is normal—not…one…thing—and frankly, it’s been so long since anything was normal that normal has simply become an artifact from a bygone era that hardly anyone rememb …

Daily life continues to be a fairly rough ride and, unfortunately, the stresses and strains continue for the next couple of weeks. Anticipate mounting exasperation as difficult circumstances either evade reasonable resolution or implode or explode from …

9/28/2012: “Thanks for placing your order with the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company! We’re happy to have you as a member of the tiny house movement.” It has been four years since I bought the Lusby plans to build a tiny house. I am almost done building my …

In journalistic jargon “30” means the end. That’s what Utah highway 30 is; it’s probably the last place you’d pick to explore in Utah but you should. Everybody brags on Highway 12 in Southern Utah but that is just boring postcard beauty. Highway 30 is …

Environmental news from around the state and the West. You aren’t stuck in Traffic. You are the traffic. – Critical Mass slogan Because it does not claim nonprofit status, the Sierra Club is one of the few environmental organizations that can actively …

Novices, I come to you at a crossroads in my life. I will be stepping away from the world of writing and journalism, at least for a time, and venturing out into other worlds, known and unknown. With that being said, this will be my last NG for the time …

Kratom advocates oppose ban and garner support from 51 Congressional members Sen. Hatch; DEA blinks. After a Whitehouse.gov petition reached over 140,000 signatures in less than a month and three “Dear Colleague” letters to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad …

This week and for the next several weeks the planets reflect the mounting political tension, not just in America, but all around the world. Only 34 days remain until a new American President is elected, but the chaos of our current political, economic …

Mia Love has it wrong re. Doug Owens and the Legacy Highway Utah Congresswoman Mia Love (R-UT-4) has been running misleading attack ads against challenger Doug Owens (D) over his role as a lawyer for Utahns for Better Transportation (UBET) opposing con …

In August toxic algae struck again in Utah killing fish in Scofield Reservoir which supplies water for Price, Utah. So far this year, toxic algal blooms have appeared in Farmington Bay, Payson Lakes and Utah Lake. Toxic algae blooms are associated with …

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued rules for sage grouse conservation in Western states including Utah. The new rules instruct BLM to review livestock grazing in sensitive areas and to give priority to oil and gas permits outside of sage grouse …

A meeting of the Utah Water Strategy Advisory Committee turned into shouting when the Committee tried to keep the public from seeing or commenting on a draft long-term water plan for the State of Utah. The Salt Lake Tribune obtained a copy and the draf …