Best of Utah

To prepare for America's 250th birthday in 2026, the Utah Historical Society is working on a project called the Peoples of Utah Revisited (Peoples for short; we used to call it POUR, but that sounded like "poor"). A team of contributors are writing histories of different communities in the state, and many of them will be published in Utah Historical Quarterly, so I am part of the Peoples team. And I have also talked about writing and citations at the two Peoples symposia.

Salt Lake City Weekly recently announced their Best of Utah 2024, and Peoples won an award for "Best Resource for Preserving Cultural History." That sounds like a category that was made up just to recognize us, but hey, that's cool! Consequently, UHS employees who work with Peoples were invited to the Best of Utah party on Thursday this week, held at the Masonic Temple, which was built in 1905. 

I got there early, and it wasn't too busy then, but it got really crowded. In the basement of the temple, they had various food winners sharing their products. As a foodie, I enjoyed having a peppermint macaron, a pink deviled egg, ube cornbread, and other goodies. I declined the drink tickets, THC gummies, and pornographic donuts. 

In the main auditorium, they had different performing groups. They had circus acrobats performing at the same time as a band that described itself as if "Tom Petty had a baby with Radiohead." Not many people were watching, and I felt bad for the performers having such a small crowd.

More people trickled in for the next performance, which was a drag performance. I've never been to a drag show before, so I stuck around. It was . . . weird. It reminded me of when I went to the opera: I can appreciate it as a cultural experience, but it's just not my thing. I'm glad that other people enjoy it. It was basically drag queens lip-synching to pop songs and dancing. (For the record: I reject the far-right claims that drag shows are somehow harmful to children. Some are appropriate for families, and some are not—just like standup comedy, and plays, and literally every other form of entertainment. This particular drag show was not family friendly.)

The party lasted till eleven, but I left about nine thirty.

The other cultural experience I had this week was to see the Nutcracker ballet. According to Ballet West, Salt Lake City is the first location of the full-length Nutcracker in the United States. That was in 1944, so this year was its eightieth anniversary, and it has been held continuously since 1955. The ballet was written in the 1890s, and I'm surprised it took fifty years to make it to the US in full. (An abridged version was performed before that.)

The dancing, set pieces, and costumes were spectacular, and it was fun to hear the iconic melodies performed live. Overall, though, I found it kind of dull. It's a product of the nineteenth century, and I live in the twenty-first, so that kind of entertainment is just not in fashion anymore. (I say that as someone who is regularly in the nineteenth century.) And I'm not really into dancing. I also expected more of a story, but the second act was just random dances and nothing to do with Christmas. I'm glad I got to go and experience it, but I don't feel a need to see it again anytime soon.

Last week, I told you I had cooked a large pumpkin to use in other foods. So last Sunday, I spent a long time in the kitchen making pumpkin soup from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, pumpkin pancakes from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook, and pumpkin granola from Pumpkin Lovers' Cookbook. They were fine. The soup isn't my favorite, but I enjoy it with Trader Joe's Everything but the Leftovers seasoning, and it's a convenient way to eat vegetables at a time of the year with lots of sugary carbs. I made a second batch of the soup yesterday (with some different vegetables) so I could use up the rest of the pumpkin. 

With the inversion and darkness, I went swimming a couple of times this week and wore my new Christmas jammers. 

My blog posts will be shorter again now that pumpkin season has ended. But I still like to share my silly dreams. I love what my brain comes up with!

Mark visits a retention pond in the middle of the night, and there are catfish in and near the water

Mark is reluctant to swim in the retention pond because it has foam and dead leaves, but his mom encourages him to swim

during a volcanic eruption, glowing orbs lit the way

Mark rides his bike uphill, but the tires go flat when he tries to go up stairs

Milk from different animals, including frogs

Calvin and his friends prepare to defeat Bowser

Mark debates whether to take the books off the bookcase before moving it

in a high school history classroom, every desk is a display case of historical artifacts

in May, the ice cream shop sells several red, white, and blue flavors

Mark almost takes the orange kitten home, but he has to return it to the ice cream shop

Mark and Ron discuss classes they would like to take in college

at the grocery store, Mark buys cornucopia socks, stuffing-flavored microwave popcorn, small berries, and a tiny toy stegosaurus

carved wooden figures lipsync to the songs playing at the grocery store

Mark asks his former history professors what books they've been writing

Mark talks to someone at Costco while an author sets up his display of books

Roger tells Mark that Utah Historical Quarterly should publish more music

Reid has a meeting with Mark, Scott, and Roger in an open cubicle