BEHIND THE STORIES

Amanda Rock

Amanda Rock is a freelance vegan food writer. She’s been published in Utah Stories, SLUG Magazine, Salt Lake City Weekly, and Devour Utah. She lives in an old house in Murray, Utah with her husband, a black cat, and many books. Find her on Twitter, @hauntedherbivor and Instagram, @the_haunted_herbivore.

Cathy McKitrick

Cathy McKitrick discovered her love of storytelling in midlife, graduating from Weber State University in 1998 with a journalism degree in hand.

She covered local government for the Standard-Examiner until 2005, when she was hired by the Salt Lake Tribune. During that eight-year adventure, she covered local and state government, poverty, homelessness, the opioid overdose crisis, and more.

Following a mass layoff, she returned to the StandardExaminer in 2013, again covering local government, opioid overdoses, cannabis and other health care issues.

Cathy retired from the Standard-Examiner in April 2018, but her passion for journalism remains intact. She now freelances and serves on the board of the Utah Investigative Journalism Project.

In her spare time, this grandma enjoys a leisurely run, a good laugh, and catching up with family and friends.

She can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cathy.mckitrick.7, and Twitter at @catmck.

Robyn Christensen

Robyn Morris Christensen grew up on a cattle ranch in southeastern Idaho. In junior high, her family moved to Utah, where she has lived for nearly ten years. She attended high school in Cache Valley before moving to Provo where she pursued a degree in Journalism from Brigham Young University and graduated in 2023. While in college, Robyn worked as a video reporter for the Daily Universe. She loves storytelling, the many different formats it can come in, and how it connects people. Robyn loves to spend time outside with her husband and her two children, ages 3 and 1. A voracious reader, you’ll always find Robyn with a book nearby, and she carries her current read with her everywhere — even to the movie theater (just in case). She also enjoys running, baking, and playing the cello in her spare time. While Robyn’s husband, Caleb, finishes up his last year of school and playing football at BYU, Robyn plans to soak up every moment in Provo, and the endless experiences it offers before her little family moves on to their next adventure.

Comments from the Utah Stories Instagram Reels: Rocky Anderson

speaking on the Homeless Crisis

Johhnyb4814

“I have lived in LA for 25 years and have seen this problem grow exponentially out of control, even after we voted three times to raise sales taxes to provide BILLIONS in funding. The bleeding heart approach is an irrefutable failure. Only way to manage this is forced rehab or jail. Living in rodent infested camps isn’t good for anybody. So keep following this approach, Utah/SLC, and soon you will have your own skid row.”

Women in Utah Deciding Not to Have Children

pcsorati

“Can I just ask? Who wants to bring a child into this scenario? End stage capitalism, Christian fascism, conservative corruption. Climate change, weather extremes, inflation, crimes among the men in charge. Hardly seems like a child friendly, let alone, mother friendly, place to be. But … don’t get pregnant, because then, the choice is out of your hands. The #supremecourt is corrupt too.”