City Weekly February 25, 2021 by Copperfield Publishing

F E B R U A RY 2 5 , 2 0 2 1

VOL. 37

Making Grade the

After years of fighting over education spending, lawmakers and educators have come up with a winning formula—for now. By Benjamin Wood

N0. 39

CONTENTS COVER STORY

MAKING THE GRADE After years of fighting over education spending, lawmakers and educators have come up with a winning formula—for now. By Benjamin Wood

Cover art by Derek Carlisle

6 OPINION 14 A&E 17 DINE 22 MUSIC 28 CINEMA 29 COMMUNITY

2 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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SOAP BOX “Embedded Within a Mass Delusion,” Feb. 18 cover story QAnon is a non-player in any sort of reality. CJ SOUTHWORTH Via Facebook

Lots of [QAnon] crazy was right here in Utah. Very sad. DEANNA BISHOP GARCIA Via Facebook Do you ever plan on acknowledging Trump voters as actual people who might even have valid opinions and sound principles? Or just keep pounding that drum that they are fringe lunatics? JUSTIN WHITNEY Via Facebook

@SLCWEEKLY

@CITYWEEKLY

“Excuses for the Acquittal” Feb. 18 This Modern World comic strip by Tom Tomorrow Such a spineless group of people. TMTHEWONDERMOUSE Via Instagram

“Humans vs. Lee” Feb. 18 Private Eye column Very sad but true. JUDYSPINNING Via Instagram

Sign me up! SARGENT_LOUISE Via Instagram Following the group now! MOWERKATE Via Instagram

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All in. CARRIE ANN @SLSKIGIRL Via Twitter When he first ran and said he wanted to start up nuclear testing, I was convinced he was a dangerous man. Why would women vote for this sweaty guy who thinks they should breed instead of worry about climate change (that will harm their babies)? Lee should just resign. Steven Jarvis @CROOKEDPINKIE1 Via Twitter

Never on Sunday

At Trump’s second impeachment trial, Sen. McConnell said Article II, Section IV of the Constitution enumerated the only time and place Trump could be impeached and con-

victed—while he was sitting in the Oval Office. The language there “exhausted” the impeachment options of the Congress. In advocating this theory, McConnell revealed himself to be a partisan of the ancient Pharisees. The carpenter from Nazareth said Pharisees of this day argued minute legal points, while letting slip major mandates of the foundational law. McConnell seems to be fine with Trump usurping the lawmaking, appropriations and elections powers of Congress, as long as the former president is not impeached on the Sabbath. KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY Woods Cross

THE BOX

If you could change the ending to any famous movie, which movie would it be and what is your ending? Paula Saltas The Green Mile. I didn’t want John Coffey executed for a crime he didn’t commit. He had the ability to see the truth in people and heal them by touching them. So, I would have had him saved at the end by Tom Hanks and heal more people. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. A little long, but worth it. Scott Renshaw I think The Wizard of Oz. In my version, Dorothy wakes up and sees all the people gathered around her bedside and tells them she had such a strange dream, and they were all there. And Auntie Em is like, “Oh, Dorothy, that wasn’t a dream, you actually died in the tornado, this is hell!” Then Dorothy screams and Hoke is like, “jk, Dorothy, man you always did take everything so seriously” and they all just laugh and laugh and laugh FADE TO BLACK. Benjamin Wood Rather than change endings, I’d like to wipe most of the Terminator and Predator sequels and all but the original Saw out of existence. Mikey Saltas Not a movie, but HBO could’ve crowd-sourced readers’ theories or scoured fan forums for Game of Thrones to come up with a better ending than what we got. Season 7 and 8 were production masterpieces, but crap storytelling. Justice for Jon Snow now! Chelsea Neider Titanic. Rose would move herself over and let Jack on the door with her and both of them would live. Both of them are too pretty to die! Carolyn Campbell At the end of Gone With the Wind, where Rhett Butler says, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” I would have Scarlett say, “But you will give a damn when you see what I’ve got.” Then, I would have her roar past him in the DeLorean car from Back to the Future.

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“Auth en Food I tic Greek n The of Rive Heart rton”

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6 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

OPINION

Only the Lonely M

y mom was a registered nurse for nearly 50 years. She retired two years before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. One of her first jobs was working as a nurse’s aide at a rest home in rural Alabama where she remembers wiping brown streams of chewing tobaccotinged drool from the faces of old women who were too weak or disoriented to clean their own faces. My mom told me many touching, cringeworthy and funny stories throughout her career. As the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on, there is one patient from my mom’s long career whom I think of quite often, an anonymous person that I know of as the “Unknown Patient.” There isn’t much I know about the Unknown Patient. I don’t know her name, or her age. I don’t know what she looked like. I don’t even know the city where her story unfolded—since my mom practiced nursing in a few different states. The only thing I know for sure about the Unknown Patient is how she died. The Unknown Patient was a transgender woman who died of what we now know as the AIDS virus in the late 1970s. According to my mom, a great many medical professionals were afraid of this new disease. Instead of offering their patients compassion, many doctors and nurses mocked and judged AIDS patients. For some practitioners, it was easier to have a mean-spirited laugh at the nurse’s station than to embrace the horror of a new disease that was slowly but steadily filling up ICUs across the country. My mom told me that the Unknown Patient was one of the loneliest she had ever cared for. No one came to visit her. No one inquired about how she was. Her family had abandoned her. Many nurses and doctors made barbed

BY JENNY POPLAR comments about her gender and status as a patient languishing with a frightening new disease that the medical establishment knew so little about. The mental image of my mom—in full PPE, in the isolation wing of the hospital—holding the Unknown Patient’s hand never fails to make me cry. My mom thought it was so important to reach out to her and remind her that somebody did indeed care about her. I never met the Unknown Patient, but I feel like I know her. My mom and I have discussed her fate so many times. The Unknown Patient always inspires me to extend my heart to the loneliest people. I have thought of the Unknown Patient so often during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals all around the world are full of lonely Unknown Patients. COVID-19 does not have the same stigma that AIDS did in the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, COVID-19 is just as isolating. There are countless people who were struggling with devastating life stresses that plagued them prior to pandemic who are now languishing in isolation, struggling to breathe. I think of the Unknown Patient whenever I read the latest COVID-19 statistics. I think of my mom holding that forsaken soul’s hand. I think about all the nurses worldwide—like my younger sister, who followed in my mom’s footsteps—who work tirelessly to care for COVID patients. It has occurred to me that the difference between the early days of the AIDS pandemic and now is that a great many nurses probably don’t have time to hold their patient’s hands—even if they wanted to—because most major hospitals are so overloaded. During the COVID pandemic, a staggering number of Unknown Patients have died alone. The Unknown Patient taught me that we must care about each other. If we are to live in a truly just, humane world—we must think of the well-being of people outside of our immediate orbit. In November, my sister contracted

COVID from her work as a nurse. She urged those who inquired about her health to think of the loneliest among us. Every nurse knows that there are many people without a robust support system. Perhaps someone who’s a transplant recently moved to a new city to advance their career, or another whose spouse has died or they work long hours at a job that’s not conducive to making friends. COVID is especially punishing for those who are forced to recover without community or family support. In recent weeks, we’ve had some promising news about the pandemic. Multiple vaccines appear to be highly effective against it. More and more people are getting vaccinated around the world every day. But the pandemic is far from over. Many vulnerable people are still susceptible to infection. Countless service workers who have direct contact with the public every day have yet to be vaccinated. The poorest among us are buckling under crushing economic stress that leave them uniquely vulnerable to the ravages of COVID. We are one year into this atrocious pandemic. We’re cranky, emotionally exhausted and ready to get on with our lives. The next time you feel oppressed by a pandemic restriction, I urge to think of my mom holding the hand of the Unknown Patient in the ICU. Multiply that image by hundreds of thousands, or even millions. Aside from keeping our loved ones safe—we should think of the Unknown Patients of the world. By wearing masks, socially distancing, washing our hands, avoiding crowds and getting the COVID vaccine, we can unite to protect the loneliest and most vulnerable among us. In honor of the Unknown Patient, may we all work together to empty the COVID wards so that far fewer people die alone in the isolation wing of the hospital. CW Private Eye is off this week. Send comments to editor@cityweekly.net.

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 7

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8 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

HITS&MISSES BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

MISS: Fomenting Phallicies

Yes, we understand how gun safety is just like teaching safe sex. Exactly. That is, if we teach kids that when the guy sticks his penis in a vagina, well, it’s like pulling the trigger. That is pretty much the argument from Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, who compared gun-safety education to sex education. Maybe we should combine the two? For instance, teachers can say you must always keep the gunlock on, just like a condom should be kept on to promote safe sex. Don’t pull the trigger unless you intend the bullet to reach its mark. And if you accidentally shoot someone, it’s just like getting a girl pregnant. If the person dies from a gunshot wound, it’s just like someone getting an abortion. It’s stunning to see how far gun-rights activists will go to make sure everyone has their own weapon. You can’t compare the continued expansion of the Second Amendment to the weakened state of sex education unless you equate the need for more and bigger guns to erectile dysfunction.

MISS: Cloaked Hiring

Secrecy. The arguments are always the same: There are better and franker discussions behind closed doors, candidates don’t want their employers to know they’re looking for a new job, public revelations could be just embarrassing. Yes, on the embarrassing part. Just look at the recent school board dust-up in California, where the entire board resigned after realizing its Zoom meeting was public, and the parents they belittled were listening. A recent NPR story highlighted the intentional barriers to freedom of information. And now, The Salt Lake Tribune reports that legislators want the public out of final selection for university presidents. While there’s no evidence that you get better candidates that way, there’s plenty to show that public input is important. These are public institutions, not private businesses, and secrecy is antithetical to their mission.

HIT: Down and Griddy

In this era of fake news and wishful thinking, it’s good to know that mainstream news networks still bring us perspective and in-depth reporting. In the wake of the Texas’ power grid overload, the Deseret News dug deeper into Gov. Greg Abbott’s porous claims that green energy was to blame—and hooray for fossil fuels. Turns out that while Texas has a lot of wind energy, coal and gas are the big providers and just as vulnerable. Rocky Mountain Power noted that wind turbines in Wyoming come equipped with a cold-weather package that keeps them from freezing. RMP may have its problems, but it’s stepping up its preventative maintenance program and has yet to charge ratepayers anywhere near the thousands that Texas’ stand-alone system allows. Texas’ scarcity pricing ensures reliability but has caused power bills to soar—into the thousands.

CITIZEN REV LT IN A WEEK, YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Hurdles to Statehood

If you’re a Utahn, you know that the path to statehood was littered with potholes— politically and religiously. The practice of polygamy was a major stumbling block for Utah, requiring major concessions before statehood was granted. Reflections on Statehood digs deep into the meanings of statehood as Utah scholars join an openended discussion on Utah as a geographical place, political entity and cultural community. Virtual, Wednesday, March 3, 7 p.m. Free/register at http://bit.ly/2Ny6R6q

The Slavery Amendment

Utahns were blissfully ignorant about the past until a reporter broke the news about a constitutional exception for slavery. Indeed, the Utah Constitution makes slavery legal. It’s not as though you can just enslave someone, but the Constitution does allow slavery as a form of punishment. This does not sit well with the NA ACP and other civil rights advocates, including Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City, who has been fighting to remove the provision from the Constitution. Join a film screening of The End of Slavery: The Fight for Amendment C, sponsored by Weber State, after which there will be a panel discussion and live Q&A with director and producer Loki Mulholland, Rep. Hollins, Ross Chambless and Kaletta Lynch. Virtual, Thursday, Feb. 25, 6 p.m. Free/register at http://bit.ly/3be6QN9

Find the #Fakenews

Do you think you can discern the difference between truth and lies? Maybe it’s not so black and white in this age of cyber-trolling and super partisanship. Panelists at Reading Between the Headlines will explore news sources, click-bait and fake news in an effort to help the public recognize fact over fiction. No, it’s not as simple as right and wrong. Fake news often employs strategies that include factual information, twisted to a point of view. Moderated by Allyson Mower, you’ll hear from Caroline Ballard, host of KUER’s All Things Considered; Eric Peterson, Utah Investigative Journalism Project and chair of the SPJ Utah Headliners Chapter; Sheen McFarland, mar-comm director at U of U David Eccles School of Business; Ana Luiza Ramos, editor-in-chief, The Daily Utah Chronicle and Wasatch Magazine; and Marcie Young Cancio, assistant professor of journalism and digital media, Salt Lake Community College. Virtual, Thursday, Feb. 25, 12 p.m., free. http://bit.ly/3s750o0

Explore Your Diversity

Black women, particularly in Utah, often have a varied and difficult experience navigating the cultural landscape. Ten years ago, just a little more than 1 percent of the state’s population was African American. Living as a racial minority, plus being a female in a dominant male culture, offers multiple challenges. At Self-Care Is an Act of Resistance, you will hear members of the Black Cultural Center discuss Black female topics in a series called Living Our Varied Experiences. Virtual, Thursday, Feb. 25, 3 p.m. Free/register at http://bit.ly/3dnmqIM

—KATHARINE BIELE

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By Benjamin Wood

Fraught Formulas

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 11

When it comes to the education budget, there are a few helpful rules of thumb. First, the bulk of state funding is distributed to schools based on enrollment, using an esoteric metric called the Weighted Pupil Unit, or WPU, which is more-or-less a per-student dollar figure. Second, every 1% increase to the WPU costs the state roughly $35 million. And third, the cost of running schools—which really is to say, paying educators—increases every year to the tune of a 2% WPU increase. That means that from the perspective of your local

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and without the flashpoint of a fight over per-student spending, some in the education community say their respective organizations have new bandwidth to consider—and disagree on—outlying pieces of school-related legislation. But if 2021 demonstrates that the state’s new school funding plan can work, the question becomes whether it will continue to work in the future. State law now sets a minimum school funding floor that increases to match inflationary costs, but those rules can be altered or abandoned by a simple majority vote. And it is at the discretion of lawmakers to pass additional funding bumps at the start of session (as they did this year), at the end of session (as they traditionally do), or to not appropriate extra funding at all (as Amendment G gives them new license to do). “That will be the work every year, to watch that bill and watch those statutory requirements and make sure we keep them, because politics change,” Jensen said. “People are supportive of us right now, but there are cracks.”

education would still arrive, albeit delayed. The question of whether, and to what degree, lawmakers would put our money where their mouths were was answered in January. In a roughly $400 million budget adjustment, SB1, they paid for school enrollment growth and inflation—as now required by law— but then kept going, adding $1,500 pandemic bonuses for teachers statewide and a 6% boost to per-student spending to what is typically a bare-bones rough draft of the year’s accounts. “This is unlike any public-education base budget bill that we’ve seen before,” Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, said while presenting the bill on the Senate floor. “It’s larger than the typical base budget bill, and this honors commitments that we made with our voters in November 2020.” By and large, the reaction from members of the education community has been a combination of surprise, relief and encouragement. The threat of a constitutional amendment had been a source of dread for years, but in interviews with teachers, school administrators and education advocates, most described feeling assuaged by the inaugural run of the new process. “Other states have had draconian cuts in education funding,” said McKay Jensen, past president of the Utah School Superintendents Association. “To be held harmless in a COVID-downturn year of great anxiety, to have commitments made to us and commitments fulfilled— this is not a bad year, this is not a flat year. Our legislative leaders deserve a lot of credit.” And by quickly dealing with what is typically an elephant in the budget, lawmakers added yet another quirk to an already atypical legislative session. Much of state government remains virtual or socially distanced,

n the penultimate day of the 2020 legislative session, a who’s-who lineup of Utah’s government and education leaders linked arms to demonstrate their mutual commitment to a delicate bargain struck over education funding. Pending voter approval, the state would abandon a constitutional requirement that all income tax revenue be spent on schooling—considered sacrosanct by many educators. In return, lawmakers were poised to approve a 6% ($200+ million) boost to per-student funding and create a new budgeting process that, in theory, guarantees ever-increasing investment in public education during both good times and bad. “I believe this is the proverbial win-win-win,” thenGov. Gary Herbert said at the time. Two days later, the bad times arrived. “Last year, we had a phenomenal year,” state Superintendent Sydnee Dickson said during a recent interview. “The high of highs on the last day of the session, and then 11 o’clock the very next day I was standing by the governor saying schools were going to shutter.” As Utahns retreated into their homes for months of pandemic-imposed isolation, lawmakers went to work dismantling their just-approved state budget. Schools were spared from outright cuts, but the much-lauded 6% boost was trimmed down to 1.8% and the lion’s share of new appropriations were placed on indefinite hold. The impending constitutional amendment—Amendment G—disappeared into the background of a year dominated by health crises and political upheaval. But voters ultimately signed off on the change, giving lawmakers access to the income tax revenue they craved, and assurances were made to educators that the promise of significant, reliable funding increases for public

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After years of fighting over education spending, lawmakers and educators have come up with a winning formula—for now.

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COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

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McKay Jensen, past president of the Utah School Superintendents Association

Sydnee Dickson, Utah State Superintendent of Public Instruction

COURTESY PHOTO

12 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan

school district, a 3% increase to per-student spending means money for raises and/or new programs, a 2% increase means the district breaks even, and a 1% increase puts the district in the red looking at either cuts or property tax hikes to fill the gap. And while inflationary pressures are a reality for all areas of government, the scope and size of the public education system makes those economic winds particularly hard-felt and uniquely public-facing. At the Legislature, it’s common to hear complaints that educators “always want more” because, in effect, they do. “With growth and inflation, we would basically have to ask [for money] to get to zero every year,” Jensen said. “Education financing is just so stinking complicated.” The grand “win-win-win” bargain of 2020 is meant to address that tension. In return for getting on board with Amendment G, schools will see their passive cost increases built into the next year’s base budget, clearing the first funding hurdle so requests for new funding are, in fact, new. “Being able to have that from the start is fantastic,” said Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association. “It’s the way it should be.” But the deal goes one step further on that front. Lawmakers wanted access to the income tax because, in recent years, it has significantly outperformed the state sales tax. That meant a recurring theme of mountains in the education fund and only molehills in the general fund—which is responsible for funding essentially everything but public schools. In exchange for blowing a hole in the income tax pot wide enough for a double-tracked Frontrunner train to roll through, a new reserve account for education was created to tuck extra funds away in times of plenty so that if and when the economy plummets, money for minimum cost adjustments will continue to be available. “In times of uncertainty, at least our schools would have growth and inflation,” Matthews said. By including a 6% WPU increase in this year’s base budget, lawmakers signaled that the required funding is a floor, not a ceiling. Hence, the collective sigh of relief from educators. “I think it set the tone for a good session to be able to talk about collaboration and moving forward,” Matthews said,

“with a few exceptions.” The friendly negotiations leading into this year’s legislative session came close to falling apart in December, when news broke that teachers would be excluded from the planned $1,500 hazard pay bonuses if their school district failed to offer in-person learning. That provision overtly targeted Salt Lake City School District—the only one in the state utilizing an all-online format—and was eventually walked back. But separate, punitive legislation was introduced once the Legislature convened to maintain a sword over the district’s head while it shifted to a hybrid format earlier this month. Dickson said those and other efforts prompted discussions about the extent and limits of local district control. She said statewide guidelines related to the pandemic were developed by the State Board of Education, and Utah’s districts and charter schools considered those policies in crafting their individual approaches to the school year. “All of our teachers worked hard,” she said. “It doesn’t matter the setting they were in.” Fillmore, the Senate sponsor of the education budget, said he was pleased that the debate over teacher stipends was resolved. “Every district in the state qualifies for this bonus for their teachers, and I’m grateful for that,” Fillmore said. “And I’m especially glad the students in Salt Lake City get to go to school.”

gains for schools put pressure on the remaining areas of state spending, he said, while taking some of the biggest funding questions off of lawmakers’ plates. “If you’re being attacked by a mob, one less in the mob is a lot easier,” he said. Fillmore said he expects future base budgets to follow suit by going beyond the minimum funding increases required by law. That may not mean the full boost to the WPU will be settled at the start of each legislative session, he said, but some portion of that year’s new investments are likely to be addressed quickly. “The voters approved Amendment G knowing that would mean education would be funded more heavily, right up front,” he said. Holladay Democrat Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, a former teacher, opposed the constitutional amendment. She said she’s pleased with this year’s funding increase for schools but remains concerned about the long-term ramifications of expanding the uses of income-tax revenue. “Only time will tell,” she said. “But [legislative leaders] stepped up and made a commitment and did what they said.” Amendment G added services for children and the disabled to be funded by the income tax, but the true intent and impact is to allow money to move back and forth between the education and general funds. Moss said the true test of the new growth-first system will be when other important programs are competing with education for a slice of income-tax revenue. “How is it going to play out when they start getting money from the same source?” she said. “We haven’t seen how that balance is going to work.” And Jensen, of the superintendents’ association, said the good feelings around this year’s numbers have not fully supplanted the apprehension over amending the constitution. “We’re conscious of playing in the same sandbox as public safety and social services,” he said. All of those unknown variables are compounded by the coronavirus, which upended the public education system in the spring of 2020 in myriad ways. Utah has experienced a chronic shortage of teachers— the state’s last-in-the-nation funding levels translate to comparatively large class sizes and low salaries—but some

UTAH’S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM, BY THE NUMBERS

Give and Take

Last week, updated revenue numbers for the state showed roughly $1.5 billion in available funding for appropriations. But nearly all of that figure is “one-time” money, suited for short-term programs and purchases rather than ongoing budgets. Sen. Jerry Stevenson—R-Layton, and the Senate’s budget chairman—said legislators’ requests for funding far exceed the available revenue. And that gap is exacerbated by the decision to fund education at the top of the session. “There’s going to have to be some deep thought in putting a [final] budget together,” he said. Stevenson said leaving education until the end of the budget process likely would have resulted in less funding for the WPU than the 6% bump approved in January. The

27%

47%

36,586 665,790 1,113 $50,342

PERCENTAGE OF STATE BUDGET (INCLUDES FEDERAL FUNDING)

PERCENTAGE OF STATE SPENDING (STATE FUNDS ONLY)

NUMBER OF LICENSED UTAH EDUCATORS

NUMBER OF UTAH STUDENTS

NUMBER OF UTAH SCHOOLS

AVERAGE UTAH TEACHER SALARY

Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association

Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton

$7,628

51st

UTAH’S MEDIAN ELEMENTARY CLASS SIZE

UTAH’S MEDIAN SECONDARY CLASS SIZE

UTAH’S WEIGHTED PUPIL UNIT VALUE

AVERAGE TOTAL PER-STUDENT SPENDING IN UTAH

PER-STUDENT SPENDING RANKING IN UTAH**

*Figures are approximate based on the most recent available data. Sources: Utah Board of Education, U.S. Census Bureau, Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, Utah Foundation, National Center for Education Statistics **National rankings include Washington, D.C.

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$3,809

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With the question of WPU funding settled, the different branches of Utah’s education family tree have turned their attentions to various proposals bouncing around the state Capitol. Jensen said that’s had the effect of giving oxygen to areas of internal disagreement, like a failed resolution urging schools to reconsider the use of Native American mascot or a controversial proposal to ban transgender girls from participating in school sports. “There’s a big change actually,” he said. “I think that puts a little more pressure on some of these divisive or philosophical bills.” Jensen said those internal discussions do not always result in public support or opposition to a particular bill. But as to the transgender athlete bill, he said there is broad concern about the potential for litigation. “It seems like there’s a lawsuit on both sides,” he said. “In keeping the state law, if it passes, we’ll be open to the federal courts. If not, we’re open to the state courts.” Matthews said most of the UEA’s legislative requests were addressed in SB1’s base budget. In the remaining days of the session, she said the union is lobbying for expanded sick leave. “Regardless of how fast the vaccines are coming out, we don’t want teachers going to school sick or having to face loss of pay for the absences related to COVID,” she said. State Superintendent Dickson said the Board of Education is seeking to restore some of the budget items cut in 2020. The board is also requesting funding to expand broadband access, bolster programs for at-risk students and early learning, and to increase the number of schools offering optional full-day kindergarten. “We have data that shows that makes a difference,” Dickson said. “And we’re one of a very few states that doesn’t ensure every student has that opportunity for extendedday kindergarten.” The Board of Education also took the relatively rare step of formally opposing a bill last week, voting against SB175, which would loosen the rules around special-education spending. The bill comes on the heels of a controversyprone but politically well-connected charter school hav-

ing its wrists slapped, and it sidesteps recent revisions to the state’s special-education policies. “The [school] board feels like they undertook this very long, data-driven and stakeholder-feedback-driven process to get to where we’re at,” said deputy state superintendent Angie Stallings, “and this bill would undo some of those things.” And Utah PTA President Laney Benedict said she is watching the progress of SB134, which deals with regulations around electronic cigarettes. “As Utah PTA, we advocate for the whole child,” she said. “Not just the education piece, not just the health piece, not just the safety. We advocate for all of those things.” Outside of the education category, legislative leaders are looking to fund transportation and utility improvements, as well as offer relief to taxpayers. Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said that while ongoing revenue is limited, the state is fortunate to be in as healthy a position as it is. “If you had told me last March when we shut the economy down—when we sent people home and shut down businesses—that this session we’d be doing a tax cut, we’d be funding education and we’d be funding infrastructure, I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” he said. Nearly every person contacted for this article commented on a spirit of collaboration that currently exists around public education, and a cooling of the perceived hostilities between districts and charter schools, between school administrators and parents’ organizations, and between lawmakers and the teachers’ unions. “We all learned to trust each other a little bit more in the process of going through Amendment G,” Fillmore said. “I think that probably surprised a lot of us.” Those tensions have cooled before, but they tend to rekindle. New leaders are elected, new controversies present themselves and all the while more and more children pack into the lowest-funded schools in the nation. A tenuous peace seems to be in place, but memories can be short on Capitol Hill. “Our relationship seems healthy right now, and if nothing else that’s what we can celebrate,” Jensen said. “We still have a lot to talk about, but at least we’re having good conversations.” CW

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UTAH TEACHER SALARY RANKING**

Breaking Up the Band

COURTESY PHOTO

43rd

COURTESY PHOTO

areas started the new school year with excess teachers after personnel delayed retirement and enrollment dipped. “We had a number of students just disappear altogether,” said Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley. “They never showed up in another district, they just vanished.” Many if not most of those students—and thousands like them statewide—are expected to return to school as the pandemic subsides and social restrictions ease. But they may encounter an exhausted faculty, straining the state’s already-high rate of turnover that sees four out of 10 new teachers quit the profession within five years. “We could find ourselves deep in the throes of the teacher shortage again,” Horsley said. Other district representatives, who declined to speak on the record, said the rosy talk of new funding ignores the lingering pain of 2020, when state budget reductions left some districts to trim costs or dip into reserves to balance their books. Rather than a 6% increase from the Legislature this year, they say, the reality is a restoration of lost funds, plus some extra for inflation and growth. “It’s really money they already gave us, but then pulled back,” one educator said. Yándary Chatwin, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City School District, said the district will be closer to breaking even this year than seeing a significant funding increase. But she added that administrators are pleased with the work of legislative leaders in supporting education during a challenging budget year. “After seeing how the numbers have turned out, it’s looking promising, and we’re hopeful that public education will continue to be as much of a priority as the Legislature has made it this year,” she said. Jensen acknowledged that there are differing levels of enthusiasm regarding the outcome of the Amendment G vote. But he noted that in a time of significant challenges, growth and inflation were funded and new investments are being made. “There are people in our group who actually think this year was another zero year,” he said. “That’s not how my household works. If I didn’t get the raise last year, and I get it this year, I don’t tell my employer they owe me last year’s money, too.”

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton

Picnic in the Ruins. It follows anthropologist Sophia Sheperd as she researches the impact of tourism on cultural sites at the UtahArizona border, and crosses paths with a pair of inept small-time criminals. The result is an often-comic investigation of the ethics of preservation and who gets to “own” the past, all tangled up in hot-button issues like oil exploration on public lands. This two-part conversation takes place via Crowdcast, free but with registration required, on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. Visit kingsenglish.com for additional information and link to registration. (Scott Renshaw)

Every year, Repertory Dance Theatre offers a choreography competition showcasing exciting new work. While that work isn’t going to take place in front of a live audience in 2021, there’s still a chance for viewers to enjoy the fruits of these creative labors— and even help decide the best of the best. Beginning Feb. 22, at-home viewers have had the opportunity to view the program of works by four choreographers via rdtutah.org. The participating choreographers include Ruby Cabbell, currently a performer with Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company; Kaley Pruitt, founder of New York-based Kaley Pruitt Dance; Anne Marie Robson Smock, a Salt Lake City native and University of Utah graduate currently based in Brooklyn; and Lauren Simpson, currently an artist-in-residence at San Francisco’s ODC Theater. While viewing is free, you can get a chance to vote on which choreographer will receive the big

in the same breath, accused of being a prude. Sometimes, others’ voices are louder than our own. It came to a point that I believed those accusations. I believed the reputations others gave me. Their rumors, their jealousy, their lies, their hate. I was tethered to them, rather than to my own identity.” Tethered includes content warnings for sexual violence, with other information available at anothertheater.org. The streamed reading is available free through March 6, with donations encouraged. (SR)

Black Hilarity Show @ Wiseguys

prize—a commission to produce their work for RDT’s next season—by making a $25 donation to RDT per vote. You can also participate in a silent auction to raise additional proceeds for the company, or get a VIP ticket package for $25 with perks that include a snack-basket delivery and invitation to a post-performance live-stream party. It all leads up to a live-stream event on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m., which will include live performances and announcement of the Regalia winner. Start viewing the work now, and make your voice heard, all while helping support the next generation of dance talent and a great local arts organization. (SR)

Sunday, Feb. 28 might mark the “official” end of Black History Month, but locally, it’s going to go out with a bang. Wiseguys Gateway (194 S. 400 West) notes the occasion with a lineup of all African-American comedians bringing the funny. The event is organized by local comedian T.J. Taylor (pictured), a relatively newcomer to the scene with a sharpedged sensibility that he showed off in a pre-holiday/post-election show at Wiseguys. “They say that 600,000 people in Utah voted for Trump,” Taylor said. “You know what that tells me about Utah? A lot of you motherfuckers lied to me. … Twentyfive percent of Wyoming voters voted for Joe Biden. Which tells me that one in four people in Wyoming needs to get the fuck out of Wyoming. There’s nothing for you there.” Taylor will be joined by other Black comedians including California-based Mac Rome, veteran touring comedian Aaron Westly, ex-Marine Kevin Davis, and local favor-

TDK

RDT: Regalia

At the opening of Utah playwright Chelsea Hickman’s new one-act play, Tethered, a minister in 1653 England delivers a sermon on the inherent wickedness of woman, a nature born out of being created from a bent rib. An Other Theater Company presents a virtual reading of this new work, which explores assumptions about female roles that may be just as true now as they were 400 years ago. The center of Tethered is Margaret, a pregnant wife and mother in a town outside of London. Margaret becomes fascinated with her new neighbor, a woman named Sileas who has skills as a healer and midwife—talents which place her precariously close to those which can have a woman labeled as a witch, as the town gossips suggest. And when Margaret’s husband goes missing, suspicions arise—while Margaret herself isn’t entirely sure if his disappearance is something to be mourned or celebrated. In a playwright’s note, Hickman observes, “Though I’ve never been accused of witchcraft, I have been accused of sinning. I have been accused of being a flirt, and

AN OTHER THEATER COMPANY

AUSTEN DIAMOND PHOTOGRAPHY

Sometimes a double-feature offers a thematic connection—a pair of horror movies, or a duet of romantic comedies. And sometimes, it’s a pairing that presents a variety, allowing those with one particular interest to, perhaps, find an interest in something new. This week, The King’s English Bookshop presents a virtual author event showcasing two very different writers and their work. First, Utah poet laureate Paisley Rekdal (pictured) approaches the fraught subject matter of “cultural appropriation” in writing in her new book Appropriate. Putting on her hat as a creative writing instructor at the University of Utah, Rekdal digs into both the history and the contemporary controversies surrounding writers speaking in voices unlike their own, using examples of those who have done it with empathy and how the power of cultural whiteness has shaped literary discourse. The focus shifts from non-fiction to fiction with Todd Robert Peterson’s novel

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

An Other Theater Company: Tethered

King’s English online: Paisley Rekdal: Appropriate and Todd Robert Peterson: Picnic in the Ruins

STEPHANIE SHIOZAKI

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14 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

ESSENTIALS

the

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, FEBRUARY 25-MARCH 4, 2020

ite Arvin Mitchell, who relocated to Utah from St. Louis to join the cast of the long-running BYU-TV sketch comedy series Studio C. While it might seem like culture shock for an AfricanAmerican to relocate from St. Louis to Utah, Mitchell’s comedy suggests that he prefers to take a humorous view of differences between cultures. He notes an occasion when he met a friend from India at the gym, who remarked, “‘I just lost 13 kilos.’ I said, ‘And you’re smiling about it?’ You lose 13 kilos where I’m from, you better start packing your bags.” Join the fun at 7 p.m. Sunday, $15, wiseguyscomedy.com. (SR

Sound Judgment

Plan-B Theatre Company opens an audio-only season with P.G. Anon. BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

tory with its “Radio Hour” shows would make that the easy part, it turned out not to be the case. The “Radio Hour” shows were always performed live, with the entire cast working together in the same space—something that simply wouldn’t be possible to remain compliant with best health practices and guidelines established by Actors Equity. “We only got permission to continue with our production if we could guarantee that we wouldn’t ask any P.G. Anon cast members April Fossen, Emilie Evanoff, Lily Hye actor to leave their Soo Dixon and Tamara Howell home,” Rapier recalls. “That’s really compliknowledges the reality that people listencated when you’re building to finishing your ing at home are likely to be more easily production in a recording studio.” distracted from the work than if they were Instead, sound engineer David Evanoff in a darkened theater—Rapier is thrilled developed a method for recording each ac- that they were able to come up with a way tor individually. “David figured out how to to get theater people collaborating, after a build these little miniature recording sta- time when the opportunity to work safely tions,” Rapier says. “For each one of [the has been extremely limited. actors], I dropped off a bag of stuff … that “We’re happy to be able to offer some emcontained everything needed to record at ployment, but there’s also the joy of workhome. We use an audio slate to record, then ing on an artistic project together that’s take eight audio tracks, line them up from been missing from everyone’s lives,” Rapithe slate marker and weave them together. er says. “It’s been a year since most people “Once we got over the hump of the fear,” have had that experience.” CW Rapier adds, “we discovered opportunities that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. We PLAN-B THEATRE COMPANY AUDIO could instantly re-record something, we can PRODUCTION: P.G. ANON fix some of those little bobbles that actors Streaming at planbtheatre.org sometimes wish they could fix on stage.” Feb. 25, 8 p.m. - March 7, midnight While everyone longs for the opportunity to get back on stage—and Jensen acPay-what-you-can ticketing

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

veryone has had to adapt during the pandemic. For playwright Julie Jensen, that meant taking a play that had been written as a profoundly visual stage experience and adapting it so that it could work as an entirely audio performance. Jensen’s P.G. Anon opens a unique season for Plan-B Theatre Company, which decided to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic by transitioning to a full slate of audio dramas. The company had just announced its next season in early 2020, and was beginning to sell season subscriptions, when it became clear that things would definitely not be normal. That was when artistic director Jerry Rapier and managing director Cheryl Ann Cluff began to consider a radical notion based on the company’s history of annual radio-drama productions. “We’d had conversations about our 30th anniversary, then all those plans had to be cancelled,” Rapier says. “But that left us with the realization that the first Plan-B radio show was 25 years ago. For 25 of our 30 years, we’ve been playing around with radio drama. … So we needed to lean into that. The minute we started talking about it, lightbulbs went off. It was a big relief to know we could do this thing.

“Little did we know then how many challenges would rise up.” For Julie Jensen, that included the challenge of taking P.G. Anon and almost entirely reimagining it. Inspired by a conversation with a friend about the anxieties of being a woman constantly fearing unplanned pregnancy, the show was designed to feature a small cast all playing multiple characters, with their stories taking an often-fanciful form. When Rapier reached out to Jensen about the notion of going audio-only, Jensen wasn’t sure P.G. Anon could work. “I talked to [Rapier] about not doing it,” Jensen says. “I didn’t know if we could make it even passable. I talked to him about doing a different thing. He kept saying, ‘I think you can do this, just try it.’ I did have experience adapting other things, but they weren’t at the outset so weirdly different. And it was hard. The whole pandemic, I worked on this.” According to Jensen, virtually everything in the original incarnation of P.G. Anon required revision. “It all had to be changed in a way,” she says. “I didn’t lose it all. But things got readjusted, characters got dropped. … It exists in two forms now.” Despite her reservations, Jensen acknowledges that there is a sense in which the play was improved by virtue of needing to shift the focus to something that could work exclusively on the basis of vocal performances. “I like the characters better,” Jensen says. “I got so enamored with the use of the ensemble, and it was so exciting to mess around with that, that I sometimes got distracted, showing off. It now tells the story better, I think. I think it connects to lived experience. The other was theatrical and showy, and kind of fun to experience, but this carries the weight.” Once the text was in place, there was still the matter of creating the audio production. And while it would seem that Plan-B’s his-

PLAN-B THEATRE COMPANY

A&E

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FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 15

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16 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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AT A GLANCE

BURGERS AS BIG AS YOUR HEAD!

hen it comes to new bakeries opening their doors along the Wasatch Front, I’m a bit like a shark that picks up the scent of blood in the ocean. No matter how hard I try to push the temptation of chewy cookies, powdered doughnuts and chocolate frosting out of my mind, I can’t resist the urge to drop whatever I’m doing and pop in for something sweet. The current object of my baked goods bloodlust is Midvale’s Conte de Fée (7695 S. 700 East, 801-987-8112, contedefeebakery.com). They specialize in cakes and treats from Japan, and they boast a menu of dreamlike confections that begs to be explored. Conte de Fée is French for “fairy tale,” which is quite the appropriate appellation considering it started off as the pipe dream of two friends while they were studying at Utah Valley University. Owners and operators Ai Tanaka and Bayasgalan Purevdorg swapped stories and recipes from their upbringing in Japan and Mongolia, respectively, and together the pair dreamed up the idea for a local bakery that made the desserts they grew up with. “It was hard to find the same cakes and sweets I found back in Japan,” Tanaka says during a phone interview. “We wanted to make simple Japanese

Midvale’s Conte de Fée is a dessert fan’s dream come true.

haunt each bite, but again the star of this dessert is the soft and smooth texture. I was also eager to dive into the Japanese treats that Tanaka had mentioned growing up with, and I can’t wait for the Conte de Fée team to expand on this section of the menu. First up was the Castella ($7.75), a traditional Japanese sponge cake that originated in Portugal. It’s about the size and dimensions of a first-edition Dostoevsky novel, but it remains light as a feather. Imagine the fluffiest angel food cake you’ve ever had, and then coat the bottom with a layer of caramelized sugar for a bit of sweet crunchiness, and you’ll be somewhere near the mark. I love this for its pure celebration of a well-baked sponge cake, but couldn’t help imagining how well that porous deliciousness would soak up other toppings and flavors. The absolute banger of my visit was the nama chocolate ($8), however. It’s essentially a chocolate bar made from thick cubes of dark chocolate ganache and topped with cocoa powder. It’s the crown jewel of Conte de Fée’s textural wonderland as it manages to encapsulate fudge, frosting and halfbaked brownie batter all in one decadent bite. Tanaka mentioned that this treat is a popular gift in Japan for one’s beloved during Valentine’s Day, and I’m overjoyed that she brought it here to share. Visiting new bakeries always lifts my spirits a bit, and that lift is always a bit stronger when the place features a few multicultural offerings that I’ve yet to see on my radar. From a fairy tale dreamed up by two friends with a shared sweet tooth to a reality filled with frothy treats and understated textures, Conte de Fée is a little bit of pure magic. CW

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Happy Endings

desserts with elegant French-inspired decorations.” Since the bakery’s grand opening last month, Tanaka describes the experience as a dream come true. When it comes time to check out the menu, it’s clear that there’s a reason for all this talk of fairy tales and dreams come true. The display cases are stocked with cakes adorned with frothy white buttercreams and crowned with strawberries or coated in shimmering chocolate ganache that seem to float on spun sugar clouds. Smaller treats like buttery croissants or their signature nama chocolates are arranged like birthday presents ready to be ripped into. This drowsy illusion continues with every bite of dessert—Conte de Fée has zeroed in on treats that offer only the downiest of textures. For a prime example of what I’m talking about, check out their strawberry cake ($5.50): two layers of white sponge highlighted with smooth buttercream and thinly sliced strawberries. It’s easy to look at this elegant slice of textbook cakery and assume that a sugar bomb will soon be detonated once it hits your tastebuds. On the contrary, the sweetness never oversteps the flavors of the fresh strawberries. Each bite lets you luxuriate in impossibly light sponge and languid strokes of creamy frosting. Other installments in this tapestry of textures that Conte de Fée weaves into its menu are the cookies and crème cake ($5.50) and the tiramisu ($6.25). At first glance, a slice of this cake looks like a stack of Oreos suspended in a thick layer of vanilla buttercream—and then you get closer, only to realize that’s exactly what this cake is. The cookies absorb enough moisture from the buttercream to effectively reproduce that perfect moment when a milksoaked Oreo hits your mouth; it’s truly a work of genius. The tiramisu was the one I thought would break the pattern of subtlety that I was picking up, but it too kept its cool. Ghosts of coffee and rum flavors

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18 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

onTAP BEER TO-GO AVAILABLE! SUN - THU: 11AM – 9PM FRI - SAT: 11AM – 10PM

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Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com On Tap: Wolpertinger German Pilsner

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com On Tap: Elderberry

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Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com On Tap: Fresh Brewed UPA Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com On Tap: Hopulent IPA

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A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com On Tap: Red Ale Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com On Tap: Extra Pale Ale Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com On Tap: Solstice Lager Hoppers Grill and Brewing 890 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale HoppersBrewPub.com Kiitos Brewing 608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: Belgian Wit - brewed with lemon zest, orange and corriander

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com On Tap: Lemon Shandy Red Rock Brewing Multiple Locations RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Chocolate Chili Porter RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com On Tap: Pink ‘Limited’ Transom Dark Pale Ale Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com On Tap: A Series of Singularities with Mandarina Bavaria Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Luau Rider Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Pina Colada Sour Ale

Strap Tank Brewery Multiple Locations StrapTankBrewery.com Springville On Tap: PB Rider, Peanut Butter Stout Lehi On Tap: 2-Stroke, Vanilla Mocha Porter TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com On Tap: Coconut Guava Berliner Weisse Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: German Kiss Toasted Barrel Brewery 412 W. 600 North, SLC ToastedBarrelBrewery.com Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Son of a Peach Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com Wasatch 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC WasatchBeers.com Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

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ormally, I prefer a little a little bitter with my sweet; it helps create balance and a drinkabilty. That being said, when a gooey pie of cake or pie is staring you down after savory meal, screw the balance—placate that sweet tooth, post haste! If you’re craving a little decadence, have a got some treats for you. Red Rock - Baked Pastry Stout: The pour is dense and thick, with a darkerthan-black body and rather stately looking head. After about five minutes, the deepmocha suds simmer down to a fine ring measuring about a quarter-finger. The nose is pretty much like German chocolate cake: swaths of chocolate, coconut, coffee and even some whipped frosting-like elements just jump out of my glass. That’s some very tempting and decadent stuff here. It smells rich and sweet, but I can sense a little bit of roastiness and a hint of earthy notes (maybe hops for balance?). My first few sips are surprisingly tame, but definitely still very flavorful. It’s sharp up front, with milk chocolate syrup and a defined creaminess that plays with nutty and roasty malt notes in the mid palate, before the coconut and coffee flavors seep into the finish. Overall: This is actually a nice, smooth, and well-defined beer, luckily. I think the carbonation might be a bit too prickly, but at least this isn’t as dense and overly-sweet as I’d feared. Perhaps they were trying to be

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a little conservative, as sometimes vanilla can take on a coconut quality when combined with a melange of flavors. Uinta - Mango Golden Spike: It poured a nice, fairly hazy orange color that takes on more of a brighter orange color when held to the light; three fingers worth of bubbly, creamy and slightly off-white head died down to a thin ring that eventually faded away. The aroma starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness, with a big mango aroma being the first to show up. It reminds me of a mango-scented Glade plug in the way it almost perfumes. Up next comes some more fruitiness, with some sweet malts showing up and some pale malts and grainy malt aromas showing up in the background. The taste seems to be very similar to the aroma, and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness. That same mango aspect is the first to show up, imparting a pleasant, candied mango flavor with a lot of sweetness, and also a creamy, slight vanilla-like flavor. It’s fairly smooth, a little cloying, a little sticky, not too crisp, a little spicy—on the thicker side of being medium-bodied, with a lower amount of carbonation. The mouthfeel is pretty satisfying, and it works well with this beer. Overall: I thought this was a nice example of the style. It’s pretty much a fruit beer with how much the mango dominates it, but thankfully the wheat comes into play towards the end. This beer doesn’t have the best drinkability; one glass is more than enough for me, as the intense flavors and sweetness start to wear on me. So if mango is your jam (or chutney), I recommend that you pursue this; if not, there are plenty of other offerings from Uinta that will take up your time. I expect the Mango Golden Spike will be everywhere by the time you’re reading this. You’re going to need to do a little finagling with your local beer nerd for some Baked, or at the very least head to a Red Rock location to enjoy it there. As always, cheers. CW

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Two beers that’ll make you feels like a kid in a candy store.

MIKE RIEDEL

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OUTDOOR SEATING ON THE PATIO

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BACK BURNER BY ALEX SPRINGER @captainspringer

n c e8 i S 96 1 The Tribune’s Best Cheesesteaks

Recently, our friends at the Salt Lake Tribune ran an online poll to see which local purveyor of Philly cheesesteak sandwiches was preferred. Though we’ve got some fine cheesesteak slingers in this great state of ours, I can definitely support the winners. Coming in first was Moochie’s (multiple locations, moochiesmeatballs.com), whose cheesesteaks are beloved from Salt Lake to Lehi. Second was Sandy’s The Philadelphian (9860 S. 700 East, 801-572-3663, phillyutah.com), the dark horse of the competition which has built up quite a loyal following over the years. In third place was DP Cheesesteaks (multiple locations, dpcheesesteaks. com), whose South Jordan location has become my go-to cheesesteak haunt since it’s near my ’hood. Congrats to these fine sandwich artisans.

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Charcuterie On the Go

With charcuterie boards being so hot right now, it was only a matter of time before some savvy entrepreneur started making handcrafted salami flowers and shipping them straight to your door. The entrepreneurs in question run Charcutería by K.O., an online business that assembles beautiful charcuterie kits filled with cured meats, cheeses and fresh fruits. They offer boxes for every appetite, from small boxes for one to large party platters. Currently, the business operates via Instagram (@ charcuteriabyk.o) where you can DM your order and have it shipped anywhere in Salt Lake and Utah Counties. Check them out on Instagram to see your favorite meats lovingly implemented into gorgeous floral arrangements. Quote of the Week: “So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” –Franz Kafka

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Q&A On a Year in Quar

Community members share hopes and wishes for what’s next in the local music scene.

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his week, City Weekly asked some questions of the local music community—whether they’re players themselves, simple fans, or the kind of people who work in other capacities like managing venues, booking shows and otherwise doing the work to make our music scene what it is. We asked: “With almost a year of pandemic upon us, what are y’all are looking forward to most this year, whether the pandemic ends or not? Trying for hopefulness here, or at least some forward-looking-ness.” Landon Young (@oklandon), local music fan: “I’m looking forward to starting new band(s) and hopefully seeing a live show before the year’s end. 2020 taught me to not take live music and venues for granted—especially when touring artists are involved. I think it’s going to be wild once things are cleared. The album-to-tour cycle is broken, so anybody that’s released an album in the previous two to three years will likely try to tour at the same time. Fewer venues exist, so there’ll be stacked shows every night in large cities.” Elio (@vie_eros), local musician and music fan: “I’m hoping to connect even more to my music in new ways, and I’m looking forward to what that sounds like and what I can learn from it. The growth of another year, I suppose.” Rae Dodge, local violist: “I’m just looking forward to making music with other people again. Isolation has not been fueling my motivation or creativity, and I just can’t wait to feel that connection with other people again.” Nahum Reyes (@nahum_vox), musician in Lord Vox and visual artist: “For me, it’s been about honing the craft and writing new music with my band, and solo as well. It’s been nice to think about putting out quality music without the pressure of big shows or album announcements, etc. As an artist, the creative fire within has been burning stronger than before; it’s like going on a solo camping trip and you just can’t stop sketching and journaling. It’s very introspective, and to me, that is my creative sweet spot.” Polly Llewellyn (@peachyfingernail), local musician: “As somebody with social anxiety, I’ve collaborated more in quarantine than out, and am hopeful to continue making music friends through casual back-and-forth projects. Definitely needing more hope this year.” Emily Snow (@egg_snow), musician in Durian Durian: “Making music on my own isn’t really my thing/what I really like about doing it, so hopefully the chance to have that piece of those friendships and my relationship to music come back. If it ends, lineups not to be taken for granted! And like, basically [hoping] that we’ve learned something about how to support and treat each other better, [and] care taken to fix old issues and ways of doing business in the before times that were shitty.” Kale Morse (@aleftpantleg), local musician, venue manager and organizer: “I just want the highs of playing and booking at least one cool show this year. Obviously, that might not work out,

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Vincent Draper and the Culls at Quarters Arcade Bar’s Venue The DLC so I just hope that we can figure out how to use The Beehive more effectively as a community space for learning and radicalizing.” Taylor Almond (@spinandsay), music enjoyer, nursing student: “I want to run into people I didn’t expect to see at a concert. Wanna have one of those moments where the band starts playing that song, and you and a stranger look at each other, and the look on both of our faces says ‘yes, yes, hell yes’—and [then] jump into the pit. Wanna go to fun house shows—also want to go to a terrible house show, I miss going to terrible house shows. Long story short, we haven’t been socially distant the last year—I’ve been texting or Zooming the same close friends more than ever—but we have been bodily distant, and concerts and parks and theaters will be extremely crowded when vaccination catches up in, like, November.” Emma Roberts (@pinkogoth), local musician and former City Weekly intern: “Really looking forward to the spontaneity of it all. I wanna get a call, ‘You wanna go to this show?’ and just get up and go, no hesitation. Even miss the overpriced beers, low-key.” Ben Finley (@knifedawg), local shoegazer, “white van owner”: “I wanna do a tour of just house shows, holy shit. Just be so close to people.” John Howa (@johnhowa), local Musician in NSPS: “I’m looking forward to that call that someone needs an opener tonight and playing before an amazing touring band. I still am tickled that it’s ever happened before. Also looking forward to whatever happens with Quarters at their new venue, the DLC.” Gabino Grhymes (@gabinogrhymes), local rapper: “A festival. Any festival. And touring with my boy, gLife.” Matthew Nanes (@swansofnever), local musician in Swans of Never: “Coming back to Salt Lake and playing a show at Kilby Court.” Trevor Hale (@trevorhale), local musician in Milk Money: “Weird to say, but I’m more excited about the post-show parking lot hangout session with all my friends in the other bands. The ones that go way too late, and we all pretend to leave like five times, but end up staying long after the last employee has left and locked all the doors.” CW

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Excellence Concert Series Welcomes CJ Drisdom

If you’ve got the double-mask blues, and are still looking for a way to safely find some entertainment this weekend while also celebrating Black History Month, Excellence in the Community has got you covered. Throughout the pandemic, the locals-focused community music event has adapted what were once live, in-person performances for the Gallivan Center Stage to a live-streamed event series instead, which takes place at the Gallivan Center. Each concert is free, and this month, the emphasis of each show has been on some of Utah’s notable Black performers, including Bri Ray and the Junction City Blues Band. To finish the month off, one more performance is still to come, this time by CJ Drisdom, on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 8 p.m. Drisdom has performed for the Excellence series in the past, for another live-streamed event playing as CJ Drisdom and the Feel Goodz, a group which also featured Utah’s rising pop star Jay Warren. This time, though, Drisdom will be solo, showing off musical chops that he’s honed over the 15 years he’s spent working as a professional musician—mainly with the shifting talents of the entertainment group he runs and is part of, Changing Lanes. The group is the perfect home for Drisdom, who knows his way around all musical genres thanks to his studies in Vocal Performance at California State University-Long Beach. Usually strapped to a guitar on stage, he knows his way around any kind of song an audience could want to hear, and that talent has earned him much local acclaim, as well as a lot of business all over North America. While watching shows virtually may still feel a little strange for some, it’s truly wild that we have the opportunity to view such talented individuals in the SLC music scene for free, and from the comfort of our own homes. If this sounds like the right way to spend your Saturday night, visit facebook. com/watch/excellenceinthecommunity for the events page where the set will stream, and where you can also retroactively view the month’s sets by Bri Ray, Junction City Blues Band and Harry Lee & The Back Alley Blues Band.

Live-Stream with Living Jazz

LEX B. ANDERSON

BY ERIN MOORE

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Another good way to acknowledge Black History Month as February comes to a close is by sitting in on a live-stream that’s all about jazz. The Oakland, Calif.-based organization Living Jazz has been a champion of all jazzrelated things since the 1980s, when they began fusing the love of jazz and its history with love of their community, subsequently fostering many enduring musical and social programs in the Bay Area. While Living Jazz is not local to Utah, of course, our state has a thriving jazz scene of its own, especially in the communities around Ogden, home to its own traditions like the Jazz at the Station annual series. So, our community will certainly find some interest in their live-stream series Call & Response, which features intimate conversations with all sorts of jazz icons. The upcoming episode—which streams for free on livingjazz.org—features conversations about “the role of the artist as catalyst,” and centers on Christian McBride, a jazz man of almost too many talents to list. Equal parts musician, educator and radio host, McBride is a talented bassist, composer and arranger who has won six Grammys, and worked with jazz musicians like Herbie Hancock, the recentlydeparted Chick Corea, Diana Krall plus many others, and has also dabbled in the worlds of pop, hip-hop, soul and classical. He now finds a home on radio, hosting and producing jazz-centric radio shows like SiriusXM’s The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian and NPR’s Jazz Night in America. Besides his musical experiences, his familiarity talking about jazz makes him perfect for ruminating on the question: What is the role of the artist as catalyst? He’ll be joined by Andre Kimo Stone Guess, who will be moderating the conversation, and who in the past served as CEO of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh, as well as the Vice President and producer for Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York. If there’s any doubt that these two bring authority to the subject of jazz, its history and the way it changes the world around it, there shouldn’t be. Jazz lovers are well-advised to tune into livingjazz.org for this and whatever follows in the Call & Response series. The show airs Sunday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m.

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The Proper Way Releases EP It’s All In Your Head

Song of the Week

There’s a certain subset of indie music that just sounds like the apex of youth—in particular, that of a feminine kind of teenage-hood, flush with romanticism and introspection. This sound, even as it’s been re-invented in the last decade or so, recalls a specific kind of ’90s feel, too—that revolutionary pop rock made by the likes of Liz Phair, or The Sundays. In the last few years, the rising stars of this specific sound’s revival are super young women—Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy come to mind. And like them, the owner of this song of the week, beabadoobee, fuses bedroom confessionalism with big, crushing guitar parts that make one wonder how someone born in 2000 can so easily co-opt the sound of ’90s indie rock for her own purposes. The 20-year-old UK-based artist, born Beatrice Laus, spent her teen years crafting early fame out of soft, melodic bedroom pop on her 2018 and 2019 albums, Patched Up and Loveworm. She also has a TikTok-famous song, an ultra-twee remix of her already quite twee track “coffee.” And while these productions have held up, they got nothing on her 2020 album Fake It Flowers. The whole 12-track album is superb, combining the grit of aforementioned peers like Soccer Mommy with the high-energy sugary-sweetness of fellow ’90s-nostalgia-miner Hatchie. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but it definitely lies somewhere between the first two tracks on the album, “Care” and “Worth It.” “Care” is what hooked me, but “Worth It” finds Laus letting her super-high, sweet voice fly as she narrates the spiral of going back and forth with a crush who defaults to lead-ons. Synths shimmer subtly around the crashing guitar parts that carry the song even higher, into a territory that takes it beyond the mere angst that is the bread-and-butter of similar artists. The album does have its moodier moments, but Laus’s vocals and compelling song structures are unshakably magnetic no matter what she does, and it’s impossible to turn it off. On songs like “Sorry,” she sings low while channeling the drama of early 20-teens bands like Wolf Alice, showing range that extends beyond the confidence of her more sugar-spiked songs. It’s a damn shame she didn’t get to tour this album last year, because if she had, it’s likely I wouldn’t need to be doing so much explaining about what makes her special—she’d already be up on the indie rocker throne. Stream Fake It Flowers wherever you stream.

The streaming world has changed a lot about the way we listen to music, but it’s changed the way artists release music, too. And when it comes to trying to game the streaming system, even locals like The Proper Way are trying to do it the right way. Hence, their two-part EP release schedule, which began in 2019 with the release of Beautiful Melodies. Terrible Things and now concludes with the other half of the songs, released as It’s All In Your Head, which drops on Feb. 26. The move was inspired by the realization that albums just don’t get streamed in full these days as frequently as shorter releases. It’s All In Your Head also departs from recent work by The Proper Way by blasting to the past—the EP is made up of many songs written only by Scott Rogers and Shane Osguthorpe many years ago, before they were joined by third member Carrie Myers, who has been incredibly influential on the band’s sound since. While the band describes the 2019 EP as gloomier, It’s All In Your Head at least sounds about as low-down, even though it isn’t thematically. For example, “Hittin’ My Stride” is a low and slow piano-assisted track that sounds sad, even though it really finds the 51-year old Osguthorpe pushing back against the idea that musicians need to follow a certain trajectory, one tied to youth. It’s also the only song that actually came out of the past year, the only pandemic-written track. “Wanna Go My Way” departs from the low-key tracks that precede it, instead presenting a firm backbone of hearty guitar while The Proper Way muses on the passing of time and the inherent joy of shirking the expectations of a lifetime filled with workdays. Lyrics like “we’re just wasting our time / being nickels and dimes / our days don’t have a price, so what do you say?” are delivered with a humble Neil Young-ish confidence and conclude with an invitation to go another way. The song is also the first Osguthorpe and Rogers wrote together, well before either had any way or place to record besides makeshift home studio setups. The EP concludes with the track “May You Be Well,” a stab at an anthem which receives a vital assist from drummer Joshua Arena and lap steel talent Ryan Hawthorn. A song that well-wishes all good things onto the listener, it’s a good way to close out this perfectly pleasant EP, at a time when people could use all the well-wishes in the world. Look out for the album on streamers Feb. 26, and for some upcoming Myers-included material, too.

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It’s that time of year at KPCW, so listen up, Park City readers especially—it’s time to give back to one of Utah’s ever-valuable community radio stations. Like the SLC-based KRCL, KPCW is a free, local non-profit radio station that focuses on giving its listeners in Summit and Wasatch counties access to free local news, NPR programs and of course, “mountain sound” tunes to listen to on the road or online. But just like any non-profit in the radio business, they need sustenance from the people who use their services all year round! So if you’re reading this and you rely on KPCW for any of these things, don’t flip the station when they start their Winter Pledge Drive on March 1, a fundraising push that will run through March 4. Donate ahead of time by calling in to 435-649-9004 or visiting kpcw.org. Because of COVID, donors can’t look forward to the same range of promised prizes for signing up to be a sustainer, but they can still look forward to a number of COVID-safe, mailedout gift cards once everything is said and done— and these include cards to local cafes, bars, restaurants, small businesses, parks and museums, even a resort for the big spenders. Also featured are words from other local non-profits in the area, with lots of focus on orgs doing good in the social, arts and of course, outdoors and snow-centered sectors. All of this contributes to what KPCW sees as a unique fund drive, unlike others in that they have a lot of fun goofing off with their guests onair, and letting the listeners in on the fun while they do. If you love KPCW, whether for their savvy on all things resort-related, their access to wider national news or their open-to-submissions Fresh Tracks Fridays, don’t miss the Winter Pledge Drive, starting on Monday, March 1. Support local, and listen at 91.7FM, 91.8FM, 88.1FM or at kpcw.org.

Scott Rogers and Shane Osguthorpe

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CINEMA True Crime

Two local filmmakers explore the Mark Hofmann saga in Murder Among the Mormons. BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

NETFLIX

he story of Mark Hofmann—whose serial forgeries of historical documents, including documents challenging LDS Church doctrine, led him to murder two people in Utah in 1985—is one of the strangest and most compelling in recent state history. It’s exactly the kind of story that seems ideal for a Netflix true-crime docu-series like Murder Among the Mormons (premiering March 3)—but the filmmaking partnership behind it might not be as intuitive. Co-directors Tyler Measom and Jared Hess came at Murder Among the Mormons from two very different creative backgrounds—Measom a non-fiction veteran whose work includes the “Amazing Randi” documentary An Honest Liar, and Hess a narrative director best known for Napoleon Dynamite. Yet for the two men, who have known each other for years going back to Hess working as a camera assistant for Measom’s directing of commercials and music videos, the collaboration proved to be ideal pairing, and not just so the hybrid of dramatizations, interviews and archival footage could allow each to stay in his comfort zone. “We did it all together,” Hess says. “I think we’d just trade off where one of us got tired, and said, ‘Man, I can’t feel my legs.” “We came at it from kind of the same angle,” Meason adds. “I’ve co-directed all my projects before, so I’m used to collaboration. And it’s nice not just to have someone to bounce ideas off of, but to have someone say, ‘Come on, let’s do this.’” While both Hess and Measom grew up in the LDS Church, they were still relatively young when the Hofmann case became national news. Measom, who was 14 years old in 1985, says, “I distinctly remember as a kid, my dad saying, ‘That

Hofmann thing really is a black eye on the Church.’” Hess, meanwhile, recalls it only being a story “on the periphery,” until he became a Mormon history buff in adulthood, and ultimately used the story as inspiration for the character of a fraudulent antiquities dealer in his 2015 film Don Verdean. It was Measom who began the process of developing Murder Among the Mormons, then learned from a mutual friend about four years ago that Hess was also interested. As they began the process of reaching out for interviews, they were pleasantly surprised at finding that most of the people they wanted to speak to were willing to appear on camera (Hofmann himself, who is currently serving a life sentence at the Central Utah Correctional Facility, did not participate). “Some needed a decent amount of convincing,” Measom says, “because some pieces in the past had been done poorly, or they were just done talking about it.” Once the interview work was complete, the question then became how to shape the story, especially how to frame the LDS church history that Hofmann’s faked documents—like the infamous “salamander letter,” challenging the official story of Joseph Smith’s discovery of the Book of Mormon’s golden plates—was threatening. “The main problem that created this whole saga is, you really have to understand the founding beliefs that are sacred to the LDS Church,” Hess says. “How much information would people who had no familiarity with Mormonism need to understand?” “Like any story,” Measom says, “you have to get context from the setting, but we had a hard time setting up the

A dramatic recreation scene from Murder Among the Mormons.

details enough, but not so much that [viewers] would be swimming in the extreme details of the religion.” Ultimately, the story became a three-episode series— which Measom admits is both a function of the current marketplace for longer-form non-fiction storytelling on streaming services, and a format which served the story best. “For this, the content warranted a longer piece,” he says. “It also gave us the opportunity to have distinct ‘act’ breaks; each one has a beginning, middle and end in and of itself. And it allowed us to keep more secrets.” Those secrets make for a compelling and fascinating story, but for the filmmakers, the biggest revelation that came from making Murder Among the Mormons is just how personal this story remains for those involved more than 35 years later. “A lot of [the interview subjects] hadn’t talked about it or confronted it, or had to relive it, for some time,” Hess says. “So I think the emotional aspect of it was still very raw.” Measom, meanwhile, remains gripped by the idea of those who are able to fool people. “I’m fascinated with people who can keep secrets,” he says, “like magicians, how they can set up a trick, and how they can just not tell anyone. For Mark, to not be able to tell anybody how he was fooling everyone, must have been extremely difficult for him. And to see all these people who put their faith in him. The millions of dollars that was lost pales in comparison to that.” CW

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY B Y R O B

B R E Z S N Y

Go to realastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) I invite you to think about one or two types of physical discomforts and symptoms that your body seems most susceptible to. Meditate on the possibility that there are specific moods or feelings associated with those discomforts and symptoms—perhaps either caused by them or the cause of them. The next step is to formulate an intention to monitor any interactions that might transpire between the bodily states and emotional states. Then make a plan for how you will address them both with your own healing power whenever they visit you in the future. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Poet Billy Collins describes “standing on the edge of a lake on a moonlit night and the light of the moon is always pointing straight at you.” I have high hopes that your entire life will be like that in the coming weeks: that you’ll feel as if the world is alive with special messages just for you; that every situation you’re in will feel like you belong there; that every intuition welling up from your subconscious mind into your conscious awareness will be specifically what you need at the moment it arrives. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You’re entering a potentially heroic phase of your astrological cycle. The coming weeks will be a time when I hope you will be motivated to raise your integrity and impeccability to record levels. To inspire you, I’ve grabbed a few affirmations from a moral code reputed to be written by a 14th-century Samurai warrior. Try saying them—and see if they rouse you to make your good character even better. 1. “I have no divine power; I make honesty my divine power.” 2. “I have no miracles; I make right action my miracle.” 3. “I have no enemy; I make carelessness my enemy.” 4. “I have no designs; I make ‘seizing opportunity’ my design.” 5. “I have no magic secrets; I make character my magic secret.” 6. “I have no armor; I make benevolence and righteousness my armor.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Poet Robert Graves regarded the ambiguity of poetry as a virtue, not a problem. In his view, poetry’s inscrutability reflects life’s true nature. As we read its enigmatic ideas and feelings, we may be inspired to understand that experience is too complex to be reduced to simplistic descriptions and overgeneralized beliefs. In fact, it’s quite possible that if we invite poetry to retrain our perceptions, we will develop a more tolerant and inclusive perspective toward everything. I’m telling you this, Capricorn, because whether or not you read a lot of poetry in the coming weeks, it will be wise and healthy for you to celebrate, not just tolerate, how paradoxical and mysterious the world is. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) The coming weeks will be a favorable time to shed old habits that waste your energy and create constructive new habits that will serve you well for months and years to come. To inspire and guide your efforts, I offer these thoughts from author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau: “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Piscean author Anais Nin was a maestro of metamorphosis, a virtuoso of variation, an adept at alteration. She regarded her ceaseless evolution as a privilege and luxury, not an oppressive inconvenience. “I take pleasure in my transformations,” she wrote. “I look quiet and consistent, but few know how many women there are in me.” Her approach is a healthy model for most of you Pisceans—and will be especially worth adopting in the coming weeks. I invite you to be a Change Specialist whose nickname is Flux Mojo.

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 29

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) I’m fond of 18th-century Virgo painter Quentin de La Tour. Why? 1. He specialized in creating portraits that brought out his subjects’ charm and intelligence. 2. As he grew wealthier, he became a philanthropist who specialized in helping poor women and artists with disabilities. 3. While most painters of his era did self-portraits that were solemn, even ponderous, de La Tour’s self-portraits showed him smiling and good-humored. 4. Later in his life, when being entirely reasonable was no longer a top priority, de La Tour enjoyed conversing with trees. In accordance with the astrological omens, I propose that we make him your patron saint for now. I hope you’ll be inspired to tap into your inner Quentin de la Tour.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Sagittarian poet and visual artist William Blake (1757-1827) cultivated a close relationship with lofty thoughts and mystical visions. He lived with his wife Catherine for the last 45 years of his life, but there were times when he was so preoccupied with his amazing creations that he neglected his bond with her. Catherine once said, “I have very little of Mr. Blake’s company. He is always in Paradise.” I hope that you won’t be like that in the coming weeks. Practical matters and intimate alliances need more of your attention than usual. Consider the possibility, at least for now, of spending less time in paradise and more on earth.

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) The coming weeks will be a poignant and healing time for you to remember the people in your life who have died—as well as ancestors whom you never met or didn’t know well. They have clues to offer you, rich feelings to nourish you with, course corrections to suggest. Get in touch with them through your dreams, meditations and reminiscences. Now read this inspiration from poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “They, who passed away long ago, still exist in us, as predisposition, as burden upon our fate, as murmuring blood and as gesture that rises up from the depths of time.” (Translation from the German by Stephen Mitchell.)

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) “Love commands a vast army of moods,” writes author Diane Ackerman. “Frantic and serene, vigilant and calm, wrung-out and fortified, explosive and sedate.” This fact of life will be prominently featured in your life during the coming weeks. Now is a fertile time to expand your understanding of how eros and romance work when they’re at their best—and to expand your repertoire of responses to love’s rich challenges. Don’t think of it as a tough test; imagine it as an interesting research project.

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CANCER (June 21-July 22) “The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle,” writes Cancerian author and Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield. I disagree with him. There are many other modes of awareness that can be useful as we navigate our labyrinthine path through this crazy world. Regarding each minute as an opportunity to learn something new, for instance: That’s an excellent way to live. Or, for another example, treating each minute as another chance to creatively express our love. But I do acknowledge that Kornfield’s approach is sublime and appealing. And I think it will be especially apropos for you during the coming weeks.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your overall health, Libra. In fact, I expect it’s probably quite adequate. But from an astrological point of view, now is the right time to schedule an appointment for a consultation with your favorite healer, even if just by Zoom. In addition, I urge you to consult a soul doctor for a complete metaphysical check-up. Chances are that your mental health is in fair shape, too. But right now, it’s not enough for your body and soul to be merely adequate; they need to receive intense doses of well-wrought love and nurturing. So, I urge you to ask for omens and signs and dreams about what precisely you can do to treat yourself with exquisite care.

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BREAKOUT ROOM

BY DAVID LEVINSON WILK

ACROSS

1. Caution 2. Jai ____ 3. Jamaica exports 4. Composer Shostakovich

UTA Art S

5. Film actor whose last name sounds like a film festival 6. Physics 101 subject 7. Connoisseur 8. Thin Russian pancakes 9. Bad thing to spring 10. Sapling 11. “Tubular!” 12. Mike’s candy partner 13. Ballpoint ____ 21. Cornish game ____ 22. “Watch What Happens Live” host Andy 25. 1950s tennis champion Gibson 26. “Fighting” Big Ten team 27. Actor Robert of “Spenser: For Hire” 28. Give a break from the game 29. “Get what I’m talkin’ about?” 30. Dearie 32. New Jersey’s ____ Hall University 35. Chain with Popcorn Nuggets 36. Noted work in which many different positions are discussed 38. More in need of a massage 39. Director Reiner 42. Raspberry or lemon desserts 47. Snitch (on) 48. Swing one’s hips

50. Three more than quadri51. Alphabetically first member of the Baseball Hall of Fame 52. Sounds like a broken record 55. Go ____ great length 56. Yoked animals 57. Big name in skin care 58. Arizona city or landform 59. Orthopedist’s scan, briefly 60. Assistance 61. Wild place

Last week’s answers

No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

DOWN

URBAN L I V I N

WITH BABS DELAY Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9.

1. Fend (off) 5. ____ Juice (California-based smoothie chain) 10. Booking.com booking 14. Grad 15. Whatsoever 16. Zen garden accessory 17. Malek of “Bohemian Rhapsody” 18. Trailer follower 19. Genesis spot 20. *Comics debut of 3/12/51 23. High-____ monitor 24. Writer Gogol 27. *”To Kill a Mockingbird” lawyer 31. *Longtime reality cooking show with a pitchfork in its logo 33. Regret 34. “Peachy!” 36. One blowing off steam? 37. “May ____ excused?” 38. City by the Bay, informally 40. Chart-topper 41. Novelist Whitehead with two Pulitzer Prizes for fiction 43. End of many URLs 44. Brian in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 45. *”Q: Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill? A: To get to the bottom,” e.g. 46. *Very cheap, as merchandise 49. Dublin’s St. ____ Church, dating from 1793 53. “Supposing ...” 54. Feature of Zoom or Google Meet ... or what the answers to each of the asterisked clues all feature 59. Puzzle with a start and a finish 62. Counterpart to digital 63. ____ grease 64. Laughfest 65. Not up ____ (below standard) 66. Ones steeped in tradition in England? 67. Things exchanged between brides and grooms 68. Photo-sharing app, familiarly 69. Four-time Grammy winner for Best New Age Album

SUDOKU

| COMMUNITY | | CITYWEEKLY.NET |

30 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

ince I was born in New York, I’m a native New Yorker (although I’ve lived in Utah most of my life). I still love traveling back to the Big Apple to see friends and family, get tickets to a Broadway show, visit a museum and, of course, track down a dirty water dog or a chewy bagel dog. I’ll hop in a Yellow Cab to travel, but I’m also a fan of New York City’s subway system. Riding the subways is a visual overload—from the characters sitting or standing beside me to the public art along the tracks and inside the cars. When I served on the Utah Transit Authority board, I asked why we didn’t have more public art on our buses and Frontrunner and TRAX trains. My fellow board members looked back at me like deer caught in headlights. The staff got it and, a few years after my term ended, UTA just announced a friendly competition for students K through 12 to beautify our public transportation. UTA’s first My BeUTAHful Community Student Art Competition is underway, with UTA asking kids to submit visual artwork based on a theme of “Meet Your Neighbor.” Participants can express themselves through public art, which will be visible throughout the public transportation system along the Wasatch Front. Plus, it gives riders and the communities served by UTA the opportunity to see the talent residing in northern Utah. If you have a family member in the K-12 age range who might like to have their art on display in this “moving museum,” the deadline to submit their work is March 16. Artists are encouraged to highlight the beauty and diversity of Utah’s communities and people. Pieces will be judged in four grade categories: K-second grades, third through sixth grades, seventh through ninth grades and 10th through 12th grades. Winning artwork will be displayed on UTA buses and trains for a year starting in April. Winners receive a $50 gift card, while the overall Best in Show winner will receive a $100 gift card as well as the opportunity for that artist’s friends, family and community to see their creation displayed prominently within the public transportation system. All participants will also be entered to win a drawing for a one-day UTA family pass, although I personally think all participants should get a one-day pass just for entering! Not only is this a fun project for aspiring young artists, it’s a way for us to appreciate our local talent. UTA will accept 2-D artwork made with paint, pencils, colored pencils, markers, digital programs, pastels and ink. While each entry should express the “Meet Your Neighbor” theme, the pieces don’t have to include any rendering of public transportation. For more entry info, visit rideutah. com/art or drop submissions off at UTA, c/o Megan Waters: 669 W. 200 South, SLC. n Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff.

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into a nearby nature park and escaped; a female passenger was detained by police and taken into custody. Weird Antiquities Bidding is underway in Boston-based RR Auction’s special Presidents Day online sale of presidential artifacts, which includes locks of George and Martha Washington’s hair, John F. Kennedy’s Harvard cardigan sweater and the pen Warren G. Harding used to officially end U.S. involvement in World War I, reported The Associated Press. The auction, which continues through Feb. 18, features around 300 items from “America’s esteemed commanders in chief,” said company spokesperson Mike Graff. Last year, the company sold a lock of Abraham Lincoln’s hair wrapped in a bloodstained telegram about his 1865 assassination for $81,000. State of the Union Instagrammer Matt Shirley of Los Angeles conducted an informal survey among his more than 300,000 followers, asking them which state they hate most, the Asbury Park Press reported Jan. 21, and from the 2,500 responses, he determined that, among the expected regional rivalries, New Jersey hates every other state and Florida hates ... Florida. The Sunshine State was the only one to choose itself as most-hated, with four-fifths of respondents agreeing. “I live in Florida, have my whole life, and would not hesitate to unironically put that as my answer,” one survey participant wrote. The Aristocrats Rapper Lil Uzi Vert, whose real name is Symere Woods, revealed on Instagram in early February that he has had a $24 million 10-carat pink diamond implanted in his forehead, reported Rolling Stone. According to Simon Babaev, spokesman for the New York-based jeweler Eliantte & Co. that implanted the stone, Uzi fell in love with the marquise-shaped diamond when he saw it in 2017 and has been making payments on it as he determined what he wanted to do with it. “We didn’t think he was serious about it,” said Babaev, but as it became clear that he was, “we engineered a specific mounting that clips and locks in place. There’s a whole mechanism involved.” Cliche Come to Life A U.S. Coast Guard crew on routine patrol Feb. 8 in the Bahamas spotted three people who had reportedly been stranded on uninhabited Anguilla Cay for 33 days. ABC News reported the two men and a woman, all Cuban nationals, survived by eating rats, coconuts and conch shells, and suffered from dehydration because of the lack of freshwater on the island. A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted them off the island and delivered them to the Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West, Florida, where helicopter commander Mike Allert said they were in generally good condition. It was unclear how they ended up on the island. Awesome! Andrea Belcher of Surrey, England, was looking for a way to have a little fun during COVID-19 lockdowns in April of last year and hit upon the idea of dressing up in a ball gown to take out the trash. Since then, Sky News reported, she has dressed up each week as a famous personality or fictional character, including so far Darth Vader, Marge Simpson and Wilma Flintstone, even recruiting the family dog to play Toto to her Dorothy. “Everything is a bit miserable at the moment,” Belcher said. “So it’s nice to have a little bit of silliness, a little bit of craziness, and to make people smile.” Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

Bright Idea Parking spots are hard to come by in the snowy West Ridge neighborhood of Chicago, and resident Adam Selzer has become the talk of the town for the novel method he’s using to save his spot—freezing pairs of pants and standing them up on the street like traffic cones, WBBM-TV reported. “Soak a pair, put outside. In about 20 minutes you can form them to shape, and in another 20 they’re solid,” Selzer posted on Twitter. Next, Selzer is planning to perfect a frozen shirt. “We’ll see if this works,” he said. New Things to Worry About Bradford Gauthier of Worcester, Massachusetts, had a bit of trouble swallowing when he woke up on Feb. 2, but he went about his day after drinking some water. Later, “I tried to drink a glass of water again and couldn’t,” he said, and that’s when he realized one of the AirPods he sleeps with at night was missing and “felt a distinct blockage in the center of my chest,” he said. KVEO reported that it didn’t take doctors in the emergency room long to discover the AirPod lodged in Gauthier’s esophagus. An emergency endoscopy removed it and Gauthier went home feeling much better. Oops n Tessica Brown of New Orleans was out of hair spray in January as she got ready to go out, so she reached for the only spray she could find, Gorilla Glue, to shellack her hair into place. “I figured ... I could just wash it out,” she told WDSU-TV, but “it didn’t.” Brown and her mother tried olive oil and vegetable oil, to no avail, and the local hospital could offer little help. She cut off her ponytail to reduce the weight, but the spray on her scalp continued to painfully tighten and harden. On Feb. 10, she posted on Instagram, she was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles to meet with plastic surgeon Michael Obeng to undergo a procedure that costs more than $12,000—for free. n Neighbors in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, called police on Feb. 8 after witnessing an unidentified man apparently take a joyride on an excavator parked in the street, knocking it into power lines and making a getaway on a bicycle. WPLG-TV reported the incident resulted in every sports fan’s worst nightmare: a power outage just before the big game. “About 30 to 40 minutes before the Super Bowl started, (the power) just went all the way out,” said Bubba James. Crews from Florida Power & Light attended to the problem, and the power was back on by halftime. Wait, What? Jane Louise Kellahan, 49, of Wanaka, New Zealand, appeared before Judge Russell Walker in Queenstown District Court on Feb. 2, her second appearance on a charge of assault and the second time she refused to answer when called upon. “That sounds like my name, Your Honor, but I want to see it in writing,” she said. The Otago Daily News reported Kellahan, a local artist, denies being a person, saying, “I’m a living being on the land.” The judge told her, “You are a living being, which means you are a person” and entered a plea of not guilty on her behalf. Her trial is set for April 28. Keystone Car Chase In the wee hours of Jan. 26, police in Bellevue, Washington, spotted a car running a red light, so they ran the tag and discovered the car was reported stolen. The driver failed to yield when officers attempted a traffic stop, KOMO-TV reported, but a mechanical problem prevented the vehicle from exceeding 25 mph. The driver also observed all traffic laws as the pursuit continued for about a mile and a half until the vehicle burst into flames and became fully engulfed. The suspect male driver fled

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| CITY WEEKLY • BACKSTOP |

32 | FEBRUARY 25, 2021

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City Weekly February 25, 2021

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