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!