King Free Since 1776

Hi! I put this image at the top because I don't want the video thumbnail to be the default picture when I share the link to this post.

I suppose the most interesting thing about this week was that yesterday, June 14, I attended Salt Lake City's (first) No Kings Day protest.

Last month, I learned about No Kings Day to happen on June 14. June 14 is Donald Trump's birthday, and he planned a big military parade, ostensibly to celebrate the military's 250th, but how convenient for him that it also happens to be his birthday. June 14 is also Flag Day, and the organizers of No Kings Day want us to celebrate America and our flag—but not Trump. He tries to act like a king—trying to eliminate checks and balances, disregarding Supreme Court rulings, trying to do whatever he wants, pardoning criminals who support him and going after anyone who dares criticize him. 

MAGA Republicans' support of Donald Trump is 100 percent baffling:

• They say they support police, yet they attacked police on January 6 and support the man who pardoned the attackers.
• They say they want states' rights, yet they support the man who wants to prohibit California from passing its own car laws.
• They say they love God, yet they support someone who very obviously does not practice Christianity.
  
  
• They say they love America and the American flag, yet they fly the Confederate battle flag—the side that literally fought against America!
• They say they support veterans, yet they support a man who is not a veteran, makes fun of veterans, and now wants to cut off assistance for veterans.
• They say they don't like taxes, yet they support the man who wants to implement lots of tariffs.
• They say they support traditional family values, yet they support a man who has been married several times (and had affairs).
• They say they love the Constitution, yet they support the man who says "I don't know" when asked if he needs to defend the Constitution and who has flouted it on more than one occasion 
• Remember when conservatives didn't like swearing and vulgarity? Yet now we have vulgar bumper stickers, the vulgar Gutfeld! show, and "Let's Go Brandon."

I had never attended a Flag Day celebration before (my cousin has a June 14 birthday, but those were birthday celebrations), so I thought this would be a good way to celebrate Flag Day. 

On Tuesday, I was excited to make my poster. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, since I'm not an artistic person. I wanted it to be very patriotic to show that we oppose Trump because we love America. 

Then Saturday morning, I kicked off the day by eating Trump-colored cereal. 

My mom wanted to go with, and she also invited a lady from her water aerobics. So I drove two old ladies to the University of Utah campus. It was fun to be back and reminisce on the one semester I spent on campus there (fall 2021). 

We got there an hour early, so we were able to pick a nice spot in the shade. It was a hot day, but we were nice and cool. I wore my flag socks, my flag shoes, my shorts with little flags printed on them, and my Statue of Liberty t-shirt. 

A random woman gave us flag pins because we were dressed in red, white and blue.

We had to strain to hear the speakers, but we still heard a bulk of what they said. One was a Black author, and I was going to write what she said, but I realized that I don't remember it all that well, and I don't want to misrepresent her. One woman spoke about her immigrant ancestors (I think she was talking about Mormon pioneers) and the Title of Liberty from the Book of Mormon, since the Book of Mormon speaks against kings. And I forget what the other speakers said, but I liked what they said.

It was fun to see the various signs. I saw several that said "No Kings Since 1776," but mine was the only one I saw that said "King Free." There were signs that said "You know it's bad when straight white guys are protesting," "I hope this is the worst birthday ever," and "Schoolhouse Rock taught me No More Kings." 

It was a perfectly peaceful day. There were people there who were obviously Latter-day Saints. And you know how alt-right protests have American flags and Confederate flags? This protest had American flags and Pride flags. (Speaking of Pride flags, my mom told me today that one of the speakers in their ward unfurled a Pride flag during his sacrament meeting talk!🏳️‍🌈)

It was a completely peaceful protest (unlike, sadly, Salt Lake's evening protest), and it was good to be surrounded by like-minded people.

My mom posted a picture of me on her Facebook, and one antagonistic "friend" of hers commented with laughing emojis. Then one of my aunts "liked" that comment. She liked a comment that was mocking us?! Kind of makes me not want to see her again. I also posted a picture of myself, and I was surprised to see a Trumper "like" it, but then later she unliked it.

***

That was perhaps the most important aspect of my week. But I will talk about other parts of my week, so if you're only interested in No Kings Day, you don't have to read the rest.

Last Sunday evening, I went on a neighborhood walk, which included eating some mulberries hanging over the sidewalk. When I got home, there was a peacock in our yard! This peacock was in our yard last August, and apparently it's been hanging out on another street in our neighborhood since then.

On Monday evening, I went to Hogle Zoo for the first time in fourteen years. The Utah Historical Society is part of the Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, and CCE had a work retreat at the zoo. So I was able to go for free. (They did this two years ago as well, but at that time I was working at the Church History Library and going to group therapy every Monday, so I didn't care to go.) It seems like we went to the zoo a lot when I was a kid, usually with my cousins. But now I'm mostly indifferent to the zoo. It doesn't seem that special to see animals if they're not in the wild. But there were a few things that interested or amused me. 

I liked this display of insects and arachnids, which looks like it's been there since the '80s. I liked the caption that said, "How do you say TARANTULA? The correct pronunciation is TUH-RANCH-U-LUH, NOT "TRY"-ANCH-U-LUH, as it is often pronounced in this area." Is that really a regional thing? I took a lot of linguistics classes, and I don't remember this word ever coming up. (When I was in third grade, we were learning about prefixes, and the guest teacher asked for examples of words with "tri." Someone said "tri-antula," which of course doesn't have anything to do with "three.")

I've had too many close encounters with rattlesnakes, so it was comforting to see one safely behind glass. It kept yawning, so I saw its scary fangs.

And I was happy to see a kinkajou, only because it's mentioned in a Free Design song. 

(The last time I was at the zoo, I took a friend on a date, and that was the last time I saw her [besides a chance encounter four years later], because I learned shortly thereafter that she thought I was "really, really weird," which I probably was. I am so relieved that I'm not dating girls anymore!)

Also this week, it was time to pick the cherries from my sister's tree. I picked them Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, filling up ten one-gallon bags (though I only took home nine, because one was for my grandma's friend). 

But picking is the easy part. The real work is the pitting, which takes hours and hours. Luckily, my mom helped pit, so that was less for me. We have some pitting tools, but they don't always get the pits out, so you have to check the fruits, which makes it a slower process. 

I was off work on Friday because I went to the Mormon History Association conference last week. It was also Friday the 13th, so I wanted to watch spooky Fourth of July shows while I pitted. So I watched Jaws, which is currently streaming for free on Tubi. All the red cherry juice seemed appropriate. I had heard it was a Fourth of July movie, but only the first hour-ish was about the holiday. Then the next day I watched the Fourth of July episodes of Stranger Things while pitting, but they didn't make sense to me because they're the only episodes I've ever seen. 

We finished yesterday. Phew! My mom opted to can many of the cherries, since we usually freeze them but are running out of freezer space.

I made cherry crisp and cherry salsa. For the crisp topping, I added Peeps-flavored protein powder that I bought two years ago. I still haven't gone through it because it is ghastly to drink. But I didn't notice it in the topping, so that might need to be the way to use the rest of it.

And my mom made cherry pies. 

Between the zoo and the cherries, I only went running twice this week. But the wildflowers did not disappoint! 

sticky geraniums

Nootka rose

A bumblebee . . .

. . . flying towards me!

And today I taught Sunday School. I asked the class for ways they make the Sabbath holy, being careful that we are not prescriptive for what others should do. One person said she doesn't do laundry on Sundays, while one hilarious class member said she always does laundry on Sunday and had laundry in the dryer at the moment. I likewise had my laundry in the dryer at that moment. And I also had the class take a five-minute nature walk, an idea that was in the children's section of the manual. I thought a walk would change it up a little bit.