On Monday afternoon, I headed to the University of Utah to fulfill my final official act as a grad student: defend my portfolio.
The University of Utah doesn't require a thesis for MS students (which was me) or for US History MA students (I was also US History). As one professor explained it, students were taking too long to graduate because they were finishing their thesis, and since the thesis took too long, they lacked writing samples as they applied to PhD programs.
Instead, we have to submit a portfolio, which consists of two annotated syllabi, an annotated bibliography, and at least one research paper. So for me, my portfolio included:
A syllabus of American history since Reconstruction, as though I were teaching a college class. Basically everyone has to make a syllabus on American history through the Civil War or after the Civil War. I'm more familiar with after the Civil War, so that's what I picked.
A syllabus about This Is the Place Heritage Park. The second syllabus allowed more flexibility, especially since I don't plan to go into teaching, so my syllabus was meant for employees of This Is the Place but was structured like a college class. It had different topics connected to all the village's sites, with lots of relevant books and articles.
An annotated bibliography, which is basically a description of all the books I read during grad school.
A research paper from my first semester, which was about This Is the Place Monument and how it omitted important historical people of color, specifically Green Flake and Wakara, and the ways those people were remembered in the past.
A research paper from last semester. I compared a thinly veiled anti-Mormon speech by Utah's governor, Eli Murray, on the Fourth of July with a speech that Emmeline Wells wrote for the Twenty-Fourth about the contributions of Mormon women—but she did not read her own speech, because it was somewhat taboo in those days for women to speak to mixed audiences.
So at 1:00, I showed up at the room in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building for my defense. I walked in the room and the three members of my committee were sitting at a table, facing another table where I sat. I had had two classes from one professor, one class from another, and no classes from the third.
They complimented me on elements of my portfolio, such as the length of my bibliography. They asked me some questions that were easy to answer. I was able to explain to them my academic interest in Pioneer Day and other holidays (I had three books about Thanksgiving in my bibliography), and I told them how history was my worst subject in high school and college. But they also asked some questions for which I did not have a good answer. For example, in my US history syllabus, I devoted a lot of time to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, discussing labor unions, suffrage, preservation and conservation, immigration, and Native Americans. They asked me why I devoted so much time to one time. And honestly, I didn't really know why I felt a need to do that. I hadn't even considered that I had done so. For my discussion about monuments, they asked what was going on elsewhere in the nation. A lot of the questions were about the bigger context. And I simply didn't know what to say. I remember thinking, "Oof, this is not going well at all." One of the professors (the one I never had a class from) seemed to function as Simon Cowell on my committee—I felt as though she was deliberately asking me difficult questions. And the committee wasn't satisfied when I honestly told them "I don't know."
They sent me into the lobby while they deliberated. I was sitting there for about twenty minutes, which gave me plenty of time to think about my social awkwardness and my less-than-satisfactory answers. I thought it was unlikely that they would withhold my degree just because my defense wasn't going well, especially since I had devoted so much time to the portfolio (not to mention all my classes). But I did wonder why it was taking so long. I began to wonder what would happen if I didn't pass? Would I have to take classes again in the fall? I did have to remind myself that it is easier to point out the shortcomings of a book than it is to praise its strengths. (Two years of grad school, and ten years of editing, taught me that.) So while they had lots of questions where I could have done better, that didn't mean the whole thing was bad.
They invited me back in and told me that I passed. Phew! They told me my Pioneer Day project sounds interesting, and they encouraged me to look for bigger context. Noted. And the difficult professor even invited me to follow her to her office so she could give me a book about holidays—it was written by her friend (and even was personally autographed), but she was trying to get rid of books. And this book was already on my Amazon wish list. So that was very generous!
So after my defense, I went to the university store to buy a University of Utah t-shirt (I thought I should have one now that I had a degree from there). And I've kind of been in a low-key celebration mode since then, being pretty relaxed about eating treats and other things.
It's so nice to be done. I feel a level of freedom I haven't felt in a while, since I no longer have assignments to worry about. And I have a satisfying feeling of closure about my schooling experience.
Eight years after graduating from BYU, I am now also an alumnus from the University of Utah.
On Thursday, I left work a little early to take the bus up to the U for my commencement ceremony. I donned my master's robe (which had weird sleeves), my hood, and my cap. I lined up in the spot for humanities master's students. I was surprised that my fellow history grad students didn't show up for commencement; only one other was there. I mean, I kind of understand that it's expensive to buy a robe you only wear once and sit in a meeting. (BYU just had us rent our gowns, so I don't know why the U didn't do that as well.) But for me, it was nice to have an official ceremony to end my schooling career.
We all went into the Huntsman Center to hear speeches and awards. The keynote speaker was Doug Bowser, the president of Nintendo. Yes, that is his real name. Yes, the joke writes itself. He likened life to a video game, with barrels and bananas that come at us, but we can do things to level up. (I'm not a gamer, but Mario is like the only video game that interests me, since it aligns with my preferred family-friendly, happy aesthetic.)
Then on Friday, my mom took pictures of me in my grad garb before we headed to the humanities convocation ceremony.
I made this my Facebook profile picture, but I guess the algorithm no longer puts this in people's feed.
Doug Bowser spoke again. They read off our names as we went to pick up our diploma covers, and I made a mistake as I headed back to my seat and went on the wrong side. I felt dumb about that. But then I remembered that at work this week, one of the senior missionaries accidentally pocket dialed a nonsense message, "Mm211m2m2222m1," in a reply-all email—to the entire department, including general authority seventies, managing director, department managers, etc. So me going the wrong way was just a little thing compared to that embarrassing email gaffe.
My experience with the University of Utah really is vastly different from BYU. Of course, the universities themselves are very different, and I'm glad I got to experience both. At BYU, I got to hear different perspectives from people with the same worldview. At the U, I got to hear different perspectives from people with different worldviews. I think there is value in both experiences.
But at BYU, I lived just off campus and got a true college experience, living in Provo for more than four years. But at the U, I lived at home with my parents, and I wasn't immersed in the lives of college students.
But also, you know, there was COVID. So my entire first year was remote, just going on Zoom in my chair. My first semester consisted of long runs in the morning, then attending virtual classes and spending most of my free time reading and writing papers. My second semester, I also had a remote freelance job. In fall 2021, I got to go on campus. I commuted to school four days a week on the bus, and I enjoyed taking the bus. And then for this last semester, I just worked on my internship, without actually going to campus.
Part of me is sad that I only had one "real" semester. But it was out of my control, which makes me less sad. I never used my UCard to get free admission to the university museums, but COVID and everything else made that complicated. So it's reasonable that I didn't have a normal experience.
Before I started, I was worried that it would be really hard. A friend told me that grad school was easier than undergrad because they just want you to work on your thesis. I remember thinking that she couldn't really know what my experience would be like, since she had a different major and a different school. And for me, grad school was at least as hard as undergrad. I usually had to read two or three books and six articles a week, and I had to write lots of papers. In many ways, it felt like a very expensive book club. (Speaking of expensive, here's a shoutout to my parents who let me live with them at a low price so I could graduate debt free!)
As for a thesis, my program didn't require a thesis. It requires a portfolio, which took a lot of my free time this January, February, and March. And I still have to defend it tomorrow morning since one of the professors on my committee was in Italy. So I'm not entirely finished until tomorrow.
And to celebrate my (almost) completion, last night I decided to attend a Mat Kearney concert. I have superficially followed him the last few years, and last August I bought his last album, January Flower, because I still buy music. A coworker from This Is the Place saw him last summer and recommended that I see him when he came around again. So I took my sister to the Union Event Center, and it was a great show! He is one of those singers who is just as good live as he is on recording, except the acoustics weren't the best. It could have been worse but it could have been better. I find I get bored with a lot of these male singer-songwriters, but Mat Kearney is one of the better ones. I love his latest album, and I was a little disappointed he didn't sing every song from it.
Though I have some wistful feelings about graduation, I am glad I will no longer have readings and papers looming over me all the time. Now I'm starting on a new phase of my life!
After weeks of boredom, I had some more exciting things happen this week.
On Monday, I had to go down to BYU for work. I had to look at some sources at their library that we didn't have at the Church History Library. It was fun to go down to my old stomping grounds.
Parts of it are the same (such as the lowest level of the library), but other parts are so different, such as new buildings. Campus seems to be more pedestrian friendly. I got lunch in the Wilk. I'm accustomed to there being long lines at lunch there, but now all the orders are done on phones or on kiosks. I started at BYU in January 2010. Twelve years ago! Of course there were plenty of changes during my four years there. But I thought about the condition of the world when I started in early 2010:
I still had a flip phone. People had smartphones, but they weren't the default.
iPads had not been released yet.
Instagram did not exist.
People didn't use Spotify.
I first heard of cloud storage my first semester.
I also walked by my old apartments, and unlike campus, they mostly looked the same.
Do they ever remodel those? And how long did they look that way before I lived there? There was even a "Welcome" sign above a neighboring apartment that I think was there back in 2010. (Note: I'm not thinking "tisk, tisk," that they're the same. In fact, I think useless and merely aesthetic remodels are wasteful. I just find it unusual and surprising.)
It was good to have a day to go down to BYU. The Church History Library's catalog was down all week, which meant I couldn't look at digitized sources, and I also couldn't order books up to my desk. Those are both things I need to do my work. So I worked on some very low-priority assignments.
Monday evening I did something unusual. Back in 2020, I heard that Carol Burnett was supposed to come visit Salt Lake City, but then it was cancelled. Since I have this thing for 1960s sitcoms, I remember thinking that I should see her when she came back. Last Sunday, I learned that this was the week she was returning. So I invited my sister and bought tickets to Carol Burnett at the Eccles Theater! To prepare, I watched episodes where she guest-starred on The Lucy Show and Get Smart.
The evening mainly focused on her series The Carol Burnett Show. I have watched some of that on TV, but it just feels incomplete because they don't show the whole show, instead just picking out select scenes, mostly from the 70s. For this show, they showed a lot of clips from her show. One of the highlights of her series is that at the beginning of the show, she would allow the audience to ask questions. So for this live performance, she answered audience questions when she wasn't showing clips. She is eighty-eight years old, and I don't think she has it in her to sing or act. She walked slow. She certainly wouldn't be able to do her signature Tarzan yell. But mentally she is still sharp.
Some people asked weird questions, and I was embarrassed on behalf of my hometown. But then I realized she probably gets these awkward people wherever she goes. One woman just kept talking and talking, and I don't think she really even had a question. And another woman told Carol she had read her book, and she compiled a list of eighty-seven similarities they had in common, and she wanted to give the list to her. Sometimes I'm insecure about my social skills, but people like that make me feel better.
It did surprise me that it focused so much on the Carol Burnett Show and comparatively little about other parts of her career. And I thought it must have been sad for her to focus on her accomplishments from fifty years ago—does she feel like a has-been? But it was amazing to me to think that in 2022 I was seeing someone who knew Lucille Ball and others personally.
Last week you will recall that I submitted my portfolio to my advisor. I was happy to be done with my portfolio for the time being, but I expected that I would have to make a lot of revisions. I was very nervous to await his response. So I was relieved and delighted when he responded and praised my work! I only had a few minor tweaks to make. Phew! So I made those few changes and submitted everything to the rest of my committee, and we scheduled my defense for May 9. That's after commencement because one of the professors will be out of town. Oh well.
Now that I don't have as much to worry about in the evenings, I was delighted to get back on the trails: Bonneville Shoreline, Wild Rose, and Springhill Geologic Park. Last year I was disgusted with someone apparently making their own trail in Springhill Geologic, so I placed branches, etc., to discourage it (and I had permission from the city to do so). It seemed to work for a while, but I was annoyed to see that the logs had been moved since I was last there in the fall. So I put some of the logs back, and I hope the selfish people have a change of heart.
It's a good thing I can get back to trail running, since I have this obsessive need to try all the Easter-themed flavors at local dessert shops.
Reggie has enjoyed sleeping on my bed this week, which he hasn't really done before. He likes to sleep touching me, whether that's my ankles, my shoulder, or my legs. It is endearing, but it also makes it harder to sleep because I don't want to roll over on him.
It is very hard to get anything done when he comes to sit on me, but I also love it. Is that a form of Stockholm Syndrome? He often jumps onto my bed, presumably because he wants me to get on my bed so he can sit on me. Jimmy used to do that too, and I was happy to oblige. But I'm reluctant to do it with Reggie because he stays a lot longer. Like, a half hour. I don't have time for that!
Six months ago, my parents left on a weeks-long road trip, leaving me alone in the house with Jimmy. I was by myself for my birthday and general conference.
This week, they once again left on a weeks-long road trip, leaving me alone in the house with Reggie. I will be by myself for my half-birthday and general conference.
He is a sweet companion.
As you know, I have spent the last two and a half months working on my graduate portfolio. This week I made significant progress, and I emailed my advisor with some questions about it. He answered my questions and told me he wanted to see a draft of my portfolio before my defense. So yesterday, I decided to pound out the remainder of my portfolio so I could get it to him. Phew! I know that he will have feedback for me, and I will have to make additional changes. But at the moment, I am done with it! Hooray! That will give me more time to focus on my paper for internship credit. And also for fun things. And also for less fun things that I have been putting off.
I am just super nervous to get feedback from him. It's always hard to see what you could do better. And I feel super weird contacting my professors, or anyone in authority, or anyone for that matter. Having been raised as the youngest in my family, I have this perception that I'm always annoying people.
Now I will have more time just in time for trail season. I have a rule that I can start going on the trails when all the snow is gone from our yard. Yesterday there was still some snow in the yard, so I ran on streets in the morning. But by the afternoon, it was all gone. So this week I should be back on the trails!
A few weeks ago the U had spring break, but it wasn't any kind of a break for me, since I still worked and I'm not in classes. They didn't have spring break last year because everything was online. BYU didn't have spring break when I was there. So I have never really had a university-level spring break.
So, yeah, that's my week. I'm excited for more exciting things to happen again!
I have really enjoyed being back at work. I can replenish the funds that have declined over the course of the last two years (thanks COVID, but also thanks grad school), and I'm glad that I am making money from something I actually enjoy.
But when I get home, I have to spend an hour and a half working on my portfolio. Which means that my weekdays are pretty uninteresting.
When I worked downtown before, I enjoyed eating lunch in City Creek at restaurants with seasonal items. But I'm not comfortable eating in restaurants right now, though I have been buying Valentine's candy from City Creek stores. I feel fairly safe going there since it's mostly outside. I also feel safe at work because a lot of people have been working from home, so there's not a lot of people there, and it's easy to social distance. (No one has yet given me the green light to work remotely.)
Reggie the cat is slowly warming up to us. When I go to his hiding spots, he will often come out to be petted. He purrs and rubs against us, so he clearly likes being petted. Occasionally I will lie on the floor and pick him up and put him on my chest, and he will stay with me for a bit, purring and kneading. But he doesn't yet volunteer to spend time with us like Jimmy did. If I want to be with him, I have to set aside the time to do so.
Sometimes I can't believe that this gorgeous cat belongs to me!
It's the Valentine's Day season, and though I'm not anti-Valentine's, it's my least favorite of my nine canonized holidays. It's just not that interesting. I have fewer songs for Valentine's Day than for any other holiday. And since it's still January, not all the local bakeries and such have their seasonal flavors out. I have been watching Valentine shows as part of my New Year's resolution (a COVID-safe way to observe the holidays), but it might become more difficult to find things to watch. Not sure what my point was in this paragraph, except to say it's a boring time of year.
However, even though I'm busy every day, I am happy to say that my days off once again feel like actual days off. I spend an hour and a half working on my portfolio on Saturdays (and MLK Day), but I feel like that's enough. I don't have other projects looming over me all the time (though I probably will at the end of the semester, but hopefully my portfolio will be close to finished by then). So I actually get some free time. Of course I go running, in large part to remain in shape for trail season. But it feels so foreign to me to be able to do anything I want. But of course it shouldn't feel foreign, since I had days off last summer. But it just feels different.
Yeah. I don't really have anything interesting to say this week. But I have never missed a Sunday yet, and I don't want to start now.
After one strange year, we are now ending another strange year. In some ways, 2021 was better than 2020. Thanks to vaccines, things went back to normal...ish. But political extremism (including antivax sentiment) in many ways made 2021 even worse. And the extreme drought didn't certainly help things.
For my own life, it was definitely more interesting than 2020 was. It kind of feels like there were three distinct periods of the year for me: spring semester, when I was still in school online; summer, when I came back into the public and resumed work at This Is the Place; and fall semester, when I attended in-person classes at the University of Utah for the first time.
So, let's dive into the individual months!
January. Because of COVID, my family didn't do our tradition of going out to eat on New Year's Day, so we did a family Zoom instead. Like every other (rational) person, I was dismayed by the January 6 insurrection. But what was especially distressing was that people I knew tried to blame it on Antifa, spreading lies and misinformation, and then they got mad at me when I pushed back against the falsehoods. It's like people think they are allowed to share whatever they want without thinking about it, but then no one is allowed to challenge them. I certainly lost a great deal of respect for people in January. I helped judge a science fair on Zoom, and we had a lamp in the living room commit suicide. In the middle of the month, I started my second semester of grad school at the University of Utah, taking history of Utah, environmental history, and US history since 1877. But all of it was online. I began attending a new dentist, and their staff seems to be better than my last one, so they diagnosed me with periodontal disease. I was also working on my goal to run on every public street in North Salt Lake.
Jimmy is such a sweet kitty.
February. It wasn't a very eventful day. We had a snowy Valentine's Day, some of the very little snow we had that winter. I finished running on every street in NSL.
March. While I was busy working on school things, I also began to be busy with other things. I began doing some freelance editing for a former boss. Additionally, I went to training meetings at This Is the Place, including driving the train, even though I wasn't going to start for a couple of months.
This Is the Place opened their new Pioneer Center.
For St. Patrick's Day, I cooked lots of food and rented several movies, since I had a brief lull in schoolwork. We took Jimmy to the vet and he was diagnosed with arthritis.
After an apricotless year in 2020, I was pleased by the abundant blossoms this year...even though I was ultimately disappointed.
May. May was a transitional month. I wrapped up my final papers for school. I got my second dose of the vaccine. The very next day, I resumed working at This Is the Place, driving the train. I was very sore because of the shot. Trail running is stunning during May.
This is my favorite picture of 2021. I use it as my lock screen on my phone, and sometimes I marvel that it is real.
My niece graduated from high school.
June. Trail running continued, and I did a thirteen-mile one in North Canyon. My brother and nephews came to visit, and we spent some time camping in Fremont Indian State Park, exploring Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. My family spent a few hours at Jordanelle Reservoir so I could use my inflatable paddleboard for the first time.
At the end of the month, we also camped at Moosehorn Lake in the Uintas, which is usually covered in snow at that time of year.
July. We were happy that North Salt Lake's July 3 fireworks resumed. For the Fourth of July, I made apple pies, and I randomly placed the remaining dough on top of the pie. I was amused and amazed to discover it looked exactly like a turkey.
We had a strange day at This Is the Place when fish swam up the gold-panning stream. My parents took my nephews back to California. I was looking forward to a bumper crop of apricots, but the drought killed the tree before the fruit ripened. For Pioneer Day and the days leading up to it, This Is the Place had special events, which meant I "got" to drive different trains with significant problems: the Blackhawk kept overheating and spilling fluid, and the Jupiter didn't stay in park when the engine was off. On July 22, I spent the day visiting the American West Heritage Center near Logan, which was OK, but then I visited Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, which I loved. For Pioneer Day, I had to drive the busy trains at work, but that night we watched Bountiful's fireworks from my sister's driveway. I went on one North Canyon run when I encountered two rattlesnakes.
August. Another transitional month. I joined my parents at Moosehorn again on my day off. We had some crazy rainstorms, including storms that didn't clear out wildfire smoke. One smoky day, I went to Becky Edwards's home to support her in her efforts to unseat Mike Lee. I went to an orientation for new students, since I didn't get to go to my own in person in 2020. I got some new fall treats to review. I began attending classes in person, commuting to the university by bus. I took history of science and technology, oral history, and a research seminar about gender. This meant that I only worked at This Is the Place on Fridays. At the end of the month, my parents were busy painting and getting new floors. I helped with the painting a little bit.
September. Our floor was finished. I joined my parents at Wasatch Mountain State Park. I celebrated my birthday at the end of the month, when the leaves on the trails were amazing!
I got a few gifts, but I was most excited for my ice cream maker.
October. I started the month very busily, and I had to be Alice the "dragon" at work. We took Jimmy to the vet again because it is hard for him to walk, but there wasn't much we can do. For Halloween, we carved and lit the pumpkins we grew in our own garden. We had trick-or-treaters on Saturday but not Sunday, even though I put out my jack-o'-lanterns and Halloween music on both nights.
November. A dry November meant I was able to do lots of trail running still.
My science and technology class toured a nuclear reactor. I had a busy month finishing a research paper and doing a presentation on the history of paleontology. As I was heading home from my presentation that day, a crazy guy tried to break onto the bus. We resumed our Thanksgiving family gathering, and I made six things for it: ice cream, apple cider, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and fruit salad.
December. I continued trail running early in the month before the snow, including another thirteen-mile run.
As the semester wrapped up, I began working evenings for Candlelight Christmas at This Is the Place. I had an interview with the Church History Department, and they offered me a position, which will start in January, so I had to shave my beard. My brother arrived with his family for a week for Christmas, though they left in the evening of Christmas Day. Sadly, on Christmas Eve, I dug a grave for Jimmy while the ground is still soft, since the time has come to put him down.
It was an eventful year! And I am looking forward to 2022. I will be starting a new job, loving a new cat, and graduating from grad school. But my first few months of the year will be busy as I finish my portfolio and work full time. I will be so excited for free evenings once I graduate.
Also, 2012 was a key year in my life. I feel like I really became who I am now in 2012. So it will be a bit strange that 2022 will be my ten-year anniversary of that pivotal year.
So far I have a couple of resolutions for 2022. I hope to get rid of something every day. That can be something big, like old furniture, but it mostly will be small things, like pens that don't write and holey socks. For many years, I collected holiday shows on DVD, and I watched all of them every year. I quit doing that in 2016, partly because I was sick of seeing them over and over. This year, I hope to watch one holiday show every day of each holiday season. There are so many options now, with my DVD collection, broadcast TV, streaming services, and YouTube. So that might not be a wise or edifying resolution, but it should be fun!
In last week's post, I mentioned that I had applied to an internship, and I felt that the interview went well and that I was well qualified for the position.
Well, apparently the interviewers felt the same way. On Monday morning, I received a call from the Church History Department, offering me an internship as a research assistant. And I accepted! I start January 10. It will last for a year, and it will be forty hours a week.
I am really excited for this. Most of you blog readers know that I worked for the department from 2014 to 2017, and it was basically my favorite job ever. (Previously, my official job was as an editorial assistant rather than a research assistant, but I did research then as well.) I will feel like I'm finally making progress in my life. This means that I probably won't work at This Is the Place again, as fun as that has been. Not only will the actual work of my new job be more stimulating and enjoyable, the pay will be better, and so will the commute. It's a win-win-win.
What was not a win, however, was that I had to shave my beard, which I have had since January 2018. I think I look better with a beard. In late 2017, they finally allowed women employees to wear pants, so maybe beards' day is coming?
I will be doing this internship for school credit, so I will have some assignments to do when I'm not at work. And I still have to do my portfolio. So it's not like I'm going to have all the free time I had when I worked there before. But it still will be nice to only worry about one class. And I will still continue at the internship once I graduate in May.
And the good thing about being an intern for the Church is that they're not just going to send me out to get coffee. :)
That was the most important news of the week, but other fun things happened this week.
On Monday night, I took the night off of work to accompany my grandparents to CenterPoint Legacy Theatre in Centerville to see the stage production of A Christmas Story. I used to watch that movie when I was a kid, but then I overhauled my media consumption, so I haven't watched it in around twenty years. The musical was pretty true to the movie. But the movie is more about vignettes than it is about plot. They had token songs about, for example, "a major award" and sitting on Santa's lap. They were fine but didn't have any substance. The play was enjoyable but mediocre.
On Tuesday, the evening at This Is the Place was pretty slow because of the rain. When the shift ended at 9:00, it was mostly rain, though I could tell it was starting to change. By the time I got in my car ten minutes later, it had changed entirely to snow and stuck to the roads. I drove 20 mph the entire way home.
We live on one of the steepest streets in NSL, and when I got to the bottom of our street, I noticed a car had crashed (there's a crash there at least once a year).
"That's not good," I thought. But the reason (well, one reason) I got my car is because it has all-wheel drive, so I proceeded up the hill. Well, I got stuck. It wouldn't go up. Obviously, I couldn't stay there. So then I put it in reverse to see if I could back down. I certainly wasn't going to press on the gas in reverse in the snow, but just being in reverse didn't work either. So I put it in drive again, then cranked the steering wheel to the left to turn around. Even though it's illegal to park on the street during the snowstorm, that's exactly what I did. I just parked on the flat part. I could have tried to go another way to get home, but I thought that would have just given me more opportunities to crash. I was amazed at how much snow had fallen just in the space of an hour.
My car turned from blue to white!
This week, I finally submitted my paper for my research seminar. So I am officially done with the semester, though I'm going to keep transcribing an interview to submit to the Marriott Library.
Then yesterday (Saturday), my brother's family arrived in Utah for Christmas. Yay! They didn't come last year because of COVID, but I have loved having them here for the winter holidays in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Unfortunately, they're leaving on Christmas Day.
It's just so nice to have everyone gathered together and do festive things.
I am not quite done with assignments. I still have to revise my research paper and its accompanying files, but I'm done going to campus.
Monday was my last class of my research seminar.
On Tuesday, I had class, and then my professor for the research seminar brought her new kittens to her office. You mean I can just go play with kittens? Um, yes please! I went to see the kittens, and I was just my usual awkward self. I was kneeling on the ground to be closer to the kitties while other students were in the office chatting. Kittens are the most adorable, wonderful little creatures in the universe. These kittens were only four or five weeks old. When I got there, they were play-fighting with each other. 😻
This kitten seemed a little more scared.
When I got home, I had to do one last trail run for the season. I only had time to do Mueller Park. I don't do that one very much anymore, since it's busier, less pretty, and easier than North Canyon, but it's still nice to go once in a while. And sometimes people decorate it for Christmas.
On Wednesday, I attended my final oral history class. When I got home, I decided to cook and puree the pumpkins we grew but didn't carve. They're not pie pumpkins, but hopefully I can still use them. I just don't have the time and calories to bake all the pumpkin things.
Then Thursday, I traveled through the very welcome snow to my final class. We discussed the book Merchants of Doubt and broke into small groups to do so. Last month I mentioned an older man who asked about dinosaur DNA from Jupiter during my presentation, and he was in my group. He was dominating the conversation with irrelevant topics. If you're going to dominate a conversation, please keep it on topic!
That was my final class of the semester. But it's also possible it was my final class ever. You see, on Thursday morning I had an interview for an internship. I think it would be premature to tell you what the internship is here on this blog. But I thought it went well, and I think I am well qualified. I would love the internship. If I got it, I would just do it for credit, and I wouldn't be in any classes. If not, I am taking another research seminar, but it would be my only class next semester so I can devote more time to my portfolio.
Then Friday, I resumed work at This Is the Place. But I am working for their evening Candlelight Christmas. The park is all lit up, and I work in the print shop, talking about Christmas cards. I will work there every night until Christmas Eve, except for Sundays and tomorrow. It's my first time working Christmas, and it's been busier than I expected. Last night we were swamped. On Friday, I got a visit from my BYU editing professor, who then also was a missionary in the Church History Library the last few months I worked there. So it was fun to talk to her again.
Besides all that, I have spent the week eating tons of sugar and buying tons of Christmas and New Year music. I keep trying to justify why I buy music instead of just streaming, and I do have reasons for that. But I realized that I really just prefer to buy it, and that alone is a good enough reason.
Over the last year, I have had a crisis of faith in Thanksgiving. It has long been my favorite holiday. But was it still my favorite?
I mean, the First Thanksgiving was nothing of the sort; Pilgrims and Indians are often portrayed inaccurately (and sometimes problematically); most leaves have lost their color by the time Thanksgiving arrives; Thanksgiving turkeys are irrelevant to vegetarians; many Thanksgiving foods are also served at other holidays; we should live in thanksgiving daily (Alma 34:38), not just once a year. And since Christmas always intrudes into Thanksgiving's territory, I worried it was dying.
But after making it through another Thanksgiving season, I think it deserves a spot as my favorite. And I don't think it's going to die. A lot of food companies did special things for Thanksgiving. And I think it is a major victory that Target reversed course and is now going to be closed on Thanksgiving. Phew!
I did have an enjoyable Thanksgiving week. It would have been better if I didn't have grad school constantly looming over me, but next Thanksgiving I will be done! (To be fair, I will probably miss these days when I have mornings free.)
On Monday morning, I went to Five Below to pick up the scarecrow and pumpkin Squishmallows my niece had set aside for me (she works there). We didn't have my evening class that day. For our research papers, we meet with other classmates, so I met with them to discuss our first drafts for a couple of hours on Zoom. (They were annoyed with me that my first draft was mostly complete; they have more work to do still.) Then I was free to go on a run. I went trail running every day this week (except Sunday)! This year, they have been building a new Bonneville Shoreline Trail, so I decided to see the new portions near the Summerwood neighborhood in Bountiful. I ran five miles and didn't see the end.
A few months ago, I donated to a Kickstarter for Brownies! Brownies! Brownies! in Sugar House, which entitled me to "free" brownies and a t-shirt, but I had to get the shirt before Thanksgiving, so I went and got it Monday evening. But none of this week's flavors interested me, so I'll have to get the brownies another time.
On Tuesday, I attended class as usual. For the bus ride home, the marquee on the front of the bus wasn't working. There was a speaker outside that said, "4 5 5," but it's a little hard to understand, so when I got on, I said, "This is 455, right?" The driver said, "Yes, like it said outside." I told him, "The sign isn't working." And he angrily responded, "I know!" If he hadn't said "like it said outside," I wouldn't have told him the sign was working. And then at every stop, people would ask what bus it was, and he was irrationally angry that people didn't hear the sign. Once he started going off about how "people are ignoring the speaker today." I could hear him muttering to himself. And if anyone else told him the sign wasn't working, he snapped "I know!" just like he did to me. Sheesh! What's his problem? When I get off the bus, I always say "thank you" to the driver, and this time I was sure to add a "have a nice day" to my farewell. (I thought it would make things worse if I said "I hope your day gets better.")
That evening I only had time to go to the Woodbriar Trail.
Then on Wednesday, I actually had class. During all my schooling, public school and undergrad, I have never had class on the day before Thanksgiving. What's up with that, University of Utah?! But it was on Zoom, since people were traveling. So in the morning before class, I headed to Trader Joe's to buy a few things (see pumpkinundation roundup below). It was busy, but not as much as I expected; I've seen them busier on ordinary days. Then I went home for class. And after class, I was able to run up my very favorite, North Canyon. There were flurries half the time I was running, so I was glad I was wearing a jacket and thick gloves. There was just something so magical about running in the snow in the twilight on the day before Thanksgiving. Last year, I went up North Canyon the afternoon before Thanksgiving, and it was quite busy, even though there was a lot of snow on the ground up the canyon. This time, it was mostly deserted. Maybe because the day was colder this year?
Then I came home and began preparing my portion of food for Thanksgiving. I was only assigned to make cranberry sauce, but I opted to make other foods as well.
On Thanksgiving morning, I only had time for a Wild Rose run.
Then I had to head home to finish cooking, and I also had to pick up the cooked turkeys from my grandparents. I made six things for Thanksgiving: cranberry sauce, spiced apple cider (well, I spiced it, but I didn't make the cider itself), green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, Dixie salad (which is a traditional St. George Thanksgiving fruit salad I wanted to try), and ice cream. Green bean casserole seems like it should be cheap and gross, but I really have come to love it! (My family didn't always have it.) My mom helped me with the hardest parts of preparing these foods: peeling sweet potatoes and removing pomegranate seeds.
I cooked apples in cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar before I added them to the ice cream. And I also added cranberry sauce to the second batch, but I was a little too timid.
My mom's family all came over for the big meal.
Then that evening, after the family left and the dishes were cleaned (in that order), I watched The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't and Squanto: A Warrior's Tale, two very different takes on the traditional "First Thanksgiving" story. The first one is a kitschy cartoon that is so much fun to watch, despite the historical inaccuracies (and it never tried to be accurate). The second one is one I hadn't seen before. It still had too many liberties and inaccuracies for me to fully endorse it, but I do have to say the story of Squanto is far more interesting than the story of the Mayflower.
I'm not convinced we should throw out the Pilgrims and Indians, in part because there can be value in that story, and I am comfortable with a nuanced understanding—but I would be fine if it just gradually faded out. For example, I recently watched An Arthur Thanksgiving from 2020, and it made zero references to Pilgrims.
Then on Friday, I took down Thanksgiving decorations and started on Christmas. I also went back to the new Bonneville Shoreline Trail where I had been on Monday, but this time I followed it until its end (about 3.7 miles one way). It appears that it will meet up with North Canyon when they are done building it.
My mom hung up a ceramic decoration that is Santa's face. At 6:00 on Saturday morning, I awoke to a crashing sound, so I went to see what it was. The Santa face had fallen off the wall and shattered, and Santa's eye was looking at me.
"He sees you when you're sleeping."
Then on Saturday, I worked on some homework before I went up North Canyon again. Nothing too interesting this time, but it does bring me so much joy that I am physically and locationally able to go up there so often.
Then today, we headed up near Pocatello, Idaho, to hear my first-cousin-once-removed give her homecoming talk. Today is the fourteenth anniversary of when I entered the MTC, so I tend to think of missions and homecomings at this time of year.
So I still really enjoy Thanksgiving. Even the less positive things, like working hard in the kitchen and family drama, add character to the day. But I'm not sad it's over, because that means it's Christmastime. And here's a question I have: do I really need a favorite holiday? Since they are my entire life, I don't know that I need to pick one that I like best.
***
Now that Thanksgiving is in our rearview mirror, it's the final installment of pumpkinundation roundup. Sad day!
I first tried this Trader Joe's Everything but the Leftovers Seasoning Blendon plain popcorn, per the recommendation on the bottle. The seasoning got up in my nose and made me cough, like pepper. So I can't recommend it on popcorn. But! I put this stuffing-flavored stuff on bland foods like mashed potatoes and cooked onions, and I loved it! I don't necessarily look forward to eating those foods, but this time I did. 8/10.
Pecan pie is a popular flavor these days, but often that's just pecan, not pecan pie. Not so with the Dairy Queen Pecan Pie Blizzard, which actually had squishy bits in it to represent the syrupy part of pecan pie. I hope they bring this one back! 8/10.
That's one of the squishy pieces, not a nut.
I went to Spanky's, a Bountiful standby, to get the Spanky's Turkey Cranberry Sandwich, but I had to ask if they had it, because it wasn't on any menu or sign. It was good; it was fine. Just what you'd expect. 7/10.
Since I now consider apple pie to also be a Fourth of July dessert, I have had these Apple Pie Larabars in my cupboard since the summer, but I forgot to put them on here until this week. They're fine; Larabars aren't the best things to begin with. 6/10.
Pearson's Pumpkin Spice Salted Nut Roll has a kind of artificial flavor to it. I think most of the flavoring is in the nougat/caramel/whatever beneath the peanuts. 6/10.
I really enjoyed the Millie's Pumpkin Brownie Shake (in Sugar House). The brownie bits added some needed textural contrast to the good but typical pumpkin shake. 8/10.
Good & Gather Apple Pie Date & Nut Bars are Target's version of Larabars. They're a little drier than Larabars, but I don't think they're worse for it. 6/10.
I am so excited to see Thanksgiving foods get attention, so I had to try Trader Joe's Green Bean Casserole Bites. They aren't as good as real green bean casserole; they tasted much more mushroomy. 6/10.
I'm picky when it comes to cheese, so I didn't know what to expect from Trader Joe's Camembert Cheese and Cranberry Sauce Fillo Bites. But they were better than I expected! The cheese wasn't gross, and I enjoyed the cranberry element. 7/10.
I was most excited for Trader Joe's Turkey Sausage Stuffing Fried Rice. I love fried rice, but a holiday-themed fried rice? Amazing! It really does taste like stuffing. 9/10.
[post edited because I forgot something] On the day after Thanksgiving, I finally used my Diamond Pumpkin Pie Spice Nut Pie Crust. It has spices and is made with walnuts and almonds.
I used it for a spaghetti squash pie. It has nice spices, but there is a prominent walnut flavor, and I think walnuts are the grossest nut. The pie was very liquidy, which made the crust very soft and moist, but I wouldn't say it's soggy. 6/10 for the crust, 7/10 for the spaghetti squash pie.
