Civics

I engaged in several events this week relating to my civic duties.

Tuesday evening, I went to the Republican caucus. For many years I was an unaffiliated voter, because I didn't want party allegiance to affect my opinions, instead of deciding for myself. Before Trump, I was pretty much in the center. But since Donald Trump, I lean left, mostly because the right has gone so far right. (Right politically, not right morally.) I am now a registered Republican so I can vote in their primaries and select moderate candidates—I no longer worry about a Republican affiliation making me lean Republican, because I am frankly disgusted with the direction of the Republican Party since Trump, and especially since COVID. I am a RINO.

The Republican Party of Utah decided to not send out ballots, so in order to vote, I had to attend the caucus. We divided into precincts, and each precinct filled out a presidential preference poll. Of course, I voted for Nikki Haley. I didn't think she had a real chance, but I wanted to make my voice heard. It just baffles me that Republicans are backing Trump and objecting to any lawsuits or impeachments against him. Like, if you don't have Trump, you can pick another candidate who will espouse the same Republican ideas, but without bragging about groping women, getting impeached by members of their own party (twice), inciting insurrections, calling people names, spreading misinformation without evidence, or saying "ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS." 

Happily, our precinct voted for Haley! And according to the news I read, most of Davis and Salt Lake Counties also did. Trump still won Utah, but he had one of the narrowest leads in the country. Hooray!

On Thursday, I helped judge entries for National History Day at Salt Lake Community College, which is like a science fair but for history. The Utah Historical Society encouraged employees to help out, so I got paid to be there. In the morning, I judged websites, and my cojudge worked at the Church History Library. We had looked at the websites before, and then we interviewed the students (I think they were in junior high) before we ranked their entries. I liked interviewing them, and I admired their work, but not all of them could advance.

Then in the afternoon, they assigned me to help judge the final round of elementary school exhibits. I was judging with two other men, one of whom was a weird old man who reminded me of the old actor Percy Helton, so I will call him Percy. 

He described himself as an armchair historian, and "armchair" is right. He said he's been judging for ten years, and I felt bad for ten years of students.

The exhibits had papers in front of them that described why and how they did their project. Percy was picking up their papers and circling every time they said "I." Now, as a professional editor, that really irked me—there's nothing wrong with saying "I," and we were judging more on their history than their writing. But as a shy, nonconfrontational person who thinks my opinions don't matter, I didn't say anything. However, the other judge (I'll call him Greg) then asked him about him doing that. Percy said that he worked in business and had to read lots of resumes and cover letters that said "I." Greg told him that these kids weren't being taught not to write with "I," and we were trying to make it a positive experience for them. They went back and forth for several minutes, with Percy giving unconvincing reasons for his judging. I occasionally chimed in to agree with Greg. Then when we were discussing our thoughts and rankings of the exhibits, I disagreed with literally everything Percy said. NHD is desperate for judges, but for the sake of the kids, I hope Percy doesn't judge again! He annoyed me.

One of the exhibits was about the shift from black-and-white to color TV, and the kid pointed to Gilligan's Island as an example of a TV show that never switched to color. I just happen to know more about Gilligan's Island than most people do, so I had to leave a comment that it most definitely did switch to color.

Then yesterday, I went to the capitol for a ceremony of the new Utah flag. Apparently March 9 was designated as Utah Flag Day back in 2011. I am happy with the new flag, though I would have liked to see sego lilies on it, which I think would better portray Indigenous peoples. Oh well, at least the sego lily is on Salt Lake City's flag. The beehive represents industry and community and 1847; the star represents 1896 (statehood); the peaks represent Indigenous peoples; the red represents the red rocks of southern Utah; the hexagon represents a common shape in nature and beehives.

They were also giving out free t-shirts and mini flags.

I'm happy with the new flag, which is more iconic and aesthetically pleasing than the old flag (which will still be around as the governor's flag). Some MAGA folks inexplicably are furious about the new flag. This same demographic was also mad about Minnesota's new flag, even though MN's old flag was even worse than ours. 

The inscription actually says "L'Etoile," which means "the star," but it's still a funny joke.

Then I spent the afternoon filing my taxes. That's annoying, but I don't mind paying taxes, because I benefit from them. And, of course, state taxes give me a job (along with the revenue from the new black license plates).

And last night, I got on my bed to do some reading, but someone had other plans.