Semiquincentennial

Well folks, here we are! This week is the Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 

As someone who works in history, I often come across references to the Bicentennial, and it was a prominent, memorable event. I do think that this year's Semiquincentennial is less prominent, and there are a few reasons for that. But I'm still going to embrace and remember it. (I might still be around for the Tricentennial, but most of the people I love won't.)

I was able to do plenty of Fourth of July activities this week, so I will tell you about them.

The most exciting thing, the one that will have the longest influence, was the grand opening of the Museum of Utah yesterday! They asked all Utah Historical Society staff to assist, even those of us who aren't directly involved in the museum, and they also asked for a lot of help from the community. 

As we signed in, we got a bag of museum-branded stuff, including a staff t-shirt, a water bottle, a baseball cap, and a power bank with obsolete ports. The biggest hit was party shirts with various Utah and museum icons all over it. 

As I got mine, the colleague in charge of the Museum Store said this shirt seemed right up my alley, and later she said many other people had said the same thing to her. One coworker said it was very Mark coded, that they imagine opening my closet and it's full of shirts like this. My supervisor, Holly, brought her family, and she said she had bought an ugly Easter shirt but worried it might seem like she was imitating me. Another coworker said, "But Mark's holiday shirts aren't ugly," and Holly clarified she didn't mean to say mine were ugly. 

My job was to stand outside the door of one of the exhibits and use an app to count people as they went in and out. One of my old supervisors from the Church History Department came with his family, and I also saw a couple of other people I know superficially. There were lots of people who came, from various races, political ideologies (if I can judge such a thing by people's fashion choices), and religions.

Apologies in advance; this post ended up having a lot of selfies

This was a big community event, with lots of organization booths, food trucks, and musical numbers. After my shift ended, I stuck around for one Latine performance. (I like the term "Latine" for a gender-neutral version of "Latino," without using the horrendously clunky "Latinx.")

I didn't see any of the galleries yesterday, but I had already seen most of them. I already talked about the museum itself, so I won't repeat that here. I just encourage everyone to check it out, because it's great! The feedback I have seen so far has been overwhelmingly positive.

Of course, between Memorial Day and Pioneer Day, I love wearing my red, white, and blue clothing. Today I wore my American flag suit to church (where I poorly played the piano with one hand during elders quorum),

Tuesday and Wednesday I wore my star-spangled jammers at the pool, and yesterday I wore my washable USA hat on a five-mile trail run.

Here's an advertisement: I love Sprints hats! They keep the sun and sweat out of my eyes, and they're so easy to wash. And the patterns are fun too. 

I have some ward friends in a community choir, and one of them invited me to their patriotic concert in Layton. Christmas concerts are a dime a dozen, but Fourth of July concerts are less common, so I was glad to attend. Since my personal Fourth of July playlist has well over three hundred songs, I know most patriotic songs, but there were a few I hadn't heard before. I saw one of these friends after the concert, and she said she saw me walk in and knew I had to be wearing something American, but from a distance it looked like my shirt had pineapples. (It was American flags.)

At staff meeting on Monday, a colleague and I were saying that we hadn't seen much America250 stuff that we loved. I certainly don't need any more patriotic clothing, but then I saw a Facebook ad for this Smithsonian America250 shirt that I actually like, so I bought it. I hope it arrives before the Fourth; if not, it will be fine to wear in future years.

I went to Sprouts after swimming on Wednesday, and they had an America's Test Kitchen collection of "America's Potluck" recipes, with a recipe for every state. (Utah's recipe is funeral potatoes.) I thought it would be a fun commemorative item. This is especially interesting, because America's Potluck (to be observed July 5) was originally the idea of Utah's America250 commission. 

I donned my patriotic apron to make Cincinnati chili from the book, and I hope to make additional recipes in the future.

Last night I watched Uncle Sam Magoo, a 1970 cartoon that I saw in elementary school in the year 2000, and then I bought the DVD in 2015, which was probably the last time I watched it. Eleven years and a master's degree later, I recognize a number of issues, but I still think it's surprisingly not bad for something from 1970, and of course it's an interesting cultural/historiographical artifact. (If you're looking for a fun Fourth of July–adjacent cartoon to watch, there's a great episode of Animaniacs streaming for free on Tubi!) 

After the abysmal winter we had, I'm glad Governor Spencer Cox found a way to get around Utah's laws that prohibit individual cities from banning fireworks. (So much for small government.) Personal fireworks were illegal in Utah from 1939 to 1983, so this isn't new. I had a dream this week that it snowed in early November, and it is so sad that I would need to have a dream like that. (I do have pictures of snow in November in the years before 2025, so hopefully that was an anomalous winter.)

It is a crying shame that this once-in-a-generation commemoration coincides with Trump's presidency. I understand why some might be hesitant to celebrate the Fourth of July this year.

But I am going to celebrate it because Trump is not the United States of America. He is one blip, and one blot, on our country's long history. Congress passed the bipartisan America250 years ago, and Trump's doing his own disastrous Freedom 250 stuff. He is separate from the Semiquincentennial itself. I look forward to the time when we can wipe the Cheeto dust off our hands for good and he will be relegated to the annals of our history.

I just looked up how long it is until January 20, 2029, and it is 937 days. Do you remember December 4, 2023? That is how long we have to wait. I looked at my photos from that date, and I came across Reggie chewing on the Christmas tree while we were watching Holiday Baking Championship,

a Conference Center luminaria after my workday at the Church History Library, 

and extremely tacky "artwork" at Seagull Book. 

This is my assessment from 2023:
I went to Seagull Book this week and saw this very tacky decoration for sale. So you don't have to zoom in, I will describe it as a picture of a soldier with a gun, accompanied by wings and an American flag, with the caption "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Now, from a purely artistic standpoint, even I, a nonartist, know that it is not good art. Perhaps worst of all, it uses the Papyrus font. But from a conceptual standpoint, it is using a scripture about Jesus to describe someone holding an assault rifle! At the very least, they could have used a less violent image of a soldier. I support soldiers and veterans, and I understand why we have a military, but this whole thing seems to be in very poor taste. I hope no one buys it.

***

And of course, we can't forget RWB roundup! 

I had this Del Taco Independence Popper Shake last year too. Del Taco doesn't do many holiday treats, and RWB shakes are rare, so this is especially unusual. It's a vanilla shake with blue raspberry syrup and strawberry popping boba. I really enjoy the texture of popping boba. The shake itself is merely OK, but the colors and popping boba bring it up. 8/10.

A more substantial shake is the Iceberg Apple Pie Shake, which is one of their summer flavors. (Get the kid size at Iceberg; the "mini" is enormous.) The apple filling seemed better than a canned filling, so maybe they made their own? 8/10.

McDonald's always has apple pies, which are baked, but decades ago their apple pies were fried. For this year, they brought back the McDonald's Fried Apple Pie. I don't often have the baked apple pie, but I did like this one. 8/10.

Sprouts has lots of lemon-flavored things, but I only count lemonade as a Fourth of July treat. Sprouts Sour Pink Lemonade Dried Mango is an unusual item. They are very sweet; they're OK. 5/10.

I know pickle lemonade exists, but I have never had it. But I love these Late July Pickle Lemonade Tortilla Chips! In fairness, I probably loved them the first time because of post-swim munchies. But I did really enjoy these. The pickle seasoning is nice, and the lemonade part sweetens it up. 8/10.

I'm never that big on bagels, but I wanted to try Dave's Killer Bread Summer Berry Bagels. They have blueberries, strawberrries, raspberries, and cranberries (even though cranberries are a fall thing!). They're OK. I've been having them with leftover carrot cake spread from Eastertime. 5/10.

After my dentist visit this week, I stopped at Mrs. Backer's Pastry Shop. One of the workers spotted my little paper bag with toothpaste/toothbrush and said, "Someone has just been to the dentist!" I worried that everything they had there was just special colors. But they had Mrs. Backer's Independence Sammies, which are a red velvet cookie, a blue velvet cookie, and a filling. The worker said the red velvet was an old recipe, but the blue velvet was something one of the bakers came up with. She said she liked the blue one better, and I do too. I want to love this, but it was drier and crispier than I would have liked. 6/10.

When I went to Layton, I went and had Pizza Pie Cafe Red, White, and Blue Pizza, which is basically a sugar cookie with strawberries and blueberries. I first had this in 2015 when they still had a location in Bountiful, but back then they only had it in July. I think it's one of their most popular seasonal desserts. And I like that it's a cookie base, rather than a pizza base like their other desserts. 8/10.

I made a special trip to Sonic for the Sonic Red, White and Blue Slush Float. It's vanilla ice cream, blue raspberry slush, and strawberries. I was sad when I got to the bottom and realized I had finished all the ice cream. 7/10.

To coincide with 250, they're selling the slush float for $2.50, along with a double cheeseburger, onion rings, and the Sonic All-American Hot Dog. It's fine; it's just a hot dog that's available all the time. 7/10.

I'm looking forward to all of this week's festivities! It should be a great week.

Just another week

I can't say my week was all that interesting. 

Monday was the day that the State of Utah observes Juneteenth, so in the morning I ran up North Canyon. 

Richardson's geraniums

Utah sweetpea

Sego lily

Mulesears

Then I came home and did my BYU work, since BYU didn't have the day off. (I'm not technically a BYU employee, but I opt to follow their calendar.) I thought the observed Juneteenth holiday was the perfect day to fill out my primary ballot. (I'm a RINO.)

Tuesday night, my oldest nephew, Preston, and his wife, Claire, arrived, but I was already in bed. I briefly said hi to them on Wednesday morning, but my parents took them camping for a couple of nights. I did typical evening runs, including the Woodbriar Trail, where the grass grows very tall.

I recently saw a PSA saying this kind of thistle is a native plant, not an invasive thistle. Now I know not to step on them.

Friday, I had a few extra hours because BYU opts to observe Juneteenth on the day itself. Since it was a hot day, I went swimming, which is the first time I've been to the pool since April, unless you count my triathlon last month. I was dismayed to open my swim bag and see that my hand paddles and flippers, which I use for practice drills, were missing. The last time I went swimming, I must have put "my" kickboard and pull buoys back in the closet, since I use the rec center's supplies, then forgot to take my own flippers and paddles back with me. I'm not so sad about losing them; I'm sad that I'm so dumb to forget them. Oh well. After I came home, I got to see more of Preston and Claire.

Then yesterday (Saturday), I went up North Canyon again. It will be nice when fall arrives and it's not so hot and bright, so I can go longer than seven miles.

Richardson's geraniums

sticky geraniums

There were lots of sego lilies!

In the evening we spent time with Preston and Claire by playing the telephone drawing game. This game has been commercialized as Telestrations, which is convenient, but it's more fun when you get to come up with your own sentences and have more freedom in drawing.

Speaking of drawing, I was thinking about posting some of my recent dream drawings, but I'm so unartistic that I'm a little too embarrassed to post them. One of my dreams this week was that Target put up Summerween decorations. Then the next day (in real life), I drove by the old JoAnn store, where there was a "now hiring" Spirit Halloween poster, and then there was a box of Summerween pillows at Walmart. (I often see throw pillows and think they look really cool, but then I remember that I hate the whole concept of throw pillows, because they just get in the way.)

***

I enjoyed this week's RWB roundup! 

Walgreens has its own Raspberry Lemonade Tums Chewy Bites. I think it's funny that there are seasonal Tums. The pink ones are raspberry, the yellow ones are lemonade—they're not each raspberry lemonade. Part of me hopes I get heartburn so I can eat more of them. (I got lemonade Tums at Target back in 2020, but I left them in the family medicine cupboard, and my dad ate them all.) 7/10.

I was happy to try Chobani American Blueberry Coffee Creamer in a cup of Postum (since I don't drink coffee). It has a nice berry flavor. But summer is not the season for warm drinks.

Dick's Fresh Market has a Sundae Doughnut of the Month, which has sprinkles, globs of frosting, and a cherry on top. I had it, yet somehow I don't remember the cherry! It was a tasty donut (that's my preferred spelling), though the topping was maybe a bit much. 8/10.

I was glad I finally found Pepperidge Farm Maggie's Apple Pie Cookies! They are adorable, and they taste like pie crust. The apple filling tastes a little artificial, but it really does taste like apple pie. 8/10.

The Burger King Cinnamon Apple Pie came out earlier this year; I don't know if it was meant for the semiquincentennial, but they do advertise it along with the new Firecracker Cookie Pie. The package warns that "contents are hot!"—and they aren't kidding! I take a bite, and scalding liquid shoots out. It was pretty good, but I might have tasted more of it if it weren't scalding. (I also had to tell the workers that their soda machine was haunted; the screen kept selecting Coca Cola and pouring it out until the soda was dripping all over.) 7/10.

Because I'm addicted to sugar, I wanted to go try the Big Bite Breads Raspberry Lemonade Roll, which is a cinnamon roll with raspberry filling instead of cinnamon, then lemon frosting on top. (There were a few lemon flavors, but this was the only one branded as lemonade, rather than simply lemon.) 8/10.

Kroger Banana Split Social Ice Cream is the third of Kroger's All American Collection of ice cream. It has banana and strawberry ice cream with chocolate sauce. It's enjoyable, but I just think it's a little boring. 7/10.

A year or two ago, my coworker told me she loves the Liquid I.V. Firecracker flavor. I had had it before but thought it was terrible. Only this year did I realize why I thought it was terrible: I hadn't diluted it enough. So I decided to try it again with the proper amount of water—and it was actually fine this time! I wouldn't call it my favorite flavor, but it's fine. 7/10.

Most of RWB roundup is for proprietary items. But this week I made pancakes from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. Half of the flour is whole wheat, and I put raspberries, blueberries, and white chocolate chips in the batter. These are fluffy pancakes that require no syrup! 9/10.

After swimming on Friday, I went and got Baskin-Robbins Fútbol Fireworks Ice Cream, which has cherry sherbet mixed in with the ice cream, as well as popping candy. This is branded for soccer rather than the Fourth of July, but it has "fireworks"! It's OK; there's a reason sherbet isn't as popular as ice cream. 6/10.

I also got Baskin-Robbins America's Birthday Cake Ice Cream, which I have had off and on since 2015 (they haven't had it every year). I didn't count ice cream in general as a Fourth of July treat until 2021, so for many years, it was one of the few ice creams I could have at this time of year. It has blue frosting, strawberry ice cream, and cake pieces. 8/10.

The Crumbl S'mores Cookie is around for all of June. Maybe it was just my palate at the moment I ate it, but it just seemed generically sweet to me, not overtly "s'mores." It's fine as a decadent cookie, though. 7/10.

America/Files/Books/Food

America250 Festivities

I have staff meeting for the Utah Historical Society every two weeks, and after Monday's meeting, they had civics trivia on Kahoot. I won the trivia, so I got to pick out one of the prizes, so I got this hat. (I like to have a hat while I'm working at my desk because my window can get overly bright.)

In the evening, the City of North Salt Lake was hosting a special America250 event, so I went, wearing my new hat. See, I want to embrace these patriotic activities this summer because (1) it is a once-in-a-generation milestone and (2) I want to demonstrate that our country is much more than our current dystopian moment.

For this event, they had representatives from an organization called Why I Love America, which brands itself as nonpartisan, though I can see what direction they lean. They had a poster that was mostly about the American Revolution, though it also included "brave" Christopher Columbus and the Mayflower. If it was going to include things besides the Revolution, those are not the historical events I would have included, at least not all of them. (I can't complain too much about this civic gathering, since it was sandwiched between NSL's Pride and Juneteenth events.) They had little boxes with tiny exhibits of history and civics.

Then they had a program where people who were dressed up as Founding Fathers read the Declaration of Independence. Reading the Declaration was a staple of nineteenth-century Fourth of July celebrations. Thankfully, that has ended—so boring! And they handed out little brochures with the Declaration and the Constitution. After the ceremony, they had everyone hold a giant American flag while a drone took a picture.

I do love my country, despite all of its problems (guns, Trump, pollution). I don't consider myself an overly patriotic person, though you would think otherwise seeing me in June and July—I really just love the Fourth of July. I'm not that interested in conversations about the American Revolution, especially ones that focus on the battles. (I don't care about Lexington and Concord or Ticonderoga.) But I am interested in how Americans remember the Revolution. I enjoyed reading the book The Memory of '76 last year. And that's part of why I'm interested in all the America250 events this year.

Work Files

Once a week, I'm going into the office to go through old files that our predecessors kept. Since we are a state entity, many of our records have to be stored in State Archives, though we don't need to keep everything. Many of these old documents are dull and useless, but there are some interesting ones. I was especially amused by an email exchange from twenty years ago. Part of my job is to obtain book reviews for Utah Historical Quarterly. Each review features the reviewer's name and institution, and then we send proofs to the reviewers before they go to print. One of my predecessors twenty years ago sent a proof that accidentally said "University of Cream" instead of "University of Utah." When I found this email, I laughed harder than I have in a long time. 

Another reviewer was embarrassed that he wrote "pubic" instead of "public." And I found another instance where someone wrote an unfortunate typo in a letter, but in the days of typewriters, they could only type new letters over the old ones, instead of backspace. (I'm not sharing it here because I try to maintain a clean, wholesome image.)

Weekend Road Trip

This week, my parents were camping at Yuba State Park, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to join them, then hit up some more bookstores for the Independent Bookstore Crawl. 

After work on Friday, I headed south. I stopped at Old Navy in Orem, because I have wanted an American flag sweater for years, and they were the closest location that had one in stock. (Fourth of July isn't really sweater season. I'm thinking Election Day or an exceptionally cool Memorial Day?)

And I also got dinner in Nephi.

I arrived at Yuba State Park, my third time visiting there but my first time staying overnight, which was $25. I didn't feel like getting on the water that night.

The next morning I got on my parents' kayak for half an hour. It might have been fun to spend more time doing water things (swimming, paddleboarding), but I had other things to do.

While my parents fretted over their lost trailer hitch, I headed south to Richfield. I went to their little bookstore, The Bookmark. This was a small store that was mostly fiction, so I didn't buy anything. 

While I was in Richfield, I went to Lin's grocery store, and then I went to the Maverik across the street, just because I like Maverik. By pure coincidence, my aunt who lives in Flowell (near Fillmore) just happened to be at Maverik at the same time! I went to her car and said hi. That was quite a surprise!

Then I drove north to Mount Pleasant in Sanpete County. Their bookstore, Curiositea, is upstairs in City Hall. It occupied one room and spilled into the hallway, and it had a bigger selection than I would have expected for a little town. 

I had never stopped in Mount Pleasant before, and I was impressed by the selection of things they had on their little Main Street, including old buildings that are being preserved by the State Historic Preservation Office.

Then I headed north again, and I stopped to get a burger in Fairview.

This was for sale in the restaurant. I find it . . . concerning.

And then I was back in bigger places once I arrived in Spanish Fork. Their bookstore, Poppy Books and Gifts, was in an old house. I was impressed with their selection—they leaned into fiction, but they did have a fair selection of nonfiction. I bought A Queer History of the United States.

And then I headed north to Springville to go to the Pumpkin Cottage Bookshop. They are soon opening a new storefront, but for now it was a little upstairs space.

This was a very small bookstore. It had lots of pumpkin décor, so I hoped I could buy something pumpkiny, but I didn't see anything for sale. This was also a fiction-centric store, but I bought a book called Queer and Christian.

And herein lies my dilemma. If I go to a bookstore and don't buy anything, it seems like a waste. And if I do buy something, I beat myself up, because my TBR list is already long, and I should be getting rid of things, not buying more things! But I do have a career where I think it's good to have books on hand as a reference.

Anyway, I hit four bookstores yesterday! I have seven bookstores left on the crawl, and most of them will be harder than what I've done hitherto. But I'm brainstorming ways to get to them.

RWB Roundup

This week's RWB roundup isn't so red, white, and blue. I don't think the things this week were necessarily inteded for the Fourth of July, but I count them as Fourth of July flavors, so you're hearing about them.

Apple pie is one of the big patriotic flavors this year, but Apple Pie Toast Crunch has been around for years as a fall/winter thing. When I saw it at two different Targets, I wondered if maybe they released it again for the Fourth of July but didn't bother to change the packaging. But the expiration date indicates that it's just leftover cereal. Which is a shame, because it's great! 8/10.

The Other Side Donuts has all their proceeds go to the homeless, and they sell some of them at the Other Side Thrift Boutique near my office. I really enjoy the Other Side Pink Lemonade Donut, which has a nice filling. 8/10.

I also really enjoyed the Other Side S'mores Donut, which had the same filling. It was tasty, but it was a bit too much after I had just eaten the lemonade donut. 8/10.

There is a place nearby with the very original name Fresh Sushi and Boba Tea, and I got a watermelon slushy there. I don't actually know what the slush is. But it comes with boba, which I quite enjoy. I didn't find the watermelon flavor to be that different from the honeydew flavor (which I can have at St. Patrick's Day because it's green). 7/10.

In Nephi, I got a Nebo Queen S'mores Shake, and they forgot to give it to me until I asked about it twenty minutes later. They list this as a June special, but it's also on the regular menu, so how special is it? I enjoyed it, even if it wasn't terribly inspired. 7/10.

The packaging for Wiley Wallaby Lemonade Licorice doesn't indicate it's limited edition, but it does say "a fresh squeezed splash of summer." As promised, it is soft and chewy! I like it. 8/10.

I spent a lot of the week going through the foods I have already featured here. But I do have a list of things I still hope to buy over the next few weeks!