At the capitol

I had two opportunities to go to the capitol this week. I'm pretty sure I've been to the capitol more times in the last two years than I have in the rest of my life combined. And honestly, that's a little surprising, since I don't live far from it, and I worked downtown for many years. But it does make sense that I'd be there more often as a state employee.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I felt guilty taking it as just a day off, because I feel guilty about literally everything. I learned there was an event going on at the capitol, so I decided to attend it. When I got there, they were trying to build the "beloved community" and encouraged people to meet three new people. I thought, "I'm an introvert, and I'm only half committed to being here, so I'm not doing that." But there were three people who introduced themselves to me: a trans woman who knows some people I know, a Red Cross employee, and Melissa Garff Ballard, the representative for North Salt Lake. 

Then there were various speeches and presentations. Some of them were hard to understand because of the echo in the capitol. They had two young Black girls read MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. (I know I'm supposed to find that cute and inspiring, but I just didn't. They were so young that their reading wasn't very expressive. I would have preferred older kids or teenagers.) And they had a Black pastor encourage people to "stay woke." It was the first time I have ever heard someone describe themselves as woke unironically. I'm glad I went, but I don't know if I feel a need to go every year.

I know there have been many states, including Utah, that didn't always call it Martin Luther King Day, instead calling it Civil Rights Day or Human Rights Day, and there were charges of racism against those states. Maybe there were racist ideas in their choice not to use MLK's name, but I honestly think Civil Rights Day is a better name for the holiday. MLK does deserve his own holiday, but so do so many others involved in the Civil Rights movement. And even if we call it Civil Rights Day, we're still commemorating it around MLK's birthday. 

It was certainly a better activity than listening to or watching the inauguration on the same day. I got bits and pieces of the speech as I was driving around. What a terrible person. I'm ashamed of anyone who voted for him. 

The other time at the capitol was for work. The Utah Historical Society was hosting History Day on the Hill, which is meant for students to showcase their past work in the National History Day competition. UHS had a few tables set up to talk to people about our work, and there were some interesting folks there. And there was one kid who came up and asked, "Is the president here?" I said, "He's not here," and he said, "Where is he?" I was so surprised at the question that I had to make sure we were talking about the same thing, so I said, "Which president are you thinking of?" He said, "President Biden." My colleague told him, "I think he went on vacation after his term ended." It was funny, and it would have been cute if he were in first grade. But he was in seventh grade! He said he was homeschooled. I don't know whether his parents are doing a terrible job, or whether he's homeschooled because he has some kind of learning disability. 

As I left that day, I saw the progress on the new museum on the north side of the capitol. That might be my office one day, but they're still figuring out where our offices will actually be.

And I had other things going on this week, but they're not significant enough to feel like talking about right now. Of course, I talk about frivolous things all the time, but I just don't feel like it right now.

Speaking of frivolous things, here are this week's dreams. Do people still find them entertaining? I think some of the novelty has worn off.

Mark bumps into an extinct mammal while swimming in the lake

Mark left his phone and wallet on the other side of the lake, but he can't swim or boat back because the waves are too big

Mark gives a work presentation while wearing an apron from behind a shower curtain

hornets fly around the kitchen after Mark moves their nest from the bathroom to the kitchen and then turns on the ceiling fan

Mark's light display automatically changes to leprechauns on February 15

Holly tries to play along with a player piano and messes up a note

a guy lives in a furnished cave on the mountain

Mark snacks on a large, clear, blue mat made of gummy candy

Mark watches an old video on a blog of his toddler niece saying "short time" and his baby nephew riding fast on a toy bike

Mark is at a dinner where they play "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" in January and tomato sauce gets on the stove burner

the burger restaurant sold avocado shakes in September, but they forgot to take the poster down

Mark blows on tiny squares in a lamp, and they stick to his lip

Hobnobbing with historians

On Monday, the Utah Historical Society hosted its annual awards ceremony, which honors various individuals and groups contributing to Utah history. Of course, as an employee I was invited/expected to attend. This time it was at Memorial House in Memory Grove, and I enjoyed parking at the capitol and walking down the path to the park. It's nice to have something different to do in the bleak month of January.

Anyway, it was good to see and talk to different people in the history field. My last supervisor from the Church History Department was there, so it was good to see him. And my current UHS supervisor told me she talked to him, and he had flattering things to say about me, that I had a big depth of knowledge and produced high-quality content quickly. That was nice to hear, but also surprising, because I don't think of myself as fast, and I thought I had less knowledge than most at the CHD.

I spent a lot of last year reading books that were nominated for our Juanita Brooks Best Book in Utah History Award, because I was one of four people on the book committee. The winner we selected was Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath by Richard E. Turley Jr. and Barbara Jones Brown, and the finalist we selected was Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Stephen C. Taysom. I enjoyed reading those books. Within the last few weeks, I emailed various academic presses, asking them to nominate books for next year's award, and I'm excited to see and read what they send to us!

Then on Thursday, I attended a lecture by my friend Connell O'Donovan at Signature Books about Mildred "Barrie" Berryman, who studied gay and lesbian topics a century ago. It's always fascinating to learn about our queer predecessors.

In Signature's meeting space, there was a shelf with various periodicals, and I was happy to see that I was involved in three of the publications:

• They had the Summer 2023 issue of Utah Historical Quarterly, which was the first issue I worked on when I was hired almost two years ago
• They had the latest issue of Wayfare. (In the last few weeks, I've cleaned up some footnotes for our next issue, but I'm in a lull right now. More will trickle in.)
• They had Latter-day Saint Historical Studies, and it just happened to be the issue that has my Pioneer Day article

I talked to Barbara Jones Brown, the director of Signature Books, and she thanked me for awarding Vengeance Is Mine the best book award.

I don't do much historical research and writing of my own. But I feel lucky to get to associate with all the people who do.

And of course, I have to end the post with this week's irrelevant dream images.

several people are on a cliff above a lake

a website sells men's Valentine's sweaters

Mark finds some pants in his yellow bag, so he can see the First Presidency with the other guys, who are dressed in costumes (I can't decide whether I prefer this image . . .)

(. . . or this one)

there are poisonous plants around animal cages to deter predators

Lisa is distracted when tutoring Nelson (I wondered if the "distracted boyfriend" would show up, and there he is!)

Mark tries to rescue a tortoise and two frogs from Sue's burned-down house

a woman is crying at church because her thirteen-year-old child came out as gay

on June 2, Mark pulls up goat head plants outside an ice cream shop in Centerville, Utah

on Google Maps, someone put pictures of trees on the page for a fast-food restaurant

a man in a mixed-orientation marriage invites his friends to his house, and one of them is wearing a button-up Snoopy shirt

a Latter-day Saint ward has an early twentieth-century Chicago-themed sacrament meeting with musical numbers and Primary children distributing sacrament bread

Mark picks grapes in December when a family of children come by to sell something

Embracing the Season

As I have said many times before, this is my least favorite time of year. But I've been trying to embrace what it does have to offer.

Monday was Epiphany, which isn't really part of the holiday calendar in a state dominated by Latter-day Saints and a nation dominated by Protestantism. We have a donut shop, JJ Donuts, at the bottom of our hill, and they made rosca de reyes for Epiphany, since it's a traditional Mexican treat. I had never had one, so I wanted to try one. It was OK. It didn't really have much flavor. I much preferred the Mardi Gras king cake I got at Parsons' Bakery last year. 

On Tuesday, I practiced with the swim team, the first time I had done so since October. And I also swam twice on my own. My swimming has definitely improved since last year, and especially since I took swimming lessons two years ago. In 2023, I often had an existential crisis when I was swimming freestyle. But I've been swimming eight laps freestyle in a row without stopping, which would have been way too much for me in past years.

Then yesterday (Saturday), I took my dad to Great Salt Lake State Park for a ranger-led tour of their mirabilite mounds. Mirabilite is a salty mineral, and under certain conditions, it forms beautiful mounds. Because of the low lake level, these have only been documented at the GSL in the last five years, and it's the only place in the United States where they've been found. It needs to be subfreezing temperatures in a dry climate and at a salty body of water. I didn't think the ranger tour was necessary, but it was cool to see them, especially since they're only around in the winter.

Fish from streams sometimes end up in the lake, and then they wash ashore. There were also several dead birds, but for some reason it seems grosser/sadder to take pictures of dead birds.

While we were out there we stopped at Black Rock. There was once a resort there, and Black Rock was a favorite spot for Fourth of July and Twenty-Fourth of July celebrations in the nineteenth century. It's no longer surrounded by water, but it was still cool to see.

Courtesy Utah Historical Society

This past fall, my uncle gave my parents a big bag of pine nuts he collected. In November and December, I spent some time shelling them, which is a very time-consuming process. This weekend, I wanted to make some pine nut cookies, but the nuts I had shelled were moldy. Sigh. Then my mom peeled more, and I was able to make the cookies, which were very small and like shortbread, similar to Girl Scouts Trefoils. I like them, but I don't think they're worth the troubling of shelling pine nuts. Why are pine nuts a thing? They're so much work, and they're not that great. They're most commonly used in pesto, and I can't stand pesto. (Parmesan strikes again!)

OK, so there's not a lot of things that are special to this time of year, but there are some things. Here are this week's dreams. 

Mark looks for an available bathroom in his grandparents' four-level house, which they share with Santa and Rudolph

Mark calls his junior high crush and asks if she wants to get ice cream sometime, and he is relieved when she declines

a four-inch wasp lands on David

Mark doesn't have a music folder for the performance of "Utah, This Is the Place"

Mark wears blue shorts he finds while walking through a construction site, and he sees a white scorpion

Mark plays a game with his family and wins with the entry "potato room"

Allie enters Five Below, and the owner gives her the keys

Mark washes his hand in David's lemon wine

four dogs try to enter the house, but only two are allowed

the cat is out of water because the carpet soaked it up

Mark rides his bike to the border of a small town, where there are sego lilies in bloom (I'm so sad it didn't actually do sego lilies)

Mark watches giant waves at the Great Salt Lake visitor center

Mark trips in floodwaters at BYU

Voldemort and Dolores Umbridge kiss

Mark takes a bath in a bucket while reading a book of random facts

Mark asks his friends what they're doing for Valentine's Day while his mom removes a red velvet rope

a video game involves stabbing the belly of a jellyfish

a man has Mark assemble bullets while the class watches, and microphones amplify the sound

Mark finds his brother's letters written in Chinese at a used-book store

a jumping spider hitchhikes on Mark's orange, then builds a web on his jack-o'-lantern

the city narrows the street by putting trees in front of people's houses