City Weekly May 9, 2024

Lake Lore

BY TAMERON FAWCETT

SLC FORECAST

S AP

BOX

Think of the Children

As has been widely reported, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a ruling declaring that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered children. The ruling states that frozen embryos are “unborn children” for purposes of civil liability under Alabama’s wrongful death statute.

The court also states that anything that can happen to an embryo can be considered the wrongful death of a minor, with legal consequences.

While wrongful death is a civil, not a criminal matter, it strikes me as an irresistibly short step for the so-called “pro-life” set to argue that there is nothing about a frozen embryo life that meaningfully distinguishes its “life” element from any other embryo. After all, under most circumstances, a frozen child would be considered less viable than a child not frozen.

And if anything that can happen to an embryo can be considered the wrongful death of a minor, it would seem difficult to defend that an adverse embryo event be considered such a wrongful death only if the embryo is frozen.

Speaking of irresistibly short steps, if any embryo is a child under the law, why should injuries to it be denied the further protection of criminal law?

Agreeing that harm to a frozen embryo constitute harm to a child, while at the same time shielding perpetrators of those harms from criminal penalties, will surely appear feeble to pro-life de-

fenders of children everywhere. Be assured, criminal penalties are dressed up and waiting in the wings. It seems logical and almost inevitable that such penalties will be enacted, strictly interpreted and aggressively enforced. But once a few pro-life women—either legislators themselves or else married to pro-life legislators— endure the heartbreak of miscarriage and are further required to endure a police investigation of the “child’s” death, or to defend themselves against a potential capital offense charge, the nonsense pro-lifers earnestly proclaim might finally be revealed.

It is the defense of a social construct that males, especially white males, have their role, which is to be in charge and make all important decisions for everyone else (routinely exempting themselves). And, women also have theirs, which is to meekly/obediently serve their men and make babies.

While there is ongoing secular (not

medical) controversy about when human life begins, it is completely noncontroversial that the woman potentially seeking an abortion is alive—a living, breathing human being. That woman’s life is many times placed in jeopardy by the consequences of pro-life dicta. The abundant contradictions are astounding.

Abortion is medical care, except as viewed through the lens of certain religious beliefs.

Let’s let caregivers and patients make health care decisions, rather than ceding that responsibility to the social elements that brought us inquisitions, ducking stools and witch burnings.

TOM WALKER

Salt Lake City

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THE WATER COOLER

What is your Mother’s Day message to your mom?

Scott Renshaw

I’m glad you’re still around and kicking at 80. And not a dollar spent on therapy because of any trauma you caused!

Eric Granato

Thank you for never giving up on me and always loving me, despite of my teenage years.

Wes Long

I love you and thank you for your example in my life. Any good part of me that currently exists was nourished by your influence, and I’m far from the only one who can say that.

Eleni Saltas

Paula Saltas: City Weekly mother, Mama Saltas and Mama. You’re the best mother in the world, and you deserve the world. Hope you print this!—your favorite child

Pete Saltas

What Eleni said.

Benjamin Wood

Love you, Mom, you’re the absolute best! (Joke’s on her. She’s in Salt Lake City all the time but never remembers to pick up the paper, so she’ll never see this).

Jerre Wroble

I miss taking you to brunch, Mumsie! Hope they serve peach bellinis in heaven.

OPINION

BY KEITH BURNS

Mother’s Day

Although The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always structured its hierarchy on male authority, its theology and practice concerning women is rather intricate and complex. Throughout much of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, the Relief Society (a central LDS women’s organization) was given far more power and authority than it has today. For example, in its early days, LDS women were allowed to give “faith blessings,” where they would lay hands on others’ heads for healing.

Church founder Joseph Smith gave the Relief Society significant decision-making authority as well. They functioned on a mostly independent budget, oversaw their own social service agency and printed their own publications until the 1960s. At that time, under the direction of Apostle Harold Lee, the church stripped the Relief Society of these endeavors with the goal of strengthening deference to senior male leadership.

While early Mormonism promoted much of the patriarchal constructs of its time, its theological notions on gender had some unusually liberal and expansive components. As early as 1845, former Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow penned the beautifully worded hymn, “O My Father.” In it, she affirms: “In the heav’ns are parents single? / No, the thought makes reason stare; / Truth is reason—truth eternal / Tells me I’ve a mother there.”

While there is no formal record of a revelation to Joseph Smith on Heavenly Mother, several Latter-day Saint women—including Zina Huntington—later recounted experiences of Smith instructing them on the doctrine.

Despite misalignments with mainstream Christianity, LDS doctrines around Heavenly Mother remain paramount to the faith’s most sacred theological narratives and aspirations. The highest rituals of LDS temples instruct men and

women on the path to godhood—for women, to become “queens and priestesses,” and for men, to “become kings and priests.” The fact that this process of deification is portrayed in both masculine and feminine forms is something that many LDS women describe as inspiring.

Feminist scholar Janice Allred stated in 1992: “There is another God, and she has a woman’s body like mine. I want to know her, not simply as a model, but as a person. That she is God as well as woman is as important for men as it is for women as it affirms the equality of male and female and of masculine and feminine attributes and values.”

Notwithstanding its centrality to LDS doctrine, current leaders rarely talk about and even discourage mentioning Heavenly Mother. The most common rationalization for near silence on the topic is uncertainty.

In the April 2022 women’s session of General Conference, Apostle Dale Renlund stated:

“Very little has been revealed about Mother in Heaven, but what we do know is summarized in a gospel topic found in our Gospel Library application. … Seeking greater understanding is an important part of our spiritual development, but please be cautious. Reason cannot replace revelation.”

It is first noteworthy that an apostle, who claims special access to God’s will, compares his understanding of Heavenly Mother to that of any layperson. And it is curious that LDS authorities claim fervent certainty on topics that support their interests and power structures (e.g., sinfulness of homosexuality), yet claim uncertainty on topics which could unsettle and disrupt the church’s power structures.

In his address, Renlund continued by instructing members to “direct our worship to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ and do not pray to Heavenly Mother.”

I am aware of several instances in which LDS women who prayed aloud to Heavenly Mother in their congregations were chastised, to say nothing of the women who have been excommunicated in previous decades for their activism and scholarship around Heavenly Mother. It seems there is fear and insecurity among church leaders around what would happen if prayer to Heavenly Mother became normalized.

Feminist activist and writer Sonya Johnson articulated this point in a deeply profound way:

“Her existence is dangerous to patriarchy, for which reason I should think the whole effort was to keep the issue

about her very quiet. The less people think about her, the less they will question her position, the church’s position about her. The less, in short, they will question male rule. I like to imagine what would happen if Mormons really began believing in her and her equality with Father: polygamy, the all-male priesthood, all aspects of patriarchy would be in deepest jeopardy.”

A s Johnson notes, if Latter-day Saints were to increase focus on Heavenly Mother, the next logical step would be to question existing power structures that concentrate authority in men’s hands. In the modern church, no administrative decision can be made by a woman without the approval of a man. Greater emphasis on Heavenly Mother would also bring scrutiny to the fact that less than 10% of General Conference speakers are women, that women are unable to hold financial management callings and that women are prohibited from offering baby blessings and priesthood blessings to their children.

It is important to note that there are hosts of LDS women who, for decades, have consistently and nobly advocated for gender equality. In the Bay Area, for example, LDS women sat on the stand in many congregations for over a decade. In November 2023, however, LDS authorities ordered an end to this practice.

Similarly, after LDS leader J. Anette Dennis’ extremely controversial speech in March, where she stated that “there is no other religious organization in the world, that I know of, that has so broadly given power and authority to women,” scores of faithful LDS women disagreed and responded with incredibly moving descriptions of their experiences. Indeed, the more Latter-day Saints encourage discussion and worship of Heavenly Mother, the more the patriarchal constructions so deeply woven into the fabric of LDS theology and governance will become weakened and eventually unraveled. LDS leaders should welcome and encourage open dialogue about Heavenly Mother in LDS congregations and ecclesiastical curricula worldwide, not only to more fully benefit from the beauty contained in this distinctly LDS doctrine, but to take a crucial and necessary step toward gender equality within the Church. CW

Private Eye is off this week. Send feedback to comments@cityweekly.net

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE | @kathybiele BY ERIN MOORE

HIT: The Day the Music Died

The creative tension between sports and arts may be a given—but the existential battle for dominance in Salt Lake City is not. The city and state governments have been giddy at the prospect of hosting major league sports in downtown, but now the effort appears to be at the expense of the Utah Symphony. The Legislature has authorized financing to help a National Hockey League team settle in. It’s all about pleasing Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, who wants to build a sports and entertainment district on the public’s dime. The Salt Palace, Japantown and Abravanel Hall could be toast. Abravanel Hall was moved from Temple Square in 1979 for its acoustics, eventually housing an Olympics Chihuly glass statue in the lobby. There is hope in a petition raising money to fight the destruction. “Ryan Smith’s current plans could force a major renovation or even the destruction of this historic and beautiful building,” the petition says. “The Utah Symphony would have no place to play and the performing arts in Utah could come to a standstill—possibly ending the orchestra as we know it.”

MISS: SLAPP Stick

Just ask Janalee Tobias about “SLAPP” suits. In the late ’90s, she and Judy Feld began a years-long court fight against Anderson Development Co. over a proposed commercial development near the Jordan River. It resulted in a law to prevent abusive litigation—a “strategic lawsuits against public participation” policy, or SLAPP. But it wasn’t until 2023 that the governor signed a strengthened SLAPP law. Now the Millard County Chronicle Progress is fighting against just such a lawsuit. A Utah land developer is suing the small rural newspaper for libel, claiming it defamed him. In fact, much of his claims came from the public record, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. And there was no obvious malicious intent by the newspaper or its reporter. Whether the lawsuit was malicious will depend on the ruling.

MISS: Life Aggravated

A recent survey from the Utah Foundation was stunning in how it highlighted the political divisions in The Beehive State. First, let’s just take a moment to recognize that 60% of survey respondents believe the state is on the wrong track, and things aren’t as good as they were five years ago. But the list of voter issues may just say everything. Nowhere on the list of majoritarian Republican priorities is women’s rights—nowhere. Also missing are homelessness and air quality. Let’s try to figure out why. Could it be that most Republicans don’t live in urban areas where homelessness exists and where the air is toxic? As for women’s rights, who knows? It may be that Utah Republican women are just accustomed to the patriarchal society that undergirds the state’s politics. n

I’m Walkin’ Here

Iam not an infant, but sometimes I wonder if Salt Lake City thinks I am.

Recently, while headed to dinner on Main Street downtown, I noticed—not for the first time—that the Trax tracks are now fenced off. Each time my body moves to jaywalk Main now, I can’t.

“Jaywalking” is a negative term for what I see as the natural urban impulse to, like, get to your location in an instinctive way. Jaywalking is also a formerly lawful pedestrian impulse that only began to be penalized when car infrastructure took over American cities in the early 20th century.

Despite downtown congestion, I never used to have an issue jaywalking on Main. Even though, technically, it’s an unlawful offense that could lead to fines, who has never jaywalked a massive SLC block? Sure, Main has more frequent crossing points than most other streets in the city, but it doesn’t change the fact that having to—for example—walk north to a crossing, wait for the light, cross, then walk back south to your location is annoying. And if we want people to drive less, making it annoying to walk is not the answer.

These new Trax fences feel particularly infantilizing—like pedestrians can’t be trusted to look both ways for cars or the train. And the cars! Who among us would disagree that cars on Main are busier looking for parking places than they are at looking out for pedestrians? Who among us has not almost been hit by such a car (or almost hit someone)?

To address this chaos, the city has been studying Open Streets—a temporary event where pedestrians get the run of Main Street, while cars are blocked from it—and its potential as a permanent part of downtown life.

UTA and the city put in the Trax fences to facilitate pedestrian safety during Open Streets, and to reduce potential pedestrian-train collisions, which UTA told me would also help to reduce service interruptions. But when I spent a few hours combing through news headlines from 2023, I only found one instance of a pedestrian collision with Trax downtown, and it was because the person lost their balance on the platform and fell in front of the train. Meanwhile, I found seven instances of cars hitting Trax in 2023, three of which were on the downtown Main Street stretch.

Cars not only seem to run into trains more often, but pose a high risk to pedestrians—with pedestrian deaths by auto in 2023 being reported as a high year. The fences, then, seem like little more than virtue signaling for thoughtful pedestrian infrastructure, especially given that in her January State of the City address, Mayor Mendenhall backtracked on taking away cars for a permanent, pedestrian Open Street on Main.

So, pedestrians can’t be trusted on the streets near the tracks, much less to cross them (illegal!), but we’re going to keep prioritizing car access to the same streets, no matter the risks they pose to people and Trax trains alike.

Welcome to my sick, twisted, jaywalker’s nightmare. n

Into the Wild

Writer and wilderness guide Michael Engelhard seeks “eco-wisdom” in the essay collection No Walk in the Park .

BY VINCE WELCH comments@cityweekly.net

After reading No Walk in The Park, I thought a more apt title might be “Meanderings of a Grand Canyon River Guide.” Sometimes by boat, often on foot, Michael Engelhard—anthropologist and wilderness/river guide— wanders over the Colorado Plateau country in search of “thrills, eco-wisdom and legacies.” In easy-to-reach places as well as in the “back of beyond,” he finds all three. And though he meanders, his curiosity sets his compass.

On the water or on the trail, he encounters jaw-dropping natural beauty, as well as environmental and cultural damage. Throughout No Walk in the Park, Engelhard pauses, ponders, and takes stock. His prose displays a keen eye for detail, deep knowledge of the places he searches out, a self-effacing sense of humor and at times, a sharp dose of Edward Abby, the curmudgeon/eco-warrior/preacher.

Sixteen essays, ranging in length from a few pages to twenty or more, make up the content of Engelhard’s various journeys. Some accounts are tourist-like day-tripping; other tales tell of longer, more arduous efforts. It is the kind of book that you can pick up, choose a title that sparks your interest, and dive in.

Being an ex-river guide, I gravitated towards Engelhard’s river (and Lake Powell) essays first. On a day trip to a reservoir near Winslow, Ariz., Engelhard and his wife paddle their pack rafts up lake, and find sanctuary from crowded Lake Powell. Petroglyphs, grebes, swallows, sweet silence and a lack of other paddlers prove good medicine for any waterman or woman. Another essay finds him paddling his ducky on the Little Colorado below the Grand Falls. A three-day trip in Cataract Canyon rowing “catboats” offers an amusing peak into guiding culture. On each of these trips, we learn the deeper history of Native Americans.

In “The Last Fifteen Miles,” Engelhard takes the reader into Abby’s “heart of darkness,” a place the former has studiously avoided for many years - Glen Canyon dam. A pilgrimage of sorts. A tour of the dam (the belly of the beast?)) leaves Engelhard vexed at the tour guide’s one-

dimensional history of the dam. And also sad. He hikes down to the Colorado and launches his pack raft on an 18-mile float to Lee’s Ferry, a welcome respite from the tour guide’s well-intentioned, but short-sighted spiel.

We live in unsettled, disheartening times, and perhaps my favorite essay was “A Classroom with a View.” Here Engelhard shines a spotlight on the work Grand Canyon Youth does with teenagers from disadvantaged backgrounds. Their classroom, of course, is the Grand Canyon; their teachers are river guides, scientists and local volunteers. GCY’s mission is to introduce the next generation to the opportunity to experience wonder and natural beauty on an epic scale as well as encouraging scientific curiosity, a sense of community and looking after Mother Earth. Row the boat, run the rapids, unload the boat, take your turn at camp chores, share your stories, ponder, laugh and, yes, play. Most of the young participants come away with a smile on their face.

The majority of the remaining essays chronicle Engelhard’s numerous treks in and around Grand Canyon. The history of the places he visits is woven seamlessly into his personal narratives, so readers gain context and depth. There is a cross-country ski trek to Shoshoni Point (South Rim) in two-feet of freshly-fallen snow; another essay chronicles a hike down the Bright Angel trail at night in an effort to beat the crowds and mind-numbing heat. Engelhard’s attempt to complete a transit (along the North Rim) from Lees Ferry to Pierce Ferry fails, but the author bravely allows us a peak into his inner life when things go south with a hiking partner. My only quibble would be Engelhard’s failure to mention Kenton Grua’s successful transit in 1977, the first to do so. Then again, Grua rarely mentioned the feat to anyone.

As he meanders, Engelhard encounters individuals as smitten with Canyon country as he is. There is a “recreational” archeologist, a “dark sky” advocate/land artist and a rancher who is the unlikely custodian of a treasure trove of rock art on his 5,000-acre ranch. Engelhard recalls the tales of Canyon legends John Riffey, the “last Lone Ranger,” and Harvey Butchart, hiker extraordinaire. Once again, Engelhard weaves the deep history of the native tribes of canyon country into the narrative tapestry of his search for “eco-wisdom.” Away from the Canyon, we follow Engelhard’s footsteps to Rainbow Bridge, down

the Paria River, and on the Arizona Strip, each a worthy journey with a knowledgeable companion. Engelhard’s prose is richly evocative, even poetic. Just as the author often stops to reflect on the “big picture,” as well as William Blake’s “a world in a grain of sand,” the reader might well do the same—pause to savor a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire essay. If you like to meander, explore, and be surprised by what you find, you will not be disappointed with No Walk in The Park. CW

NO WALK IN THE PARK: SEEKING THRILLS, ECO-WISDOM AND LEGACIES In the Grand Canyon By Michael Engelhard Corax Books May 2024

theESSENTIALS ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, MAY 9-15, 2024

Utah Opera: Massenet’s Thaïs

Opera enthusiasts may never tire of experiencing the canon favorites by the likes of Puccini, Verdi and Mozart, and Utah Opera has certainly satisfied those folks over the years. Yet there’s also something special about the chance to encounter a work for the first time—and that’s what Utah Opera is offering with their season-closing production of Jules Massenet’s 1894 creation Thaïs. Set in Roman-occupied Egypt, it tells the tale of a Cenobite monk named Athanaël (baritone Troy Cook) who encounters the pagan courtesan Thaïs (soprano Nicole Heaton), and attempts to convert her to Christianity. However, his desires may not be entirely spiritual in nature, leading to a story of where true purity of heart comes from. As part of this production, artists from Repertory Dance Theatre join the artists of Utah Opera and the accompaniment of the Utah Symphony. “Massenet’s Thaïs is a piece the Utah Opera has never performed before and bringing it to life here on our stage has been an endeavor of almost eight years,” says Christopher McBeth, Utah Opera Artistic Director in a press release. “Part of the reason is that you need a cast that can pull it off. In fact, the title role has been reserved, really, for the most remarkable artists of our generation—and Nicole easily makes that rank.”

Utah Opera’s production of Massenet’s Thaïs concludes its run this week with performances May 8 at 7 p.m., May 10 at 7:30 p.m. and May 12 at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $21; visit utahopera.org for tickets and additional information. (Scott Renshaw)

Broadway at the Eccles:

Annie

Part of the genius of musical theater is someone looking at a source material that might not obviously lend itself to the genre and think, “I bet I could set that to songs.”

When, in 1972, lyricist Martin Charnin approached writer Thomas Meehan— then a New Yorker contributor with no theater credits— about writing a story for a musical based on the Little Orphan Annie comic strip, Meehan initially balked. Where could you find a narrative in the episodic adventures of plucky little girl and her wealthy benefactor? But eventually, he saw potential in a kind of Dickensian tale set in Depression-era New York City.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history: Nearly 50 years after its Broadway premiere, Annie has become a musical theater stalwart, winning multiple Tony Awards and inspiring two feature film adaptation. Audiences can’t get enough of Annie’s journey from her life in an orphanage with the mean Miss Hannigan, to the search for her birth parents, and the relationship between Annie and Daddy Warbucks. And along the way, they get the terrific lineup of songs by Charnin and composer Charles Strouse, including “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile” and the show-stopper “Tomorrow.”

Broadway at the Eccles’ presentation of Annie comes to the Eccles Theater (131 S. Main St.) for five performances only, May 10 at 8 p.m., May 11 at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., and May 12 at 1 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $59 - $149; visit arttix.org for tickets and additional event information. (SR)

Pioneer Theatre Company: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

Not every classic work of literature lends itself to a musical theater adaptation; for every Les Misérables, there are a dozen examples of misses that have been forgotten. But Pioneer Theatre Company artistic director Karen Azenberg knew there was something special about Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812—an adaptation of a section from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace—when she saw it on Broadway nearly a decade ago. In part, it was the unique approach to the electro-pop-heavy music. “What’s fun about it has these little homages here, there and everywhere to millions of musical styles, but is decidedly a more contemporary-sounding score,” Azenberg says. “And then it feels a little fresher, and you can look at it with a different eye.”

Additionally, the production makes fresh use of the theater space, removing a row of seats and extending part of the stage out into the middle of the audience. “I hate the word ‘immersive,’ because I think that’s something else,” Azenberg says, “but … the idea of using our space a little bit differently was really intriguing to me. … I love the opportunity to change it up, so that coming to the theater isn’t, ‘ho-hum, another same thing.’”

Pioneer Theatre Company’s production of Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 comes to the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre (300 S. 1400 East) May 10 –25, with performances Monday – Saturday. During the run of the show, the theater lobby will feature a pop-up experience called Pierre’s Parlor, featuring specialty bites and themed “mocktails.” Tickets are $55 - $79; visit pioneertheatre.org to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)

REVIEW CINEMA

Childhood’s End

We Grown Now finds quiet power in how hard it is to keep kids safe.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

The bleakness and violence in the setting of writer/director Minhal Baig’s We Grown Now—the Cabrini Green housing projects of Chicago circa 1992—makes its way onto the screen in indirect ways. When a grade-school student is accidentally killed in a drug-related shooting, the incident occurs off-screen; even the film’s main character, the victim’s young schoolmate Malik (Blake Cameron James), deliberately chooses not to view the child’s body at his memorial service. What we see instead are the consequences in that event’s aftermath: random police searches of the project’s apartments; parents forced to decide if they can stay; kids who fall into a state of despair far beyond their years. It’s understandable if some viewers might consider We Grown Now a sanitized version of the time and place it portrays, choosing not to get its hands dirty with actual bloodshed. Yet it feels like there’s a different goal in mind here, one that does not require the bleaker, grittier vibe of other narratives set in similar milieus. Baig’s visual storytelling is really about a certain idea of childhood, and how desperately parents try to keep their children protected from some of the uglier aspects of life. This is an often-lyrical child’s-eyeview tale that recognizes the tension in its own title, where boys not yet old enough to shave don’t always have the luxury of

simple bliss seems possible at the outset, as Malik and his best friend Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) drag a mattress from an abandoned apartment to go diving onto it. They’re still at a point where they can find enjoyment in silly dad-joke riddles, but that aforementioned instance of violence creates immediate tensions throughout the projects. And it forces Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and his grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkeson) to begin thinking about whether their best option is to move away.

That notion of moving to a better life provides a thematic undercurrent throughout We Grown Now, as Baig spends time on Anita reminiscing about leaving Jim Crow-era Mississippi for the better opportunities promised by the North, Malik’s own recurring dreams of trains and his fascination with Walter Ellison’s “Train Station” painting at the Chicago Art Institute. There’s a melancholy tone to the way Baig approaches this constant striving, and the recognition that being

Black in America means always hoping that the next stop will be the one that ends the sense of being perpetually at risk.

It’s easy to take the time to consider these ideas in We Grown Now because Baig’s visual filmmaking proves so patient and confident. Yes, there are scenes of upheaval and agitation, like the middle-ofthe-night visit by the housing authority police that turns Malik’s family apartment upside-down. But more often, Baig finds compositions that are hauntingly lovely in a more restrained way, like framing Malik and Dolores in their respective bedroom doorways, sharing a space but separated by the weight of responsibility felt by an anxious mother. Even the sound design creates tension out of subtlety, as the drip of a faucet in Malik’s apartment provides a rhythmic reminder of problems that are known about, but left unfixed.

We Grown Now spends less time on Eric and his life with his widowed father (Lil Rel Howrey), which becomes a bit of an impediment when we understand how

Eric has already begun to sink into nihilism and atheism, sensing no hope for their circumstances. It would have helped to get a better sense for the differing attitudes that begin to create a rift between the two friends, and why their shouts of “We exist!” from the projects’ hallways might come from different places. But the film as a whole is haunting in a somewhat unexpected way—not because it forces you to stare at the frightening reality of these kids’ lives, but because it understands the reality of trying to keep that frightening reality away from them. “I can’t keep you safe,” Dolores laments to Malik at one point, and We Grown Now finds its quiet power in wondering why it should be so hard to do so. CW

That

WE GROWN NOW BBB ½ Blake Cameron James Gian Knight Ramirez Jurnee Smollett Rated PG-13

BY WES LONG wlong@cityweekly.net

“‘Twas the week before Christmas, when all through the state / Utahns gathered at school boards, boiling with hate,” Benjamin Wood penned in December of 2021. “The books and the lesson plans, assembled with care / Were piled on kindling, as smoke filled the air. / The children were huddled under desks, behind doors / With visions of gunfire and deafening roars. / Mom cheered, ‘Let’s go Brandon!’ Dad donned a red cap, / While the unsheltered outside took a long winter’s nap.”

Far from describing a visit by St. Nick, Wood was surveying the sights and sounds taking place during our 38th year. Books were being banned, manufactured panic over Critical Race Theory was rampant and paranoia over vaccines continued apace. No vision of sugar plums here.

Salt Lake City was dinged for the worst air in the country and the second worst in the world by IQ Air—and Utah could also boast of having one of the highest rates of COVID infection. Mounting to this poisoned sky like dry leaves in a hurricane went the rhetorical boosterism of lawmakers, who reduced the inland port’s board to five members of their choosing.

To our wondering eyes, West Jordan lawmaker Steve Christiansen appeared, calling for audits of ballots and attacking vote-by-mail under the pretense of “election integrity.” The Legislature tried yet again to limit public records and introduce school vouchers while enacting another tax cut and passing both a gerrymandered redistricting plan and bans on mask mandates and trans athletes for good measure.

State school board member Natalie Cline freaked out over a Pride flag at an LDS seminary and sought to ban words like “equity,” “empathy” and “racial justice” from schools. Entrata CEO David Bateman, meanwhile, was issuing antisemitic emails against “the Jews” for the COVID pandemic.

But before we turn on our heels and give a “sad whistle,” as Wood wrote, seeking to flee these environs “like a missile,” we should also note other local stirrings. It was during this time that downtown’s old Utah (Pantages) Theatre came down and the 9th and 9th whale rose up. A historic wave of wildcat strikes were taking place across the country, citizens were respond-

ing to ongoing drought by “flipping” grass turf to xeriscaping and Little Free Libraries were springing up around the city.

During our 38th year, we paid tribute to longtime friend Thomas “Tom” Barberi (1943-2021) and enjoyed the contributions of both Thomas Crone as music editor and Kara Rhodes on the listings desk. As for the visions dancing about our writers’ heads, Chris Vanocur excerpted his book on the life of his father—journalist Sander Vanocur (1928-2019)—while Wes Long explored the buildings of Salt Lake architect Richard Kletting (1858-1943). Eric Peterson investigated the state’s haphazardly-metered water use and Taylor Hartman covered suspicious donations funneled from the anti-trafficking nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad to the Utah Attorney General’s office.

Yes, much was deemed upside-down, both afar and ’round here / ‘Twas hard for Utahns to e’en speak of good cheer. / But e’en as we’ve lingered on 38’s sights, / we have more to see—more alt-y delights!

Remembering Vol. 38: In the ‘hood “It was December 2019, and I was on Google Maps trying to figure out where I wanted to eat,” Bryant Heath related to Benjamin Wood for a Sept. 30, 2021, cover story. “I started zooming in and out of different regions and thinking how I’d been here and not been there, or maybe I’d driven down that main street but none of its side streets.”

Having lived in Salt Lake City for 10 years and yet having missed out on threequarters of it, Heath got to thinking. “I like to run and this would be a good activity,” he said, “like a New Year’s resolution.” So it was that Heath ran every mile of Salt Lake’s public streets. “When you’re in a car, you’re mostly concerned with getting from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible,” Heath observed. “Even riding a bike is a little bit like that—you’re still doing those mental calculations, and you’re not necessarily noticing the environment unless you’re on a leisure ride.”

Whether in Westpointe, The Avenues, Poplar Grove, Fairpark or East Liberty, Heath was struck by sculptures, pocket parks, shops and the familiar sights of people living their lives. “There’s so many people—and I was like this myself—who

go to work, go home, go eat at XYZ restaurant, go to ABC park, and that’s their bubble,” Heath concluded. “Even if you can take a different route home, or maybe you ride your bike a little more often in a new area, I guarantee you’ll see different things and experience different things that will be positive and beneficial”

In the hot seat

“I have a couple of doozies representing me,” John Saltas remarked of U.S. Reps Chris Stewart and Burgess Owens in May 2021. “I use that term loosely since neither actually does represent me. It wouldn’t be half so bad, but neither Owens nor Stewart has ever spoken as to what they can do for the people of Utah; rather, each speaks broadly of the evils of persons who are not members of the under-siege GOP.”

Tuning into a telephone town hall with Owens, Saltas described himself to be unimpressed by the selective, softball questions the representative deigned to answer while ignoring less rhetorically useful inquiries. “So here’s another deal,” Saltas announced. “Each week, we will publish a question for Burgess Owens. Right here.”

With the prize of a $25 gift certificate to the City Weekly Store and eligibility into a weekly drawing, the newspaper received an assortment of questions that readers wished to pose to the divisive (and QAnonfriendly) politician. Below is a sampling:

—“Why did you vote to overturn the last election—the same one where you won by a very small margin—breaking your oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution?” (Richard Write via Twitter)

—“Do you actually believe the stupid shit you say? Or are your statements just new ‘shiny objects’ to distract people from realizing you’re a moron who deserves to be recalled while continuing to suck $200,000 a year from the American taxpayer so you don’t need to unethically

suck money from a charity for children to make a living since you have no discernible skills?” (Jerry Schmidt)

—“It is a campaign law violation to be paid to run for office. Early looks into your Utah job running a rehab program were suspect. It appeared to be funded by a right wing political organization in Indiana. Was this ever investigated or resolved?” (Tom Lietko)

—“Who is Burgess Owens?” (Alison Ecks via Facebook)

In the sea

“A breakup can be as significant as a divorce,” dating counselor Loni Harmon told Carolyn Campbell, “especially in Utah, which places high value on happy families and relationships that work out.” Speaking with Campbell for a Feb. 10 cover story, Harmon observed that her clients have gone so far as to change their social circles and avoid particular stores to keep from seeing a former significant other.

“Even if you see a breakup coming,” Harmon said, “you still miss the person afterward. It’s called ‘the loss of the ideal.’ You hoped and prayed and wished that this [relationship] would come together, and now you’re grieving the fact that it didn’t.”

Campbell explored the differing avenues involved with starting over, getting serious and moving on through a series of touching interviews with Utah couples and therapists. From navigating “avoidant-attachment” behaviors and the phenomenon of “hybrid dating” to overcoming the grief of ending a marriage, Campbell’s portraits offered both wisdom and hope, whatever one’s experience may be. “Although it’s possible to break up with someone and start swiping an app again that same night,” Campbell summarized, “it’s appropriate to give it some time to settle.”

Harmon reminded readers that a person is worthy of love and belonging, even if they could do with introspection into what may have contributed to a faltering relationship. “My philosophy is that dating isn’t a game, but a strategy that we need to learn,” she told Campbell. “Ask yourself who you would be suitable for and who would be good for you. There is a lot of information and resources to learn from— both self-help and therapy—so that you can rebound and be healthy again.”CW

Lake Lore

From the mountain men to modern Utahns, the Great Salt Lake has been a source of myth and misunderstanding.

BY TAMERON FAWCETT comments@cityweekly.net

During their 1824-25 winter encampment in Cache Valley, a bet was made among the mountain men: What lay at the end of the Bear River? One young man named Jim Bridger was selected to follow the river to its end. In a bull boat, made of willow branches and buffalo hide, he rode through the mountains and into the Great Salt Lake.

Upon drinking the brine, Bridger—the first American recorded as seeing the lake— is recounted as exclaiming, “Hell, we are on the shores of the Pacific!”

The lake’s salinity convinced the mountain men that the lake must be an arm of the Pacific Ocean. Bridger’s “discovery” recalled to their minds the Buenaventura River, an old myth of the American West, that had the potential to transform the fur trade and open up the West to incoming settlers.

The only problem was the Buenaventura River—and the dream of using waterways to facilitate travel coast to coast—doesn’t exist. Yet, for these explorers, the myth began a decades-long journey to understand the Great Salt Lake and its role in the West.

Today, 200 years later, Utahns are still on that journey.

In 2023, researchers at Brigham Young University released a report explaining that if 2020 water loss rates remained unchanged, the lake would cease to exist by 2028, stating “Most Utahns do not realize the urgency of this crisis.”

It is a crisis that has been worsening for quite some time. Water levels in the lake hit new record lows in 2021 and again in 2022. The lake did not fall to these records overnight. Rather, the lake has been in a downturn for nearly 40 years.

“The solutions we are looking at will probably take a decade or more to see results from,” said Carie Frantz, a geoscientist at Weber State University, “and it will only take a few bad snow years to send the lake back into a state of emergency.”

For a while yet, we will be facing these stories of a looming catastrophe. There is good reason for this urgency—the Great Salt Lake is at the heart of Utah’s future, and that isn’t much different to the way it has always been.

‘Somewhere, Somehow, Sometime’

In 1776, Franciscan friars Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante set out to find a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California. Along the way, they crossed the modern-day Green River, calling it the Rio de Buenaventura. In his journal, Escalante made a note of the river’s flow “west-southwest” and continued on.

The note was accurate, but the map made from the journey featured crucial errors.

In his 1947 book The Great Salt Lake, historian Dale Morgan detailed how Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, the expedition’s cartographer, “with vigorous strokes of his pen ... joined the [Green and Sevier] rivers as one, and made this river to flow into a brackish lake of indefinite extent.”

Just north of that lake, on Pacheco’s maps, was “Lake Timpanogos.” This amalgamation of the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake featured a single outlet flowing west. Miera’s mistakes, a complication in translating Ute descriptions of the region into a physical map, were soon compounded.

Through the early 1800s, other cartographers used Miera’s map as their foundation. Although these cartographers generally agreed on the placement of the Laguna de Miera (now called Sevier Lake) and Lake Timpanogos (now Salt Lake), they could not agree on which of these lakes fulfilled the promise of the Buenaventura in reaching the Pacific.

Morgan explained it as such: “the mappers of the mythological drafted their maps for the next 20 years, each according to his fancy [...] The lake itself was called Salt Lake, Lake Salado, Lake Teguayo or, once in

a while, Lake Buenaventura. Concerning the outlet of this lake, the cartographers could not make up their minds.”

No matter the cartographer, they all furthered the fictitious waterway flowing from Utah’s lakes to the Pacific. John Barton, a historian at Utah State University, explained, “Their understanding of geography at that time was if you’ve got a river, it’s going to somewhere, somehow, sometime get to the ocean.”

‘Sought Not Furs Alone’

When businessman William Henry Ashley envisioned the Rocky Mountain fur trade, he saw it taking place on the rivers of the West, echoing the French fur trade system. Only after a disastrous encounter with the Arikara on the banks of the Missouri River did he look to overland trails to move goods to and from St. Louis. Still, Ashley’s men relied on waterways for their livelihoods.

Mountain men’s work—laying traps in the rivers of the Rocky Mountains and collecting beaver pelts for the yearly rendezvous—was difficult, deadly and far from profitable. For these men, maps of the region mattered little.

However, to the captains of the company who, as Morgan saw it, “hungered after fame and sought not furs alone,” the maps were a guide to discovery.

By 1824, European and American explorers had yet to venture through the Salt Lake Valley. The mountain men were among the first outsiders to come into this region and document it. When Jim Bridger arrived at the Great Salt Lake, it seemed to confirm the maps. A route to the Pacific surely laid just out of view. All they had to do was find it.

The Tanner Map, published in 1822, built upon misinformation, rumor and the mistaken assumptions of prior cartographers in depicting a nonexistent river—known as the Buenaventura— thought to flow southwest from the Great Salt Lake to the Pacific Ocean.

Ashley’s curiosity had been piqued by the lake, but his travels down the Buenaventura (Green) River did not go past Desolation Canyon. After determining the Green River would not take him to the lake, he opted to travel overland to set eyes on its waters.

In detailing Ashley’s report of the “new route to the Pacific Ocean,” the Missouri Advocate wrote in 1825, “Gen. A [...] fell upon what he supposed to be, the sources of the Buenaventura.” They continued, “at the extreme west end of this Lake, a large river flows out, and then runs in a westwardly direction … the headwaters of the river represented as the Buenaventura.”

Mountain man Robert Campbell reported in 1826 that four men in Ashley’s company had been dispatched to circumnavigate the lake. Campbell met the men following their voyage, noting they had “returned with indifferent success.”

In reporting on this venture, the Missouri Advocate wrote that the men “did not exactly ascertain its outlet, but passed a place where they supposed it must have been.” Morgan posited that while the “ambiguity of that supposition has often been found amusing [...] the opening along the western lake shore north of Strongs Knob [...] may have seemed a likely outlet.” The area was one which would have been difficult for the men, who at that point had nearly perished from dehydration, to further explore.

Later in their lives, James Clyman, Henry Fraeb, Moses “Black” Harris and Louis Vasquez each claimed, independently, to have taken part in the 24-day journey. Vasquez wrote in 1858 that he had “circumnavigated this sheet of brine, for the purpose of finding out definitely whether it was an arm of the sea or not, and thus dis-

“The solutions we are looking at [for healthy Great Salt Lake water levels] will probably take a decade or more to see results from. And it will only take a few bad snow years to send the lake back into a state of emergency.”

—Carie Frantz

covered that it was in reality merely a large inland lake, without an outlet.”

The statement echoed those of his fellow voyagers in their own accounts of the journey. Despite all four men agreeing that there was no outlet, as Morgan said best, “the idea of the Buenaventura was not easy to dismiss.”

‘Purposeful Discovery’

The Buenaventura was the ticket to changing the fur trade. At the turn of the 19th century, the Great Salt Lake, like the river, was little more than myth. Confirming the existence of one surely confirmed the other.

Historian John Barton offered this justification, “All these mountain men, they’re not from the West. They’re from the east where rivers are big and navigable ... [The Buenaventura] would change the entire focus of the fur trade.”

At the time, waterways were the safest and most efficient way to travel. Overland journeys were dependent on the resilience of people, their guides, pack animals and wagons. Travelers had to be ready for the risks that came with the wilderness—inclement weather and Indigenous peoples protecting their homelands. To the trailblazing mountain men, the Buenaventura River could bring the United States west. William Ashley would leave the Rocky Mountains in the summer of 1826. He had sold his company to his lieutenants—David Jackson, William Sublette and Jedediah Smith. Jackson and Sublette took on many of the business duties but, according to Morgan, “to Jedediah Smith […] fell the task of purposeful discovery.”

Through 1826, stories from local Indigenous peoples swirled among mountain men

“Their understanding of geography at that time was if you’ve got a river, it’s going to somewhere, somehow, sometime get to the ocean.”

—John Barton

Weber State geoscientist

of the mythical river. These rumors raised more questions on the area south and west of the lake—new paths of exploration for Smith to pursue.

Following a failed expedition by Peter Skene Ogden to the north side of the lake, Smith led a group of men south. His goal was not just about the Buenaventura, but rather charting out an area that had confounded fur traders for the past two years.

He traveled down the Jordan River and then up the Sevier River to Utah Valley. There he turned south, later traveling along the Colorado and Mojave rivers to California. Though an arduous journey, Smith never forgot his aim.

Now starting at the Pacific, Smith looked to identify the Buenaventura from the ocean back to Utah. He went north to the Sonora Pass and back east to the Great Salt Lake.

Smith remarked in his journal, “the sight of this lake surrounded by a wilderness of more than 2,000 miles diameter excited in me those feelings known to the traveler, who, after long and perilous journeying, comes again in view of his home. But so it was with me for I had traveled so much in the vicinity of the Salt Lake that it had become my home of the wilderness.”

The expedition led Smith to determine that the Buenaventura had to lie further south. He embarked on a second expedition in 1827 that stretched into 1830 as venturing took him beyond California into Oregon and back east to St. Louis.

Smith would never set eyes upon the Great Salt Lake again. He set out west once more in 1831, traveling along the Santa Fe trail and aiming to establish trade in the southwest. Smith was killed along the way.

With Smith dead, recorded tradesmen’s expeditions to find the Buenaventura came

to an end. In truth, by 1831, the Wasatch Front beavers were scarce. As Morgan detailed it, “fur was stripped from the Utah country in the four years after the Great Salt Lake was discovered; and after 1828, the annual rendezvous, that center of gravity for mountain life, moved northerly.”

‘Final Nail in the Coffin’

Although the mountain men had left the lake behind, other explorers continued to search for that old, fabled river.

Benjamin Bonneville, while traveling near the Snake River in 1832, sent a group of men led by Joseph Walker to explore the lake and its hoped-for river to California. Walker was, of course, unsuccessful; making for California overland through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Biographer Washington Irving offered insight into Bonneville’s thinking, “The failure of this expedition was a blow to his pride, and a still greater blow to his purse. The Great Salt Lake still remained unexplored.”

Walker had once again found no outlet from the Great Salt Lake. Bonneville took full credit, “It was from my explorations and those of my party alone that it was ascertained that this lake had no outlet.”

Bonneville used this claim to bolster his effort to name the lake after himself, despite having never set foot near its shores. Despite Bonneville’s pretensions, consensus was growing—the Buenaventura did not exist, certainly not as an arm of the Great Salt Lake. But consensus was not absolute.

John Bidwell, a pioneer, later wrote about the pervasive misinformation, “An intelligent man with whom I boarded possessed a map that showed these rivers to be large, and he advised me to take tools along to make canoes, so that … we could descend … to the Pacific.”

In 1842, John Charles Frémont, still in the early days of his career, was well positioned to be an agent of U.S. expansion as Manifest Destiny captured the minds of leaders in Washington D.C. With former tradesmen Thomas Fitzpatrick and Kit Carson as guides, Frémont was tasked with charting the interior of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast.

The expedition party went west along the Oregon Trail in May 1843. When they came upon the Bear River, Frémont, understanding it the main tributary of the lake, diverted from his course.

Frémont arrived at the Great Salt Lake on Sept. 6, recording in his logs, “We were upon the waters of the famous lake which forms a salient point among the remarkable geographic features of the country, and around which the vague and superstitious obscurity which we anticipated pleasure in dispelling, but which, in the meantime, left a crowded field for the exercise of our imagination.”

When they finished on the shoreline, they rode out to “Disappointment Island”—now Frémont Island—to finish their work. They departed the lake on Sept. 10, charting it in just four days.

Even with a complete map of the Great Salt Lake, Frémont was not yet finished.

This whole misunderstanding had been based on the geographical assumption that rivers will always meet the ocean. Early in his expedition, Frémont had concluded, but not yet proved, that this region was a basin. As he traveled and saw the region, he put together the pieces—with the Sierra Nevada range to the west and the Wasatch range to the east, no rivers could flow beyond them. John Barton explained that by understanding the nature of the rivers here, Frémont put “the final nail in the coffin of hope for a river Buenaventura.”

Frémont’s final report named this region as the “Great Basin” and laid to rest the myth of the Rio de Buenaventura for good.

President James Polk was reticent to accept this at first. After 68 years of echoing maps, the absence of the Buenaventura was difficult to accept.

With the dream of a natural path to the Pacific dead and finally buried, the United States would have to forge a path themselves. The first proposals for a transcontinental railway were put before Congress three years later in 1847.

Myth Busters

Sometimes, the simplest answers can be difficult to come by. Today we understand the complexities of the Great Basin and that saline lakes have no natural outlets. Yet, it took nearly 70 years for the men of the era to understand that.

Even as explorers disproved the old myth, time and time again, others persisted in believing the fairy tale.

Fur trappers saw on maps something that would revolutionize their livelihoods. They spent time searching for it, time trying to understand the region as they had been told it was. All the while they neglected what was right in front of them.

It was not just the mountain men, either, Carie Frantz says, “Western settlers tended to view the lake as a garbage dump and held the opinion that water that made it to the lake was water wasted. Culturally, we only started to shake that toxic way of thinking quite recently.”

According to Frantz, the downward trajectory of the lake has been known since the 1990s, with scientists then predicting and speaking up about many of the consequences that Utahns have witnessed in the past several years.

“The collective political will to act to fix the underlying issues, however, wasn’t really there,” Frantz said.

The search for the Buenaventura saw plenty of men speak up. There was no river, and yet the search continued. And the delay acknowledging modern realities has caused long-term damage to the lake.

Frantz went on to say, “we had to seal off the North Arm of the lake to prevent a salinity-based collapse of the ecosystem.”

Just as Frémont’s breaking of the myth forced a reexamination of routes west, so, too, did a drying lake break the myth it would permanently remain without action. In the end, there is no river of good fortune to make dreams a reality. In its absence, the future is in our hands. CW

Carie Frantz

Utah State University historian

John Barton

Corn-Do Spirit

House of Corn 2.0 is back to serve up some traditional Mexican comfort food.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

I’ll be the first to admit that when I visit a Mexican food spot, I don’t consider the tortilla nearly as deeply as I consider the filling. That’s not to say that I don’t love a warm tortilla, either struggling to contain all of its burrito contents or folded into little triangles on the side of my plate. I just haven’t spent the requisite amount of time pondering the tortillamaking process. It was my recent visit to House of Corn that made me realize this—and it’s restaurant experiences like these that prompt me to take a closer look at things that I often take for granted.

House of Corn’s recently opened downtown location—it’s claimed that Even Steven’s space next to the 7-11 on 400 East—is more of a rebirth than a grand opening. The original House of Corn was in the Sandy Village, but owner/operator Armando Guerrero had to close the Sandy location at the end of 2022 after a nightmare that included flooding, issues with the property management and no shortage of financial struggles.

The new digs are great—Guerrerro’s Mexican heritage is on full display within, and the menu is packed with plenty of traditional cuisine. As the restaurant’s name implies, corn is a way of life when you’re in this house. It’s not often that you see a menu planned out where yel-

DINE

low, red and blue corn are all featured so prominently, and it really makes you wonder why you don’t see this more often. It reminds me of Anthony Bourdain’s tip to complement the rice at a sushi joint, which made me think that a similar maxim should be proclaimed for the masa dough at a Mexican spot.

For fans of traditional Mexican food, House of Corn will scratch a very specific itch. The menu includes street tacos ($4.99), tamales ($4), chilaquiles ($11.99)—breakfast is served all day, by the way—and hefty bowls of pozole ($12.99). The presence of giagantic pambazos ($12.99), plate-sized sandwiches whose bread adopts a rich crimson hue from being toasted and then dunked in a chili sauce, help veer the menu into something right out of Mexico City.

The street tacos are an excellent place to start at House of Corn. They’re served al pastor style, and they really give you a sense of how seriously this place takes its tortillas. There’s a freshness, a heartiness and an overall affection for both the versatility and structure that corn has brought to Mexican food.

If you want to take things up just a tad, the quesabirrias ($12.99) are spectacular. This plate includes two nicely-proportioned blue corn tortillas stuffed with slow-roasted birria and plenty of melty cheese. Naturally, this plate comes with a cup of beef consomme swimming with onions and cilantro for dipping purposes. If you don’t dunk your quesabirrias to the point when consomme is dripping down your arm with each bite, what are you even doing with your life?

Birria is having a pretty decent moment all over town, but it’s gotten pretty easy to spot a faker—and House of Corn is definitely not faking it with their recipe. There’s plenty of perfectly-tender shred-

ded beef, and all that rich flavor just pops when you douse everything in consomme. And those tortillas! The flavor of the blue corn pairs very nicely with the birria; yellow corn can be a little sweeter, but the earthier notes of the blue corn work so much better here.

I also gave the a la carte tamales a try, because I figured you can’t go to a place called House of Corn and not see what they’re doing with their masa. They come in red sauce or green sauce varieties, and as soon as you peel off the steamed corn husk, you can see how gorgeous this masa is. The red sauce imparts a deep, rich color to the masa, as well as the shredded chicken inside. This one might have edged out the green sauce tamale slightly, as the smoky flavors of the red sauce added a nice contrast to the starchy masa.

One of my favorite things about tamales is the texture of that steamed masa, and the tamales at House of Corn are excellent in this department. You’ve got a nice, thick layer of masa before you get to the filling, and each bite is full of that wonderful masa flavor. They can get a little dry, which is where I would recom mend checking out the fully stocked salsa bar; dousing these with some spicy salsa goes a long way to enhance the dish.

As I never made it out to House of Corn when it was in Sandy, I’m glad I had the chance to experience their menu within the cozy confines of the restaurant’s new digs. It’s easy to write off new Mexican restaurants as repeats of existing concepts, but the team at House of Corn has something truly special going on. Here’s to second chances and second helpings. CW

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: Midnight Especial- Dark Mexican Lager

Bewilder Brewing

445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com

On Tap:  Irish Lager

Bohemian Brewery

94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

On Tap: Boho Extra Dry Lager

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: Mesogose - Miso Sour with Yuzu & Ginger

Craft by Proper

1053 E. 2100 So., SLC properbrewingco.com

On Tap: Gungan Sith Lord - Dark Lager

Desert Edge Brewery

273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com

On Tap:  La Playa-Mexican Style lager

Epic Brewing Co.

825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com

On Tap: Horchata Cream Ale

Fisher Brewing Co.

320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com

On Tap: A rotation of up to 17 Fresh Beers!

Grid City Beer Works

333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com

On Tap: Cask Nitro CO2

Helper Beer

159 N Main Street, Helper, UT  helperbeer.com

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

On Tap: Guava Goddess

Kiitos Brewing

608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

On Tap: Limited Release IPA - Citra & Nelson Hops - 7.0% ABV

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

On Tap: Our brand new Helles!

Level Crossing Brewing Co., POST

550 So. 300 West #100, SLC LevelCrossingBrewing.com

On Tap: Philly Sour Fruit Bat

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com

On Tap:  Bulliet Bourbon barrel-aged Brown

Mountain West Cider

425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com

On Tap: Pomme Paloma- Grapefruit & Hopped Cider collab with Pink Boots Society

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

Park City Brewery 1764 Uinta Way C1 ParkCityBrewing.com

On Tap: Jalapeno Ale

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

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

On Tap: Cached Out Hefeweisen -- Now available to go!

Proper Brewing/Proper Burger 857 So. Main & 865 So. Main properbrewingco.com

Proper Brewing: SLC Pils - Pilsner

Proper Burger: Salted Caramel PorterPorter Brewed with Caramel and Salt

Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191, Moab properbrewingco.com

On Tap: YRJB - Juicy IPA

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

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 1640 Redstone Center Redrockbrewing.com

On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier

RoHa Brewing Project

30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com

On Tap: Draft: 7 C’s (IPA brewers with 7 ‘C’ Hops for our 7th Anny, April 20)

Brewers Select: MEGA Cloud Seeding Hazy IPA

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations

RoostersBrewingCo.com

On Tap: Pineapple Sour Seltzer

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

On Tap: Chocolate cherry stout on draft

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com

On Tap: Luau Rider - Coconut Chocolate Milk Stout

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

On Tap: Scion Oaked Strangler 7.1% ABV

Second Summit Cider 4010 So. Main, Millcreek https://secondsummitcider.com

On Tap: White Sangria Cider

Shades Brewing

154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer

On Tap: Foggy Goggle Winter Lager Live Music:  Thursdays

Shades On State

366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com

On Tap: Hellion Blonde Ale

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:  S Salt Lake Brewing Co’s Staycation Pilsner Squatters and Wasatch Brewery 1763 So 300 West Utahbeers.com

On Tap: Holy Haze IPA 5% Love Local new release April 26 Strap Tank Brewery, Lehi 3661 Outlet Pkwy, Lehi, UT StrapTankBrewery.com

BEER NERD

India Pilsner Ales

The

“P” in

“IPA” may soon mean something else.

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

Pilsner malt has been the main ingredient in most lagers for quite some time. Now, however, brewers are also finding advantages in using it for IPAs. This week’s beers feature some pilsner malts in them; can it compete with their traditional caramel-flavored malt cousins?

Red Rock - Above the Clouds: This new twist on a West Coast Double IPA features Mosaic, Citra and Strata hops. The look is also slightly different, as the malt bill features pilsner malt. It looks incredible with its crystal-clear golden hues that glow in the light. The head is thick and beautiful, releasing so many aromas that are paramount to enjoying this complex brew, and leaving delicate, beautiful lacing on the glass. It smells fruity and hoppy, with moderate cannabinoid attributes. I can already tell it is a great beer. The smell is citrus rind and pine, but I get a lot of dank, earthy hops as well. The pilsner malt doesn’t offer much to the nose, and is on the lighter side and very well-balanced. It tastes like the epitome of the West Coast Style IPA. I get hops galore, but in the right quantities and with the perfect balance. The 8.4 percent ABV is subtle and well-hidden, warming the tongue as the sip proceeds. I get piney, earthy qualities, along with orange rind, and citrus hops mixed with a perfectly muted roasted grain malt-base. After the gulp, I notice tongue-smacking resin, oils, earthy hops, an ashy aftertaste and plenty of grapefruit and zest. It is so juicy, fruity and bready. The West Coast fruits and flavors and dank hops really come out beautifully. Mouthfeel is fullbodied and delicious, while the malts are

(thankfully) not syrupy like many West Coast doubles can be. I can tell from the slight sweetness and mouth consistency that they use pilsner malts and a variety of my favorite hops. It finishes clean and smooth, with a lingering bitterness that is resiny from the three hop varieties.

Verdict: Another excellent addition to Red Rock’s Double IPA line-up. Its mix of new and old hop flavors will mostly appeal to lovers of West Coast IPA varieties. The glorious clarity will also speak to the classic IPA crowd.

Templin Family - Big Bubs: This new IPA pours a foamy, frothy off-white head over an unfiltered golden body. I suspect there’s more pilsner malt happening here as well. In true Templin form, head retention is very good, and lacing is light and streaked. Humble hop aromas of tropical fruit, apricots, citrus peel, peppery spice and a touch of grass appear atop a light pale malt body, with a touch of biscuit malt for enhanced body. Hop bitterness and flavor is very mildmannered for an IPA, but the overall aroma is fairly well-balanced and clean. Potency is medium.

While the bitterness of the hop profile is stronger in the flavor, the hop selection is slightly more simplistic and less clean than what the aroma gives off: pithy grapefruit, strawberry, herbs and grass with a bold bitterness. The malt profile is fairly crisp, with a modest but appreciated level of sweetness, finishing on a note of herbs and pepper with a subtle grainy undertone. The texture of this 7.0 percent ale is silky soft, fairly clean and moderately dry. Carbonation is mild, generating a mellow frothiness and a light crispness on the finish.

Verdict: The beer itself is a fairly modest IPA—a bit lighter in body and hop flavor than the average TF IPA, but with the expected startling dose of hop punch and bitterness that comes with the style. I found this beer incredibly quaffable, and more flavorful as the chill subsided.

Cans of both of these IPAs are out now in 16-ounce sizes, and best enjoyed from their respective breweries. As always, cheers!

BEER + PIZZA = <3 SUN-THU: 11am - 10pm • FRI-SAT: 11am - 11pm

the BACK BURNER

BY ALEX SPRINGER | @captainspringer

Queer Food Feastival at Mountain West Hard Cider

The Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce will be hosting their annual Queer Food Feastival on May 10 from 5:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. at Mountain West Hard Cider (425 N. 400 West) The event promises to be a tasty celebration of our local queer communities and our local dining scene. The list of scheduled food vendors is already shaping up for a memorable evening; I’ve spotted Laziz Kitchen, Sweet Hazel and Co., Xiao Bao Bao, Avenues Proper and Beehive Cheese among many others on the guest list. With the weather getting warmer and our dining scene getting more diverse and exciting, this event promises to be a great way to kick off patio season.

Premiere Opens in Park City

Park City’s historic Main Street recently welcomed a swanky new nightspot called Premiere (268 Main Street). It’s 5,000 square feet of pure swank, as it’s aesthetic borrows heavily from Prohibition-era speakeasies—a historical connection to old school Park City, which was where SLC denizens traveled to drink back in the day. In addition to being a fancy event venue and nightspot, Premiere will feature a fully-stocked kitchen led by Executive Chef Chico Gonzalez, whose Latin-inspired menu brings a bit of Los Angeles swagger to the party. The dining menu will be complemented by craft cocktails from mixologist Felipe Marin, who’s got more than a few tasty libations to share.

Blind Rabbit Kitchen Opens in Sugar House

Downtown Sugar House recently welcomed Blind Rabbit Kitchen (1080 E. 2100 South), a steakand-cocktails restaurant that is already generating some healthy buzz. Sugar House visitors will recognize this spot as the previous home of Pizza Volta, so it’s a bit of a conceptual leap for Sugar House’s main commercial district. However, early reports of Blind Rabbit have been pretty positive overall; its modern decor, focus on craft cocktails and its steak and steak-adjacent eats will be sure to draw a crowd come dinner time. I’ll keep this one on my radar; upscale steak and cocktail spots are super-hot right now, and this one has me curious.

Quote of the Week: “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” –Humphrey Bogart

Local Openers

Utah bands get their chance to shine at Kilby Block Party.

BY SOPHIE CALIGUIRI comments@cityweekly.net

Me, you, all your friends and even your mother (maybe especially your mother, as it’s woefully placed on Mother’s Day weekend for a second year in a row) have heard of the Kilby Block Party—new and improved in recent years with internationally-recognized touring acts headlining in 2022, 2023 and 2024. What started as a true, single day “block party” has grown into a three-day festival that completely infests the Utah State Fairgrounds one weekend each May. And, while it’s easy to get excited over this year’s heavy hitters (e.g. Interpol and LCD Soundsystem) Kilby Block Party still does an excellent job of looping in great local acts to complement an already enticing line-up. So, read on and arrive early to catch some of Utah’s finest on the big stage this weekend.

Bobo (Friday, 11:45-12:10, Desert Stage): Electro-pop duo Bobo bring a vitalizing dose of sweet synthesizer to the Salt Lake City scene, reminiscent of the festival favorite Grimes and indie-pop sweethearts STRFKR. Making waves in the small but mighty—and growing!—Utah DJ and electronic scene, in addition to their stage performance, Bobo will also perform a DJ set with touring act Current Joys on May 11 at Urban Lounge.

Drusky (Friday, 11:45-12:10, Lake Stage): Happy-go-lucky Drusky is the glittering answer to Utah’s indie ask. With an impressive array of singles already under their belts, this year, Drusky ushered in a pretty-in-pop album. Fittingly titled Cake & Absinthe, the group’s newest endeavor directs a confectioner’s green-colored gaze toward what indie music has traditionally explored best: all that is bitter-

sweet, or with a bad aftertaste.

Daytime Lover (Friday, 12:15-12:45, Mountain Stage): Salt Lake City’s dreampop darlings resemble some of the most proficient in the genre, including pillars such as Mazzy Star and contemporaries like Weyes Blood. Welding soft-yet-blistering vocals to velvety shoegaze-inspired instrumentals, Daytime Lover remains a local fan favorite for a reason.

Boyfriend Sushi Town (Saturday, 11:4512:10, Desert Stage): Forget the cutesy, campy name: This alt-rock outfit with a sprinkling of pop-punk influences brings a darker edge to this year’s local lineup. Their most recent album release, Player, sports singles so refined that they would blend seamlessly with superstar’s tracks, specifically reminiscent of Basement, and fit already for radio play on any nationally-sourced station.

Blue Rain Boots (Saturday, 11:45-12:10, Lake Stage): Just as wholesomely happy as their name sounds, Blue Rain Boots is an indie group that calls to mind a blazing blue swash of color on a day otherwise defined by its dark studded sky. Blue Rain Boots brings forth a semi-sweet array of songs that feel like coming of age in a starstudded Sundance flick, all with enough real heart to ensure against the saccharine.

Sculpture Club (Saturday, 12:15-12:45, Mountain Stage): Maybe not-so-far distanced from the trio of a similar moniker, Culture Club, Utah’s Sculpture Club is certainly a sonic blast from the past in only the best way possible. From design aesthetic to outfits and stage presence to musicality, this local band embodies everything marvelous about the ’80s new wave in-between scene: an ode to punk that just can’t help itself when it comes to pop.

Persona 749 (Sunday, 11:45-12:10, Lake Stage): Following the battery-operated current, like Bobo, Persona 749 also incorporates elements of electronica-inspired beats to contemporary surround-sound. With post/egg punk, even ska-ish influenced tracks, Persona 749 songs sound like they would play seamlessly over a vintage

MUSIC

found-footage space-age documentary, while simultaneously remaining modern enough to satisfy contemporary cravings.

Body of Leaves (Sunday, 11:45-12:10, Desert Stage): A four-piece alternative indie rock outfit, Body of Leaves weaves seemingly endless influences into a congruent, signature sound that differs from song to song. Some singles are slightly more leaden, leaning into a more heavy-handed repertoire, while others recall the fog-machine sports court floor of an ’80s prom, playing almost but not-all-the-way new-wave hits.

26fix (Sunday, 12:15 - 12:45, Kilby Stage): A dizzy dip into pseudo-psychedelic pop, 26fix brings the beat in with a invigorating take on a newly-popular yet still very male-dominated genre. With rhythms so bouncy they certainly must be buoyant, and vocals so dreamy you’ll wonder if you’re still asleep, 26fix is ushering in a new era into the Salt Lake City music scene, one catchy single at a time.

Nicole Canaan (Sunday, 12:15-12:45,

Mountain Stage): Nicole Canaan is a vocal tour-de-force, steadfastly exploring a desolate genre I can only really describe as apocalyptic pop. With moderate similarities to Men I Trust, Lana Del Rey and especially Jesse Jo Stark (who Canaan opened for in the fall of 2023), Canaan’s refrains gracefully tip-toe the line of delicately ethereal and ruinously haunting.

Little Moon (Sunday, 12:50 -1:20, Desert Stage): It’s quite simple to see why Little Moon were crowned winners of the 2023 NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert Contest: They’re just that good. An artistic amalgam of indie folk, Little Moon is recognizable for their noteworthy use of nature inspired instrumentals and honeyed vocals to boot.

So, hydrate and sunscreen away—you’re certainly in good musical company this weekend. And: Don’t forget to call mom! Or, better yet, bring her along to see what Utah artists have to offer. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, after all. CW

Little Moon

THURSDAYS

FRIDAY, MAY 10

SATURDAY, MAY 11

SHARK SUNDAYS

POOL TOURNEY HOSTED BY TANNER

MONDAYS

REGGAE MONDAY WITH DJ NAPO TUESDAYS

WEDNESDAYS KARAOKE

MUSIC PICK S

Crankdat @ Venue 6SIX9 5/10

Crankdat, aka Christian Smith, hails from Ohio, the home of American bass music. Known for its Lost Lands festival, which includes the heaviest bass EDM artists, Smith is one of the kingpins. A live set from Crankdat at Venue 6SIX9 (669 S. West Temple) will be high-octane energy where fans can absolutely lose themselves in the heavy music with the collective of the dance floor. The groundbreaking “re-cranks” of Smith’s early career set him apart and fused energy into already established songs within electronic dance music. In 2018 and 2019, Smith’s own productions such as “Reasons to Run” and “Welcome to the Jungle” are distinctive in building soundscapes with crazy-heavy drops. In 2024, he is still going strong evidenced by his release “Big Bang” with international EDM star, DJ Snake. And now he is on his explosive Total Termination Tour where fans can get the full Crankdat experience, which includes hardhitting tracks and seamless execution. The shows by Mutiny Music Collective at Boxpac Project sell out very quickly, so do not hesitate to secure tickets. Tickets cost $30. Go to seetickets.us (Arica Roberts)

Life is Better on the patio! Live Music

WEDNESDAY, MAY 8 J-RAD COOLEY

SATURDAY, MAY 11 THE DISCO CHICKENS

THURSDAY, MAY 9 GORGEOUS GOURDS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 TJ GURN

FRIDAY, MAY 10 SLICE

THURSDAY, MAY 16 REGGAE THURSDAY TRIBE OF I

Crankdat

MUSIC PICK S

Choir Boy @ Metro Music Hall 5/10

Is Dracula the prime influence of the goth movement? Maybe Vlad is just goth-adjacent. Salt Lake City’s own Choir Boy—consisting of Adam Klopp, Michael Paulsen, Chaz Costello and Jeff Kleinman—is at the very least a sub-genre.. With their 2020 release Gathering Swans, Choir Boy managed to marry the extreme, the poppy, the ridiculous and the sublime into some great tunes—and, crucially and unlike many “dark: bands, you can dance to it. “Oftentimes I’ll write down phrases. I’ll have a concept or an idea or a phrase that’s the jumping off point,” Klopp told Adhoc. “Sometimes I’ll just have a massive [list of] phrases or ideas that pertain to this one concept and then I’ll try to funnel that into a refined rhythm. Songs are weird.” Bizarre compositions or not, I know that I’ll never quite recover the simple excitement of being hipped to this group: the resonant melodies, adaptable bass lines, eclectic instrumentation and that voice. Klopp is a genuine talent. Transylvanian tropes aside, I cannot wait to see what comes next for this Utah-based quartet, and seeing them throw down live is always an event. If you’re going to go for it, go the whole way. I feel like Choir Boy does that. Sculpture Club and Levelor open. Catch these artists at Metro Music Hall on Friday, May 10. Doors at 9 p.m. Tickets for the 21+ show are $15 and can be found at 24tix.com (Mark Dago)

Bruce Cockburn @ The State Room 5/12

Bruce Cockburn is a folk-music laureate for modern times. At age 77, he can look back on a body of work shaped by politics, activism, spirituality and a stylistic diversity, one that’s found him embracing folk, jazz, rock and world-beat rhythms without regard to any single style or genre. On the track titled “From Push Comes to Shove”—from his latest album, O Sun O Moon he sums up his stance succinctly: “What will go wrong will go wrong/What will go right will go right/Push come to shove/It’s all about love.” Indeed, with 13 Juno Awards, an induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and honors conferred on him as an Officer of the Order of Canada—not to mention 22 gold and platinum records—he shows that his prowess remains undiminished. “I feel great gratitude for having been able to do it this long and being able to leave a few bread crumbs along the way,” Cockburn said in an interview with Rock and Roll Globe “Once I started understanding what I was really doing, writing about my very personal view of things, I realized it really wasn’t about being that personal. I think I’m reflecting some aspect of the human experience. This is one guy’s experience of a life in song, expressed in song, and hopefully other people will find things to relate to in them.” An Evening with Bruce Cockburn takes place Sunday May 12, at 8 p.m. at The State Room, Tickets cost $50 - $70. Go to thestateroompresents. com (Lee Zimmerman)

Dustin Kensrue @ The Commonwealth Room 5/12

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Dustin Kensrue founded Thrice in the late ’90s, when he was still attending high school in SoCal. Thrice— which has remained active save for a brief hiatus more than a decade ago—is an exemplar of the nexus in which post-hardcore and emo coexist. And then there’s Kensrue’s concurrent solo career: Across six albums, he has embarked upon a musical journey that would be inconceivable within the framework of his band. Please Come Home (2007) was built on a foundation of country, folk and blues. 2008’s This Good Night is Still Everywhere is a covers- and Christmas-themed release that added back some hardcore attitude, but kept the rootsy textures. Kensrue returned after a break in 2013 with The Water & the Blood, a contemporary Christian set of songs written to be sung in church. His 2015 release Carry the Fire wove together love songs and emo themes, earning rave reviews for his efforts. Less than a year later, he released Thoughts That Float on a Different Blood, a live album that distilled all of his musical virtues into 40 minutes, captured live on stage. And the album’s mostlycovers character provided more clues as to the wide and welcoming point of view that Dustin Kensrue brings to his own music. Now his latest, Desert Dreaming (released April 4) finds him heading back to country/Americana in an ode to the American southwest. The Brevet and Brother Bird are also on the bill. See and hear them all at The Commonwealth Room on Sunday, May 12, doors at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for this 21+ show are $28 at thestateroompresents. com (Bill Kopp)

Spring Battle of the Bands @ Boardwalk Sound 5/13-18

A “battle of the bands” competition is an age-old tradition in the music scene, and a rite of passage for many bands. It works as a diving board into the local scene, bringing tons of eyes and ears that may have not heard the bands otherwise. Boardwalk Sound’s spring Battle of the Bands series is packed with incredible youngsters coming up in the area. The list includes Solarpunk, Kid Presentable, Lipsill, Awakening Autumn, No 1’s Home, Dead Metro, The Friendly Monties, Samuel Charles Band, Church Ball, Twin Systems, Internet Lover Boys, Fairweather Friends, Leetham, The New Sequel, Eyes Buggy and Viridian. If you don’t know these groups, that’s okay—because this event provides a perfect opportunity for you to head out and get to know them. You’ll get to see these bands going head-to-head starting on Monday, May 13, with the other shows peppered throughout the week, so keep an eye on the calendar to see what shows you can make it to. The finale of the series will be on Saturday, May 18 complete with food trucks. If you’re ready to witness the music competition of all music competitions, you won’t want to miss Boardwalk Sounds Battle of the Bands. Check dates and grab tickets ($8-10) for the all-ages show at theboardwalksound.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

Bruce Cockburn

Dustin Kensrue

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES

(March 21-April 19)

When my friend Jessalyn first visited Disneyland, she was smitten by its glimmering, unblemished mystery. “It was far more real than real,” she said. “A dream come true.” But after a few hours, her infatuation unraveled. She began to see through the luster. Waiting in long lines to go on the rides exhausted her. The mechanical elephant was broken. The food was unappetizing. The actor impersonating Mickey Mouse shucked his big mouse head and swilled a beer. The days ahead may have resemblances to Jessalyn’s awakening for you. This slow-motion jolt might vex you initially, although I believe it’s a healthy sign. It will lead to a cleansed perspective that’s free of illusion and teeming with clarity.

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20)

Keizoku wa chikara nari is a Japanese proverb that means “To continue is power.” I propose you make that your motto for the next four weeks. Everything you need to happen and all the resources you need to attract will come your way as long as your overarching intention is perseverance. This is always a key principle for you Tauruses, but especially now. If you can keep going, if you can overcome your urges to quit your devotions, you will gain a permanent invigoration of your willpower.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20

Do you believe there are divine beings, animal spirits and departed ancestors who are willing and able to help us? If not, you may want to skip this horoscope. I won’t be upset if you feel that way. But if you do harbor such views, as I do, I’m pleased to tell you that they will be extra available for you in the coming weeks. Remember one of the key rules about their behavior: They love to be asked for assistance; they adore it when you express your desires for them to bring you specific blessings and insights. Reach out, Gemini! Call on them.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

I’m taking a gamble as I advise you to experiment with the counsel of poet and painter William Blake (1757–1825). A gamble, because I’m asking you to exert a measure of caution as you explore his daring, unruly advice. Be simultaneously prudent and ebullient, Cancerian. Be discerning and wild. Be watchful and experimental. Here are Blake’s directions: 1. The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom, for we never know what is enough until we know what is more than enough. 2. If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise. 3. The pride of the peacock is the glory of God. The lust of the goat is the bounty of God. 4. No bird soars too high if it soars with its own wings. 5. Exuberance is Beauty.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Cosmic energies are staging a big party in your astrological House of Ambition. It’s a great time to expand and intensify your concepts of what you want to accomplish with your one wild and precious life. You will attract unexpected help as you shed your inhibitions about asking for what you really want. Life will benevolently conspire on your behalf as you dare to get bolder in defining your highest goals. Be audacious, Leo! Be brazen and brave and brilliant! I predict you will be gifted with lucid intuitions about how best to channel your drive for success. You will get feelers from influential people who can help you in your quest for victory.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Is it possible to be too smart for your own good? Maybe, although that won’t be a problem for you anytime soon. However, you may temporarily be too smart for some people who are fixated on conventional and simplistic solutions. You could be too super-brilliant for those who wallow in fear or regard cynicism as a sign of intelligence. But I will not advise you to dumb yourself down, dear Virgo. Instead, I will suggest you be crafty and circumspect. Act agreeable and humble, even as you plot

behind the scenes to turn everything upside-down and inside-out—by which I mean, make it work with more grace and benefit for everyone concerned.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

In my fairy tale about your life in the coming weeks, you will transform from crafty sleuth to eager explorer. You will finish your wrestling matches with tricky angels and wander off with big thinkers and deep feelers. You will finish your yeoman attempts to keep everyone happy in the human zoo and instead indulge your sacred longings for liberation and experimentation. In this fairy tale of your life, Libra, I will play the role of your secret benefactor. I will unleash a steady stream of prayers to bless you with blithe zeal as you relish every heart-opening, brain-cleansing moment of your new chapter.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

In the coming months, I encourage you to deepen and refine the art of intimacy. I will rejoice as you learn more and more about how to feel close to people you care for and how to creatively deal with challenges you encounter in your quest to become closer. Dear Scorpio, I will also cheer you on whenever you dream up innovations to propitiate togetherness. Bonus blessings! If you do all I’m describing, your identity will come into brighter focus. You will know who you are with greater accuracy. Get ready! The coming weeks will offer you novel opportunities to make progress on the themes I’ve mentioned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

You could offer a workshop on the perks of wobbliness. Your anxious ruminations and worried fantasies are so colorful that I almost hesitate to tell you to stop. I’m wondering if this is one of those rare phases when you could take advantage of your so-called negative feelings. Is it possible that lurking just below the uneasiness are sensational revelations about a path to liberation? I’m guessing there are. To pluck these revelations, you must get to the core of the uneasiness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

During the past 11 months, life has offered you unprecedented opportunities to deepen and ripen your emotional intelligence. You have been vividly invited to grow your wisdom about how to manage and understand your feelings. I trust you have been capitalizing on these glorious teachings. I hope you have honed your skills at tapping into the power and insights provided by your heart and gut. There’s still more time to work on this project, Capricorn. In the coming weeks, seek out breakthroughs that will climax this phase of your destiny.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Naturalist and author Henry David Thoreau declared, “We need the tonic of wildness.” Amen! In my view, you Aquarians especially need this sweet, rugged healing power in the coming weeks. Borrowing more from Thoreau, I urge you to exult in the mysterious, unsurveyed and unfathomable. Like Thoreau, I hope you will deepen your connection with the natural world because it “it is cheerfully, musically earnest.” Share in his belief that “we must go out and re-ally ourselves to Nature every day. We must take root, send out some little fiber.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

I have four questions and assignments for you: 1. Is there a person in your circle who is close to ripening a latent talent that would ultimately benefit you? I suspect there is. What can you do to assist them? 2. Is there a pending gift or legacy you have not yet claimed or activated? I think so. What would be a first step to get it fully into your life? 3. What half-dormant potency could you call on and use if you were more confident about your ability to wield it? I believe you now have the wherewithal to summon the confidence you need. 4. What wasteful habit could you replace with a positive new habit?

ENGINEERING/TECHNOLOGY

NVIDIA Corp in Salt Lake City, UT has an opening at various levels. Please ref code and send resume: NVIDIA, 2701 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95050, Attn: KC HR. These positions will support, serve and engage and support the design, development, and/or marketing of NVIDIA’S GPU (graphics processing units), computer graphics, AI and supercomputing for gaming, professional visualization, data centers, and various industries (please see below, additional duties for each position): Sr. Architect (ARC152) Develop innovative architectures to extend the state of the art in deep learning performance and efficiency. The base salary range for this position is $208,000 to $339,250.

Need a New Hive?

urban LIVING

Destroying History

I believe that if I live in a city, I should contribute to the city—and the most valuable thing I can give is my time. I volunteered for eight years as a planning and zoning commissioner for Salt Lake City and served my time as chair, and now serve on the city’s Historic Landmark Commission.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know I love history—especially local history. And in my day job, I often list and sell historic homes and properties within the Salt Lake Valley.

I love nothing more than to dig into dusty records to find out who designed and/or built a home. Was it one of our famous Mid-Mod architects? Did Brigham Young and his flock construct the house? Was there a polygamist cave dug into the foundation to hide the wives when polygamy was outlawed in Utah? Was there an infamous politician or artist living in the home in the past?

The Historic Landmark Commission conducts design reviews of new construction or alterations to landmark sites and to properties located in Salt Lake City’s local historic districts. Any demolition within an historic district must be approved by this commission.

The commission is also charged with monitoring the preservation of historically significant resources within the boundaries of the city and reviewing proposed regulations affecting historic preservation. The commission also reviews and makes recommendations on proposals to designate additional historic properties.

Salt Lake City has 14 local historic districts. All of the city’s historic districts are listed in the National Register, but not all National Register districts are locally designated.

I bring this up because on a recent bright Sunday morning, and without demo permits from our city, a local developer began tearing down a historic building and former LDS meeting house. The 114-year-old building in the Granary District located at 740 W. 300 South was previously owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and later was a Buddhist temple.

Supposedly, the owner received permission from the state to tear down the building—but not from the city. He didn’t get a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Landmark Commission for demolition or a building permit from the city.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ACROSS

1. “___ the weather up there?”

5. Hurricane response org.

9. Pleased

13. Occupied, as a desk

14. Tehran’s location

15. Shine partner

16. Ancient Greek mathematician who couldn’t bring his triangle theorem out into the open?

18. Comcast and Spectrum, for two

19. Abbr. after a seller’s suggested price

20. Seat of Washoe County, Nevada

21. Like fishnets

22. “Good for life” pet food brand

24. Job interview subject, even when you can’t face the work?

27. Alpacas’ cousins

29. “Boom Clap” performer Charli ___

30. 1055, to Caesar

31. Mr., in Spain

32. ___ stands

34. Spanakopita cheese

35. 1998 National League MVP who’s not big on germs?

38. Spice Girl who turned 50 in April 2024

41. “___ I a stinker?” (Bugs Bunny line)

42. Tricks

46. Cold War broadcast across the Atlantic, for short

47. Bowling target

48. Unfortunate event

49. Exactly right, but without the blood?

53. Lawnmower brand that means “bull”

54. Play dirty, per a Michelle Obama catchphrase

55. Rowboat need

57. Coating material

58. Is repentant of

59. “Like that’s believable, even at this awful height!”

62. Admin.’s aide

63. One of the Hawaiian Islands

64. Nervous utterances

65. Chaotic state

66. Tiny puff of smoke

67. Act gloomy

DOWN

1. Seat at a barn dance, maybe 2. Footstool

3. When doubled, a guitar effect

4. “A ___ Is Born”

5. Shrek’s wife

6. It might be clerical

7. Old ewe in “Babe”

8. Response, for short

9. “Peer Gynt” composer Edvard

10. Nimble

11. Road-surface material

12. Songwriter Buddy who co-founded Capitol Records

13. Gives away the ending of 17. 100 ___ (“Doritos & Fritos” duo)

21. Mystery guest moniker

23. Internet comedy group since 2002

25. Live and breathe

26. ___-1 (“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” vehicle)

28. Legendary Notre Dame coach Parseghian

32. Acid in proteins

33. Ant. antonym

34. Goethe “deal with the devil” character

36. Injure badly

37. ‘80s anti-missile plan, for short

38. List of events

39. Ineffectual

40. Like homes without TVs, slangily

43. Chance to take your shot?

44. Symptom of otitis

Neighbors alerted city officials on Easter Sunday that demolition was underway and, by chance, some city officials were driving by the operation. Hours later, the city issued a stop work order. Now, the developer must restore the building and is being fined $200 a day. If you travel by the property, you can see the front has been torn off. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The city will suss out the consequences of the illegal demolition, and who knows what will happen to the building in the future. With all the demolition going on in our city, it’s important that we protect our historic treasures for future generations. n

45. Multipurpose utensils

47. Chapel bench

48. “___ Breckinridge” (Gore Vidal novel)

50. Dawson, Combs, Anderson, Karn, O’Hurley, and Harvey, e.g.

51. ___ Arcade (business trying to look cool in “Wayne’s World”)

52. Absorb eagerly

56. “You rebel ___” (“Return of the Jedi” line)

59. Impress

60. “Bali ___” (“South Pacific” highlight)

61. P, in the Greek alphabet

Last week’s answers

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. 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.

NEWS of the WEIRD

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

Boom!

Talk about explosive developments! In Holladay, Utah, authorities were summoned to a home on April 23 to advise a homeowner on how to dispose of “a lot” of explosives, including “ancient dynamite” that had been in the family for “generations and generations.” Capt. Tony Barker of the Unified Fire Authority said the collectors did not appear to have malicious intent. KUTV2 reported that multiple agencies descended on the home, where it was determined that they would have to conduct a controlled explosion. “The house will be uninhabitable at the end of this event,” Barker said. The homeowner was allowed to remove some possessions before the detonation. The neighborhood was evacuated, and the detonation took place after midnight on April 24, causing damage to some neighboring properties, including blown-out windows and minor fire damage. The former homeowner told police that her husband, who had recently died, had inherited the explosives from his father more than 40 years ago. The dynamite was estimated to be 60 to 80 years old.

Awesome!

n Mount Erebus, on Ross Island in Antarctica, is one of three volcanoes on the island, United Press International reported. Erebus is quite active, emitting plumes of gas and steam along with partially molten boulders. Scientists are particularly intrigued, though, with the sprays of tiny crystals of metallic gold—around 80 grams per day, worth about $6,000. Traces of the gold dust have been found 621 miles away from the volcano.

nRobert and Betty Fooks of West Dorset, England, were deep into renovating their 400-year-old farmhouse when they decided to tear up the concrete floor to increase the height of their kitchen, the Daily Star reported. As Robert wielded a pickax, they came upon a treasure 2 feet below the floor: $75,000 worth of ancient coins. The currency, which dated to the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I, King James I and King Charles I, were in pristine condition. “I presume they were buried during the English Civil War and the person intended to retrieve them but never got the chance,” Betty said. A coin specialist said the coins were probably left there on one occasion around 1642.

Unclear on the Concept

A Scottish woman, Moira Gallacher, 72, and her friend, Charmian Widdowson, were touring Romania in April, enjoying a drive through the Carpathian Mountains, People reported. They happened upon two brown bears and stopped the car to get a picture with them. Then Widdowson turned the car around and pulled up to the bear for another photo op. “I went down the window; I thought he wanted to be friends,” Widdowson told STV News. “He started getting into the car and bit my friend.” She said she thought the bear approached because he heard the women talking about getting something

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to eat. “I think he ... decided he had to eat my friend.” Gallacher was wearing a thick jacket with two layers underneath; although the bear clamped down on her hand with its jaws, she escaped with minor wounds. “I’ve been very, very lucky,” she said.

Inexplicable

nParisians woke to an odd development on April 25: The red blades of the Moulin Rouge windmill, mounted on the tourist attraction’s roof, had fallen off and were lying on the sidewalk below, Sky News reported. The first three letters of the club’s name in its sign had also tumbled to the ground. General manager Jean-Victor Clerico said that, fortunately, “the boulevard was empty of passers-by” when the objects fell. He said insurers would investigate the cause of the damage.

nThe Pink Sponge Home Cleaning service in Glendora, California, was the site of some dirty shenanigans on April 20, KTLA-TV reported. Vandals broke into the parking lot and damaged the business’s iconic pink VW Bugs, kicking in headlights and carving gang symbols into the hoods. Surveillance cameras also caught them standing on cars, blasting fire extinguishers and twerking. Pink Sponge’s Jennifer Ahlgrim said the teenagers caused more than $25,000 in damage. “To see our hard work vandalized was just completely disheartening,” Ahlgrim said. “Our Pink Sponge team is strong, but it’s been very sad.”

Least Competent Criminals

Twenty inmates in Maracaibo, Venezuela, didn’t get far after tunneling out of their cells on April 17, Metro News reported. Waiting at the outside wall of the tunnel were a group of police officers who had been doing a training exercise. They had to help the prisoners out of the tight space before returning them inside; the police commissioner said they are investigating the breakout with the goal of preventing similar situations in the future.

But Why?

The Northview Cemetery in Dearborn, Michigan, has an unwanted frequent visitor: a serial pooper. The Detroit Free Press reported that Dearborn police have been called to the graveyard seven times since Feb. 25 after human feces were found among the gravestones. A city spokesperson said the pooper doesn’t favor one particular gravesite and has not sullied the resting place of actor George Peppard, who starred with Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s . A source said the pooper always visits in the dark, wears dark clothing and a hoodie and leaves a big mess, including used toilet paper. A police spokesperson said the department “continues to work on identifying and locating the person responsible.”

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com

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