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LAWS OF THE

JUNGLE From pets to protein, humanity’s treatment of animals is fraught with contradiction. BY WES LONG

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CONTENTS COVER STORY

LAWS OF THE JUNGLE From pets to protein, humanity’s treatment of animals is fraught with contradiction. By Wes Long

Cover design by Derek Carlisle

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OPINION A&E DINE CINEMA MUSIC COMMUNITY

2 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

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DINE

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STAY INFORMED! Want to know the latest on coronavirus? Get off Facebook and check out these three online resources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov World Health Organization: who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 State of Utah Coronavirus Updates: coronavirus.utah.gov

STAFF Publisher PETE SALTAS Associate Publisher MICHAEL SALTAS Executive Editor JOHN SALTAS News Editor BENJAMIN WOOD Arts & Entertainment Editor SCOTT RENSHAW Contributing Editor JERRE WROBLE Music Editor ERIN MOORE Listings Desk KARA RHODES

Editorial Contributors KATHARINE BIELE ROB BREZSNY WES LONG MIKE RIEDEL STEWART ROGERS ALEX SPRINGER Production Art Director DEREK CARLISLE Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, CHELSEA NEIDER

Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO Associate Business Manager: PAULA SALTAS Technical Director BRYAN MANNOS Developer BRYAN BALE Sales Executives: DOUG KRUITHOF KATHY MUELLER Display Advertising 801-716-1777 National Advertising VMG Advertising | 888-278-9866

Salt Lake City Weekly is published every Thursday by Copperfield Publishing Inc. We are an independent publication dedicated to alternative news and news sources, that also serves as a comprehensive entertainment guide. 15,000 copies of Salt Lake City Weekly are available free of charge at more than 1,800 locations along the Wasatch Front. Limit one copy per reader. Additional copies of the paper can be purchased for $1 (Best of Utah and other special issues, $5) payable to Salt Lake City Weekly in advance. No person, without expressed permission of Copperfield Publishing Inc., may take more than one copy of any Salt Lake City Weekly issue. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the written permission of the publisher. Third-class postage paid at Midvale, UT. Delivery might take up to one full week. All rights reserved.

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4 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

SOAP BOX Woke

What is “woke” or what do you think “woke” is, And what about this “Critical Race Theory” biz. Societal truth is not relative, So let’s discuss and not be negative. “Woke” is to wake up and smell the roses, And challenge all of our subconscious “opposes.” To gaze in awe and wonder at our galaxies, And realize that all must share in life’s miseries. To pause, reflect and with compassion be, Inclusive for all past and present humanity. To love thy neighbor and your enemy, And with thy Spirit … Country and Democracy. To be “woke” justice demands from all of us, For both harmony and mutual trust. GEORGE KIBILDIS

Sparta, New Jersey

Thanks, NRA

What a great country! So easy for young kids, mainly boys, to get powerful automatic weapons, play vigilante, kill people and then run home to an adoring momma. All of this while becoming a hero to white racists and being praised by a former U.S. president. Boys can only dream of this glory in the U.S. and other countries where militant mobs rule. Thanks, GOP and the NRA. TED OTTINGER

Taylorsville

“Madam Mayor” Nov. 25 Cover Story

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall is the best leader in Utah. She does what’s best for the city, regardless of what the decaying members

@SLCWEEKLY @CITYWEEKLY @SLCWEEKLY of the Utah Legislature say. MIKE SCHMAUCH

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Best of Utah Corrections

In the Best of Utah 2021 issue published Nov. 18: The dessert home-delivery service Twisted Tiramisu and the karaoke-hosting Highlander Pub were referred to by their former names. Ivy & Varley, a new restaurant and bar located in downtown SLC, was listed as two separate entities. The web address for V&R Bakery was incorrect. It should have been vrbakingco.com. Care to sound off on a feature in our pages or about a local concern? Write to comments@cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE BOX

What do you hope never changes? Scott Renshaw

Paul Rudd’s face. So far, so good!

Mikey Saltas

With all the shuffling and switching of alliances in college coaching, I am especially grateful the Utah football program has Kyle Whittingham at the helm. He’s now one of the longest-tenured active coaches, and his consistency has made Utah football one of the top destinations in the West. Win or lose on Friday against Oregon for the Pac-12 Championship, Coach Whitt’s impact on Utah sports cannot be understated. I hope his legacy reminds future coaches that it isn’t only about the money.

Mike Ptaschinski

How ’bout standard time, now that we’re back on it? Why should the night owls get all the benefits? Why not reward the early birds who enjoy getting a jump on the day, say at 4:30 on a summer morning? That would give me another hour of fishing before the “power squadrons” on our local lakes finally wake up, use daddy’s gas card and decibel everyone to death with their Jet Skis.

Joel Smith

The contributions City Weekly brings to Utah businesses.

Benjamin Wood

Off-leash dog days in Mill Creek Canyon

Pete Saltas

Change has the potential to be a catalyst for growth and provide valuable life lessons. If that’s too philosophical, then I simply hope my hair never changes. Yes. Keep my hair.

Katharine Biele

My ability to recognize those I love.

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6 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

OPINION

Hell No! I Won’t Go! A self-styled hippie sees reflections of Vietnam in the fall of Afghanistan.

t 9 p.m. on Dec. 1, 1969, CBS interrupted its regularly scheduled broadcast of Mayberry R.F.D. for a new form of entertainment: America’s first military draft since World War II. At that moment, I was standing shoulder to shoulder in a narrow hallway of my college dorm with 20 other guys, staring silently at a tiny TV in the corner, learning which of us would be sacrificed to the Vietnam War machine. The process was simple. 366 blue plastic balls representing every possible birth date were placed in a large glass jar. One by one, the capsules were withdrawn at random indicating the order in which you would be drafted—that is, if you were a male between 19 and 26 years old. The first date selected, Sept. 14, was the worst. If your mother was unkind enough to pop you out on that day, you were first in line to “save democracy” in a country we didn’t understand, through a war we never should have started, against people who didn’t deserve it. If your birthday was June 8, you were a lucky boy. It was the last number picked and your golden ticket to stay alive. My number was 355. Thanks, Mom! I didn’t worry. In fact, none of us did. College kids were given a free pass regardless of their draft order. We knew they

BY ST E WA RT R O G E R S

were sending the poor guys instead, the ones who couldn’t afford a college education or a fancy doctor to certify that their minor medical conditions should disqualify them from serving. In the end, 2.2 million young men were drafted for the Vietnam War, of which approximately 25% were deployed in war zones. By the best estimates, a half-million “draft dodgers” evaded the draft by various illegal means, including refusing to register with the local draft board, pretending to be homosexual, acting mentally unstable in an interview, emigrating to another country or going to prison. Would I have done the same? I think so, but that’s easy for me to say now, more than 50 years later, never having faced the actual consequences of such a decision. Many Americans felt, then and now, that anyone who refused to fight in the Vietnam War was a coward and should be stripped of their citizenship. Those of us with a hippie perspective agreed with Albert Einstein who said: “The pioneers of a warless world are the young men (and women) who refuse military service.” The Vietnam War officially ended on Jan. 27, 1973, after killing 58,200 Americans and more than 3 million Vietnamese, injuring an untold number more and inflicting lasting anguish on the people of both countries. To this day, no one can justify the cost. Since that time, volunteers have fought America’s wars with largely the same results. Our “intervention” in Afghanistan, for example, began with valid reasons. We were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001. Within 60 days after the twin towers fell, our military had

chased al-Qaida out of the country. Good job, folks! But for reasons that make about as much sense as our justification for the Vietnam War, we kept fighting there for another 20 years. That is, until finally, after more death, more mutilation, more PTSD, more terror on all sides, we did what we should have done 19 years earlier: leave. As with Vietnam, the issue regarding the Afghan War is not whether we won or lost. We lost. The issue is not whether our soldiers were brave. They were. The issue is why patriotic men and women were asked to endure the horror of war for two decades, long after the threat of al-Qaida in Afghanistan was gone. I’ve heard that some people booed soldiers returning from Vietnam and called them “baby killers.” I never saw that, nor did I agree with it. All of the hip folks I knew saw soldiers as victims of our own government, persuaded by lies and patriotic hoopla to fight in a country we didn’t understand, in a war we never should have started, against a people who didn’t deserve it. Global events—and governments—come and go. I’d like to believe that, one day, our leaders will stop sacrificing trusting souls to endless conflicts. But I doubt it. In my opinion, the only way to “give peace a chance” is for current and future soldiers to refuse to fight when America’s safety is not in danger. As Carl Sandburg famously quipped: “Someday, they’ll give a war, and nobody will come.” CW Stewart Rogers is the co-author/editor of What Happened to the Hippies? published by McFarland Press. He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina. Send feedback to editor@cityweekly.net.

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 7

HITS&MISSES BY KATHARINE BIELE @kathybiele

MISS: Keep on Truckin’

A Deseret News reader had the right question: “Why would a Southern California port send goods destined for the eastern U.S. through Salt Lake City when Arizona ports provide a more direct route?” That, of course, was in relation to the Utah inland port-of-noreturn, and how it is being promoted as a 21st-century “crossroads of the West.” Enter the vexing supply-chain issues that have goods backed up in real ports and unable to dock. The New York Times made it abundantly clear that truck drivers—on whom the movement of supplies depends—are independent contractors not eligible for unemployment insurance, workers comp or organized union aid, with working conditions made more stressful by the ongoing shortage of truckers. Utah Port Authority Director Jack Hedge insists that all’s well, and trucks will eventually be “greener” than the polluting machines they are now. But when will that be? And will the trucking industry even exist—or more importantly—be coming to Utah at all?

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MISS: The Rail World

8 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

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There’s a lot going on in the Uinta Basin, and it’s not a lot of good. First, the U.S. Forest Service OK’d a proposal to build the Uinta Basin Railway through the Ashley National Forest, ostensibly to “bring economic growth to the basin and address some of the volatility of an extractive industry-based economy,” a Duchesne County commissioner told Utah Public Radio. That means more fracking, and according to implications from a Salt Lake Tribune story, more leaking methane from naturalgas production. Needless to say, environmental groups are opposed. Deeda Seed of the Center for Biological Diversity called out the governor in a Tribune op-ed, saying Cox thinks “spewing 53 million tons of carbon pollution—a conservative estimate—into the atmosphere will enrich our lives and make our state better.” It won’t.

HIT: Hunger Tax

Utah should absolutely eliminate the tax on food. Why does it make sense for the state to rake in a few dollars at the expense of the low-income and elderly? Some lawmakers—all of them Democrats—and religious leaders made a plea to eliminate Utah’s 1.75% sales tax on groceries, according to a KSL report. They spoke about emergency food pantries now morphing into pantries to help people survive. And, oh yes, the state has something like a $1 billion revenue surplus, which the Legislature will haggle over soon. COVID and inflation have only made things worse, and we know how Republicans worry about inflation. Utah is among only 13 states that has retained a grocery tax despite overwhelming public opinion. And Fox 13 notes that 1 in 10 Utah homes is experiencing food insecurity. That’s 102,000 families in what’s supposed to be a family-friendly state. The surplus is good news. Eliminating the food tax would be better news.

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

Police Shootings Examined

If you still mourn the loss of your daily newspaper, you might want to join The Salt Lake Tribune as it takes the next steps into good journalism. Check out the hour-long documentary Shots Fired , which “focuses on a unique Tribune-created database of police shootings and offers rare footage of police training. … The team of journalists requested hundreds of police records, watched hours of body camera footage and talked to dozens of families for this project,” the paper reports. Reporters spent the past year working with the PBS series Frontline to produce this extraordinary look at Utah police shootings, including how they are happening and what laws might be changed to avoid them in the future. You can waitlist to join a free screening of Shots Fired, or view the documentary online. Brewvies, 677 S. 200 West, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m. Free/ waitlist at https://bit.ly/3nQ3E1M. Online, view at https://bit.ly/3CXSKv3

Partisanship in Utah

Think you know all you need to know about political partisanship in Utah? It’s all GOP, right? That’s pretty much the case, according to Ballotpedia. “Utah has a Republican trifecta and a Republican triplex. The Republican Party controls the offices of governor, attorney general and both chambers of the state Legislature.” It’s daunting to be a Democrat, or certainly a third party in this state. And the country as a whole isn’t much different. “As of Nov. 26, 2021, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 15 Democratic trifectas, and 12 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.” But there’s more to the story, as you will discover in the Utah Foundation’s most recent video Utahns’ Concerns by Political Party. The video not only looks at the differences between the political parties, but also at changes over time. Online, free. https://bit.ly/3EbCDeZ

Enemies, Opponents and Friends

There’s a lot of talk about collaboration at home and abroad, but mostly in this divided world, it’s just a lot of talk. “Collaboration with the enemy is a political ‘offense.’ Collaboration with friends is a political necessity and collaboration with opponents presents a puzzle in need of careful exploration and judgment,” say organizers of Collaboration and Democracy: Confronting Enemies, Opponents and Friends. This webinar will bring speakers from Afghanistan, South Africa, the United States, Brazil and Poland to speak about their various political experiences and how they deal with them. Virtual, Friday, Dec. 3, 9 a.m. Free/register at https://bit.ly/3xt3FeV

Are You a Racist?

Does it ever seem like it’s only the people who aren’t racists that want to end racism? In Supporting All of Us: Teaching Against Hate, Bias and Injustice, you will hear about ways “that engage the realities of our society, past and present.” That’s a big task, which UC Davis invites viewers to take on in the fifth installment of its online series. Virtual, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 5 p.m., free/suggested $5 donation. https://bit.ly/30WiTgZ

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 9

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ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, DECEMBER 2-8, 2021

City Weekly Best of Utah party For more than 30 years, City Weekly’s Best of Utah issue has been the definitive roundup of the state’s best people, media, merchants, food and more, as voted on by our readers and supplemented by City Weekly staff and contributors. Now that you’ve had a chance to immerse yourself in that issue since it was released a couple of weeks ago, you can celebrate all that greatness, and even mingle with the winners, as we return to an in-person party in honor of those who graced that issue’s pages. Those who choose to join us will get a chance to sample offerings from some of the restaurants, brewers and other food & drink locations that earned our highest honors. Scheduled participants include Cluck Truck, Ruby Snap cook-

ies, Arempa’s, Flanker, Beehive Cheese, Doki Doki Japanese dessert café, Honest Eatery, Roctaco, Moochie’s Meatballs & More, Gaetano’s subs, Portena Gourmet and Chabaar Beyond Thai. To whet your whistle, enjoy the beverages from Mountain West Cider, Caffe Ibis, Sugarhouse Distillery, Ogden’s Own, Squatters, Wasatch Brewing and more. The BOU shindig takes place on Thursday, Dec. 2 at The Gateway (12 S. 400 West) in the old Urban Outfitters location, from 7 p.m. – 11 p.m. Tickets are $30, and include unlimited access to the food vendors (while supply lasts) and $10 with of tokens for the drink vendors. Capacity has been limited compared to previous years in order to allow for more distancing at the event, so tickets might sell out. Visit cwstore.cityweekly.net to purchase tickets and for other event details. (Scott Renshaw)

RANDAL FORD

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10 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

ESSENTIALS

the

Brené Brown: Atlas of the Heart When you think of a “self-help guru,” you probably don’t have someone like Brené Brown in mind. Neither a touchy-feely ethereal presence nor a whip-cracking scold, the Texas native has applied her experience in social work to provide down-to-earth advice on developing more fulfilling relationships and becoming a more effective leader. In her live appearances, video and Netflix specials and best-selling books like The Gifts of Imperfection and Daring Greatly, Dr. Brown champions the emotional power of taking risks and being vulnerable. In Brené Brown’s latest book, Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience, she launches a journey through eighty-seven specific emotions and experiences that she believes define what it means to be human.

It’s a continuation of her work finding bravery in sharing moments of personal failure and heartbreak with others, tearing down walls that seem like self-protection but ultimately prove isolating. As the author describes the book, it “offers a collection of tools, including new language that helps us more accurately talk about our emotions and experiences and a new model for cultivating meaningful connection.” This virtual event with Brené Brown takes place via Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 6 p.m., sponsored by The King’s English Bookshop. Tickets are $40 via Eventbrite, and include admission to the event, a hardcover copy of Atlas of the Heart and shipping costs, as well as the opportunity to send in a question for Brown to respond to during the event. Visit kingsenglish.com for additional event information. (SR)

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ESSENTIALS

the

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

BEAU PEARSON

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS, DECEMBER 2-8, 2021

Ballet West: The Nutcracker

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 15

11) and many, many more. The pop-up shops run in conjunction with Finch Lane Gallery’s annual statewide exhibition of crafts, photography, video and digital works, running through Jan. 5. The shops are a great opportunity to do a little holiday shopping while supporting talented local artisans. Visit saltlakearts.org/finchlanegallery/ for the full list of participating artists, and when they’ll be offering their work. (SR)

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When it comes to thinking about industries and individuals who were squeezed economically during the pandemic, it’s not a competition; plenty of folks across the country depended on special federal assistance and other unique levels of support to stay afloat. But artists of all kinds definitely took a big hit, even as we relied on their creations to help get us through a difficult time. As just one more way to help out our local artists, the Salt Lake City Arts Council and the Utah Division of Arts & Museums have partnered to create a series of special artisan “pop-up shops” at Finch Lane Gallery (54 Finch Lane) throughout the month of December. The program begins Saturday Dec. 4, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., with kiln-formed glass objects, ornaments and jewelry created by Sarinda Jones (pictured). During the subsequent weeks, during the regular operating days Tuesday-Saturday, a different artist will be represented each day, including Zubaidah Boutique handmade jewelry (Dec. 7), Caro Nilsson’s embroidered “paintings” (Dec. 8), Vincent Messina’s lamps and custom guitars (Dec. 9), Molly Powers Designs’ relief prints and calendars (Dec. 10), Bunnies & Bears handknit animals for children (Dec.

Finch Lane Gallery Pop-Up Shops

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Last Christmas was weird, no two ways about it. A lot of things that have been longstanding holiday traditions for many Utahns weren’t possible in the pre-vaccine days of the pandemic, including Ballet West’s beloved annual production of The Nutcracker. While the company generously offered a recorded version of the production broadcast over the holidays, it wasn’t quite the same as families sharing an evening out with live ballet. But The Nutcracker is back for 2021, once again offering the beloved E.T.A. Hoffman story of a young girl, her toymaking godfather, and a celebration of sweets from around the world, all set to the classic score by Tchaikovsky. The choreography by Ballet West founder William Christensen still serves as the foundation for the pro-

duction, dating back to 1944, and making Ballet West’s Nutcracker not just the earliest full-length production in the United States, but potentially the longest-running such production in the world. Hundreds of children from around the state compete for a chance to be part of the production, adding to the excitement for so many Utah families. Ballet West’s The Nutcracker runs Dec. 4 – 23 at the Capitol Theatre (50 W. 200 South), with most evening performances beginning at 7 p.m. and matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $25-$125, but availability may be limited due to high demand resulting from last year’s lack of performances; according to Ballet West, they’re already experiencing the highest level of advance sales in nearly 25 years. Face coverings will be required of all attendees at all performances. Visit balletwest.org for tickets and additional information. (SR)

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16 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

The Strong Silent Type Director Alan Muraoka saves his voice to lead Elf: The Musical BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

lan Muraoka—director of Pioneer Theatre Company’s holiday production of Elf: The Musical—had to bow out of a phone interview at the last minute do to losing his voice. It’s nothing serious, he assures me; it was just a “run in with some bad egg salad.” As possible impediments go, after theater professionals of all kinds were rarely able to work for more than a year, it’s pretty minor stuff. Still, Muraoka had to respond to questions by email in order to let his voice recover for directing chores, and for all of the other irons he has in the fire, including more than 20 years as the proprietor of Hooper’s Store on Sesame Street, where he has also directed episodes. Elf marks his second live production as a director since the loosening of COVID-era restrictions, following close on the heels of directing the local Utah Shakespeare production of Gold Mountain. And he says that the process for looking out for cast members’ health is a pretty clear and effective one. “We have a very large cast for Elf, and so keeping everyone safe is one of our top priorities,” Muraoka says. “We are all vaccinated, many of us with booster shots, and we do COVID tests 3X a week. We are masked for rehearsals, and the actors may remove those masks to sing or do scene work if they feel comfortable to do so. We are exceeding [Actors Equity] guidelines to try and keep our company safe.”

For all theater professionals, there has been a learning curve for getting back to work, between the adjustment to new health and safety protocols and simply shaking off the rust of being away from live performance for an extended period of time. “Yes, there is a small journey for everyone coming back after a year and a half of being dormant,” Muraoka says. “Regaining stamina, finding your balance and center, and rebuilding your confidence is all a part of that journey. “I know for me there’s so much gratitude to be able to do something that you love after being denied it for so long, and so everyone is jumping back in with fervor. And for the New York cast, it is also getting used to the higher elevation here in SLC, and the dryness in the air. The entire cast has humidifiers, [lip balm], and are hydrating themselves silly.” Elf: The Musical itself is a return for Pioneer Theatre Company, which brings the show back after a hugely successful run in 2013. Muraoka describes himself as “a big fan of all things Elf,” from the hit film that inspired the musical to the original Broadway run of the musical itself. “Both the show and the movie are filled with such humor and heart, and these are things I always look for when I am looking for projects to direct,” Muraoka says. “And the fact that it is about family and kindness and how one person can bright light and color into other people’s lives feels necessary and vital at this moment in time.” Sharing important messages as always been baked into the DNA of Sesame Street, of course, which unfortunately has included controversy like the recent brouhaha over Big Bird promoting vaccines (Muraoka politely deferred comment on this particular issue). Yet Muraoka has a role in another recent sensitive subject addressed on the show, as he directed the 2021 episode “Family Day,” which introduced a same-sex couple to Sesame Street for the first time. “Sesame Street has always been a place of inclusion, acceptance, and tolerance,” he says. “Sesame has never shied away from hard topics (the death of Mr. Hooper, our shows created in the aftermath of 9/11, our

A&E

Alan Muraoka hurricane awareness shows that ran after Hurricane Katrina) and the past two years have brought about many things for our organization and show to discuss openly and honestly. … Our Family Day episode introduced a same sex couple and their daughter Mia, and showed that there are many kinds of families, and all should be respected and admired.” Beyond the general challenges of getting back in the groove, there are unique dynamics at play in making something that is appealing to all ages, like Elf: The Musical. Muraoka acknowledges that his experience with Sesame Street is useful in that respect, but also quite different when it comes to a live production. “The architecture of a family show like Elf is actually very similar to the scripts we

get at Sesame Street,” he says. “Humor and heart are a big part of both shows, and so it’s important to try and capture as much of that as we can in performance. So I would say that they are similar. But of course, live theater is such a unique event, where nothing is ever the same from night to night. And that is what is thrilling and exciting about theater. You are witness to a singular event that cannot ever be repeated exactly the same.” CW

ELF: THE MUSICAL

Pioneer Theatre Company 300 S. 1400 East Dec. 3-18 $48-$72 pioneertheatre.org

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 17

18 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

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LAWS OF THE

JUNGLE

From pets to protein, humanity’s treatment of animals is fraught with contradiction.

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 19

and neglect prior to their arrival. Shelters typically do not have massive budgets supporting their operations, and in the case of smaller counties, facilities may still resort to using makeshift, unofficial gas chambers or even a gun out of public view. This is not necessarily because the employees hate their animals, advocates say, but because that is all they can think of doing in such dire conditions. While Beckham and others say ending the practice of gas-chamber euthanasia will be a positive accomplishment, it also invites reflection on where the state and nation’s relationship with animals presently stands. Utah code forbids cruelty to animals, but provides numerous exceptions for zoos, hunters, rodeos and farms if the conduct falls within “accepted” practices. And violation of the law as such— when successfully prosecuted—usually results in forfeiture of the injured animal, if possible, and paying a fine. The growing consensus around shelter gas chambers stands in stark contrast to other, murkier debates around animal rights and treatment. And advocates say greater attention is needed to reconsider mankind’s relationship with the furry, the finny and the feathered, from beloved family pets to the realms of laboratory research and commercial farming.

n August, after much public prodding, Lindon’s North Utah Valley Animal Shelter announced that it would discontinue the practice of gas-chamber euthanasia. The shift in policy leaves only three animal sheltering facilities in the United States that continue to officially use gas chambers, and while two of them are located in Wyoming, the third is Spanish Fork’s South Utah Valley Animal Shelter. “We’re on the precipice of eradicating this practice once and for all,” said Jeremy Beckham, director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition “We’re so close.” From his vantage point, Beckham has observed that the general public’s attitude is overwhelmingly opposed to animal gas chambers. But he also lamented the confusion of opinion and practice when it comes to animal treatment generally. There is no “clear ethical principle” that guides public thinking, he said. And while shelters perform a wonderful, necessary service, Beckham stressed that they are prone to being “blamed for problems that began long before the animals showed up at their door.” Stretched for space and resources, shelters are often forced to make difficult and wrenching decisions regarding the animals in their care, especially as many have already experienced domestic violence

The Humane Society of the United States estimates that more than 100 million animals are used for experimentation purposes each year. Because 1966’s Animal Welfare Act (AWA) regulates and protects only certain types of species, the total number of animals used in scientific research is assuredly much larger. Dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, sheep and primates have some coverage under federal law, but rodents, fish, turtles and birds are left unreported. Some experiments involve pain and the administration of drugs to relieve any ill effects, but such is not the case in every project. And because the departments that oversee animal welfare inspections are traditionally understaffed and poorly resourced, animal-rights organizations say enforcement of the law has been weak. The institutions that hold licenses as research facilities must undergo routine inspections and provide accounting for the treatment of the protected animals within their care. Universities constitute most of the licensed research facilities in Utah and report to the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare—part of the Public Health Service—as well as to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Universities are also required to appoint an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to decide upon the various animal-related projects that are proposed for funding. Eric Domyan is an associate professor of biology and currently chairs the IACUC for Utah Valley University. Having helped to craft the school’s policy regarding their use of animals, Domyan

says he’s pleased with the balance the university has struck. “We do everything possible to give [our animals] comfortable living conditions and make sure we’re meeting all the guidelines,” he says. Domyan stated that he and his colleagues follow federal regulations even for those animals that are not explicitly covered by the AWA. And he maintains that continuing animal research remains crucial. “As a researcher, I recognize that there is really no suitable substitute for animals to understand certain biological processes,” he said. “If you’re really interested in understanding how the human body is functioning, a lot of those experiments that you simply can’t do on humans because of ethical issues have to be performed with animals if you want to understand them.” Animal testing played a critical role in the development of health treatments like chemotherapy, antidepressants, asthma inhalers and vaccines. And while most researchers agree that such advances are helpful to life in this world, there are many who have misgivings with the idea that there is no other way to conduct this research. Karen Mizell is an ethics professor at UVU and has been engaged with the issues of animal rights and animal law for years. She decries the lack of transparency that can develop in university research settings, particularly due to the amount of money that goes into those projects. Besides, as she points out, the results of such testing are anything but definitive. “Animal testing is only about 1% effective for human medicine,” Mizell

Excerpts from Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

Test Subjects

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A dog starved at his Master’s Gate Predicts the ruin of the State ... The Lamb misused breeds Public Strife And yet forgives the Butcher’s knife ... The Bleat, the Bark, Bellow & Roar Are Waves that Beat on Heaven’s Shore.

BY WES LONG comments@cityweekly.net

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22 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

“The place for human beings and for animals is not a relationship of violence or subjugation or cruelty, but a place where we’re kind to each other,” —Wayne Hsiung,

animal-rights activist and co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere

says, explaining that it’s rare for experimentation to prove useful across the species barrier. Instead, she says she’s of the mind that scientific research can and should be pursued using other means besides animal life, such as through artificial intelligence, tissue testing and computer modeling. “I can see in the past that there were legitimate scientific uses of an animal for certain kinds of testing,” Mizell says. “The problem is that we have made incredible advances in science. That’s why we need to be very careful about these very complex animals and their places in the ecosystem.” Animals are complicated creatures that we only begin to understand, Mizell says, and morally, “we cannot overlook that anymore.” And she’s far from the first person to express such caution, as her sentiments echo closely the observations made by the microbiologist Catherine Roberts in the 1960s. In her book The Scientific Conscience, Roberts stressed that ethical considerations should come first, and only then should the discovery of intellectual truths be pursued. Outside of this, the search for scientific progress becomes an “intellectual obsession that threatens to become uncontrollable.” Roberts mused that society had arrived at another evolutionary threshold, in which the humane impulse toward animals appeared to be moving us to become more human. Within science, “the problem of painful animal experimentation now concerns all mankind and not just a panel of experts.” Human beings, Roberts wrote, have benefited greatly from advances in knowledge and medical breakthroughs over the years but would do well to remember that it came at the cost of animal suffering. While science should not forget what has come from these past experiments, she wrote, “this is no justification whatsoever for extending our knowledge or continuing the production of new and better preparations by the inhumane methods of the past and the present—for it is time we knew better.”

Ag-tivism

Wayne Hsiung is feeling optimistic. As the founder of Direct Action Everywhere—an animal-rights network involved in open rescues from factory farms—he is currently facing charges of burglary and theft for the 2018 rescue of piglets at Smithfield Foods’ Circle Four farms in Milford, Beaver County. He does not know how the case will turn out, but he feels confident that the future will be kind to his activities and to animals generally. Seeing all sentient life as beautiful and sacred, Hsiung feels that while times have never been worse for animals, there is also much to be hopeful about. In his view, more people are feeling repelled by the violence in their food systems and are recognizing that they have the power to do something about it. Greater numbers of people are concluding that “the place for human beings and for animals is not a relationship of violence or subjugation or cruelty, but a place where we’re kind to each other,” Hsiung said. But even if his predictions for popular attitudes are correct, he remains at odds with current agricultural practices. Animals largely factor into state laws as protected property, and while Utah code condemns wanton destruction of livestock, cruelty by livestock owners has not been account-

ed for. “No one is really exempted from having to take care of their animals,” says Leann Hunting of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, but the “end use [of animals] is left to the individual.” As the department’s director of animal industry, Hunting views her office’s role as one of taking both sides into account and then to “regulate and advocate and educate across the board.” Whether the policy concerns livestock branding, domesticated elk, fisheries, horse racing or wildlife damage prevention, advisory boards appointed at the executive level determine what the regulatory departments will do. Farming operations are overseen on both the state and federal levels. Depending on the regulatory body providing oversight, the facilities typically self-report the animals they process. Best management practices around housing, feed and handling are encouraged by the Division of Animal Industry and the State Veterinarian’s Office, but they are neither laws nor are they enforced. Dean Taylor, Utah’s State Veterinarian, notes that what some people consider to be animal cruelty is what others consider to be merely traditional management practices—perceptions on these matters fall all over the continuum. “Everybody feels slightly different,” Taylor said. Rep. Mike Kohler, R-Midway, hails from a dairy farming background and has weighed in on this disparity of perception. “Branding, dehorning, artificial insemination, castration, immunizations, hoof trimming and even moving animals around in a corral can be misunderstood,” he wrote. “There is almost no way to make that operation look humane to the novice ag watcher without some understanding and experience of animal-care practices.” For Kohler and others in the farming community, those and other similar approaches are standard agricultural management practices that are best left to those familiar with the process. The topic of factory farms has itself become a heated issue in recent decades, starting with the 2006 passage of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) on the federal level. Passed on a technicality despite much public opposition, AETA broadened punishments that were already present in the law. Journalist Will Potter has shown in his book Green Is the New Red that AETA’s vague wording allows for such activities as demonstrations, undercover investigations and boycotts to be punishable as acts of domestic terrorism, bringing with them more severe penalties and imprisonment. Building off this momentum, Iowa became the first state to propose a so-called “Aggag” law, suppressing investigations of operations such as dairy and meat farms. Utah joined in this effort in 2012 when it passed its own Agricultural Operation Interference provision into the state code, criminalizing undercover investigations and recording of factory farms and slaughterhouses. Sen. David Hinkins, R-Orangeville—who could not be reached for comment on this story—was among the lawmakers who supported the legislation in committee hearings at the time. He viewed it as a means of stopping “the vegetarian people,” whom he compared to “terrorists” (as referenced in a 2013 lawsuit challenging Utah’s law). It was not long before a woman named Amy Meyer became the first person to be charged under Utah’s new “Ag-gag” legislation. Meyer, an animal activist, was standing adjacent to a Draper slaughterhouse when she saw what seemed to be a sick cow being pushed by a

“No one is really exempted from having to take care of their animals ... [but the] end use [of animals] is left to the individual.” —Leann Hunting

Utah Department of Agriculture and Food

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 23

Wes Long is a graduate of history from the University of Utah. He currently serves the poverty reduction nonprofit Circles Salt Lake through the AmeriCorps program. Special thanks to Kimberly Finch, Rachel Heatley, Rachel Hopper, Daniel Horns, Julie Kiefer, Callista Pearson, Amanda Price, Luke Runyon, Liz Sollis and Bailee Woolstenhulme.

Despite legal setbacks and industrial hostility, activists like Meyer and Hsiung see exciting prospects for changing the way we eat and produce food to the mutual benefit of humans and animals. Hsiung believes that a “compassionate food system where we don’t harm animals is totally within reach.” Hsiung said people don’t ask for more from their food systems because they don’t think more is possible, but he believes that changing a solely profit-driven model to one that considers human and animal needs can indeed be better for consumers and producers. Referring to his friendship with Moroni turkey farmer Rick Pitman, Hsiung points out that real change is possible when people reciprocate and learn from one another. “Do Rick and I agree about what the future of the food system is? Absolutely not,” Hsiung observed. “That is part of democracy, too. People can have disagreements—even ethical disagreements—and we try to work them out.” Hsiung noted his friend’s expertise in producing protein and indicated that envisioning a better future for animals and humans is most possible when both farmers and advocates are working together. “It’s his job to teach me about how that process works,” Hsiung said, “so that I can do the best job of painting [a picture of the future] and helping to construct that system politically, legally, economically and technologically.” The private sector is already seeing these kinds of food-production alternatives and market partnerships appearing on the agricultural scene. The Transfarmation Project is repurposing concentrated farming operations to create sustainable and compassionate plant-based systems so that those who currently make their living from working in and around farming operations and animals are not left behind. Other firms are competing to commercialize lab-grown meat through the cultivation of animal cells in order to replace livestock slaughter. So where does the animal-human relationship go from here? As much as it offers to human lives, science cannot definitively answer what dwells within the minds and hearts of the animals of this planet. Human beings must have personal experience and interaction with animals to truly get a glimmer of what these beautiful and mysterious creatures possess. Proponents of enhanced animal-rights protections say humans will have to bring their whole selves into the picture, but that will not happen in systems that neglect or abuse animals or drive them to extinction.

What’s for Dinner?

Rather than enjoying a shared ethical vision and transcendent moral concern, as the academic Theodore Roszak wrote in Where the Wasteland Ends, “we have settled for the artificial environment … and now use that environment as the procrustean bed to whose size all values and sensibilities must be tailored.” A growing chorus of advocates and researchers argue it need not be this way for either humans or their fellow creatures, and that there is no shortage of springs from which to draw to develop new—or old?—traditions and ethics. Consider the words of Luther Standing Bear, a chief of the Oglala Lakota: “The Lakota could despise no creature, for all were of one blood, made by the same hand, and filled with the essence of the Great Mystery.” Other bodies of thought and feeling bear similarly powerful observations. The highest virtue in Buddhism is compassion, which one can show to all sentient beings by avoiding any possible cause of suffering and death. And Rabbi Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, a 16thcentury Jewish mystic, wrote that the essence of wisdom is “to extend acts of love toward everything, including plants and animals.” Such examples of moral and ethical ideals can be found anywhere, even in Utah. Starting in 1897, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave official sponsorship to an annual “Humane Day” celebration by the Deseret Sunday School Union Board. The recurring event designated a time in February for the church membership to take up subjects on “the propriety of being kind and considerate to the animal creation.” This occasion was observed for decades. “The object,” church leaders announced in The Juvenile Instructor, “will be to teach the children kindness, mercy, forbearance and love toward all the living creations of God.” In whatever way that such traditions and teachings can inform community vision, it is essential that vision indeed expands. Nothing is more tragic than seeing human beings hurt and degrade one another because of the artificially narrow lens through which they see their world. Animals, without the ability to speak for themselves, have been caught in society’s machinations and habits and have been greatly harmed as a result. Perhaps there is a better world out there for all, one in which the laws of the jungle mean peaceful and tender flourishing. “No doubt there are ways and means to ameliorate, at least temporarily, the most dangerous excesses of urban-industrialism and the technocratic politics it breeds,” wrote Roszak. “But for the disease of single vision, there can be no ad hoc reform, no quick technological fix. And it is single vision that underlies the despair, the anomie, the irresponsible drift, the resignation to genocide, the weakness for totalitarian solutions, which make radical, enduring change in our society impossible. Until we find our way once more to the experience of transcendence, until we feel the life within us and the nature about us as sacred, there will seem to us no ‘realistic’ future other than more of the same: single vision and the artificial environment forever and ever, amen.” CW

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bulldozer. Recording images of what she saw, she was subsequently questioned by Draper Police and charged with agricultural operation interference. “I was pretty shocked at how they responded to me,” Meyer said, “I didn’t think they would care at all that a 25-year-old woman on a Friday afternoon had a camera on the outside of their building. That’s how threatened they are by people seeing what’s happening.” Challenging the law, Meyer sued the state and received support from many sectors. Journalists keyed into the issue due to its bearing on First Amendment rights, as did local conservative groups and radio stations. Meyer said she was impressed by the broadness of the audience that was paying attention to her case, and in 2017, Utah’s “Ag-gag” law was ruled unconstitutional in federal court.

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AS SEEN ON “ DINERS, DRIVEINS AND DIVES”

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Award Winning Donuts

Cultivate meatloaf

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

HAND

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SHA KES

HA CRAFNTD BURGEED RS ALL AND HNATURAL PRODUOMEMADE CTS FR OM PROTEIN S SODAS TO

30 E BROADWAY, SLC UT 801-355-0667

DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 25

GOSH DARN DELICIOUS!

| CITY WEEKLY |

ithout fail, the afterglow of City Weekly’s Best of Utah issue leaves me with a plethora of recommendations for new restaurants to check out— you readers out there have pretty good taste. After hearing about how Cliff Dining Pub (12234 S. Draper Gate Drive, 801523-2053, cliffdiningpub.com) snagged a Reader’s Choice Award for Best Non-downtown Restaurant this year, it rose to the top of my list of places to check out. While on said assignment, I was intrigued by Cliff’s sister restaurant Cultivate Craft Kitchen (12234 S. Draper Gate Drive, 801-274-4230, cultivatecraftkitchen.com), which inspired me to create a culinary double-feature for this week. Cliff Dining Pub and Cultivate Craft Kitchen are, quite literally, sister restaurants, since they share ownership among Wendy & Jason Lewis and Matt & Nikki Mackay. This quartet of Draper-based entrepreneurs conceptualized both restaurants as a place for Draper residents to kick back with a variety of comfort-food favorites, expertly-made cocktails and a killer view of the Salt Lake Valley. Cliff Dining Pub started the whole affair,

PLENTY OF PATIO SEATING

Explore your options with Cliff Dining Pub and Cultivate Craft Kitchen.

this burger, but its foundational elements aren’t messing around, either. This is a dinner-sized burger that goes very well with some sweet potato waffle fries and a glass of local craft beer from Kiitos Brewery. Once you venture next door to Cultivate, it’s easy to tell they were envisioned by the same people. It shares Cliff’s rustic chic decorative sensibility, and those sitting in the bar area are lovingly watched over by a gigantic mural photograph of a noble sheep. Where Cliff Dining Pub maintains more of a kid-friendly, neighborhood gastropub kind of vibe, Cultivate is a place to enjoy when the kids are at grandma’s. As someone who appreciates both types of destinations, I can’t get over how nice having both options right next door to one another is. At Cultivate, I tried the toffee brie ($11) and the meatloaf ($30). The brie comes in tiny scoops on a plate with honey-drizzled toast, and it creates a nice palate primer for anything rich and savory. Whenever a swanky place like Cultivate offers something like meatloaf, I have to check it out; despite meatloaf’s humble origins, it creates a fantastic blank canvas for talented chefs to work with. When my plate arrived and I could see the caramelized ketchup— technically it’s cranberry ketchup sauce, but that’s all the better—layer on top, I knew this had been crafted by someone who understands meatloaf on a spiritual level. The fact that it’s made with a ground pork and beef mix, infused with roasted garlic and black truffles, doesn’t hurt things one bit. This is a tender, savory and delicious love letter to meatloaf, and its supporting cast of white cheddar mashed potatoes and roasted heirloom carrots adds a perfect balance to this classic dish. I’ve been hanging out south of the Salt Lake City limits lately, and it’s been fun to see what cities like Draper have to offer. Those looking for a nice variety of excellent food and finely crafted libations just need to head up the mountain and seek out Cliff Dining Pub and Cultivate Craft Kitchen. CW

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Draper DoubleFeature

but once its stylish but casual concept took off within the Draper foothills, the team decided to expand their vision of dining to Cultivate Craft Kitchen. Both restaurants capture the founders’ vision of sophisticated interpretations of universally-beloved comfort food and an eye for trendy style that caters to the taste of Draper’s upper East Bench. Though the two restaurants are next door to one another, the differences between them are just stark enough to warrant a visit to both spots—so that’s what I did. Even during the colder months, Cliff’s elevated perch and well-curated interior space create an ideal destination for any family-friendly special occasion. As the Cliff Dining Pub menu has hitched its wagon to fancy reinterpretations of classic pub food, I planned my order accordingly. I went with some bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapeños ($13) and the Cliff Burger ($15) paired with a nice Kiitos Double IPA ($12), which provided an accurate snapshot of the Cliff experience. As jalapeño poppers have never really made an impression on me during my many gastropub visits, I must say I was surprised by this punchy little shareable. The trick is the quality of peppers on the grill, and Cliff has picked out the good stuff. These peppers are plump, juicy and flavor-forward; yes, there’s the obligatory kick, but these beauties really let you taste the jalapeño flavor. Oh, and did I mention they’re stuffed with velvety cream cheese and wrapped in thick, smoky bacon? Because that takes this dish into the stratosphere. It comes with a bit of ranch dressing to cool things down, but fans of starting a meal off with a kick will enjoy this one. The Cliff Burger is a textbook example of what a good pub burger should be. The buttered brioche bun houses a monstrous, cooked-to-order beef patty, more of that thick bacon, a vulgar amount of melty American cheese and a lovely fried egg with just a bit of runny yolk. It’s the American cheese and fried egg that really sell

705 S. 700 E. | (801) 537-1433 ALEX SPRINGER

ALEX SPRINGER

Cliff burger

onTAP S ON U W FOLLO GRAM A T S IN

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KLY

WEE C L S @

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com On Tap: Bougie Johnny’s - Rose Ale

Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com On Tap: Blueberry Pomegranate Sour

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com On Tap: Ruby’s Gay Hard Cider

Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com

Ogden River Brewing 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenRiverBrewing.com On Tap: Injector Hazy IPA

Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com On Tap: Fresh Brewed UPA

Proper Brewing 857 S. Main, SLC ProperBrewingCo.com On Tap: Lemon Shandy

Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com On Tap: IPA in the Coconut

Red Rock Brewing Multiple Locations RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Baked Pastry Stout

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com On Tap: Red Ale

RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com On Tap: Fuzzy Pucker Peach Sour

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: Strawberry Sorghum

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26 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

2 Row Brewing 6856 S. 300 West, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com On Tap: Feelin’ Hazy

Hoppers Grill and Brewing 890 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale HoppersBrewPub.com

OUTDOOR SEATING ON THE PATIO

TUESDAY TRIVIA! 7-9 PM LIVE JAZZ Thursdays 8-11 PM

1048 East 2100 South | (385) 528-3275 | HopkinsBrewingCompany.com

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com On Tap: Cosmic Autumn Rebellion SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com On Tap: 10 Ton Truck West Coast IPA

Kiitos Brewing 608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Bombshell Cherry Belgian Ale

Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: You-tah Coffee Uncommon Ale

Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Blue Berry Blast Beer Slushie

A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week Silver Reef 4391 S. Enterprise Drive, St. George StGeorgeBev.com Squatters 147 W. Broadway, SLC Squatters.com 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: Northern Lights Terpene IPA Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: Berry Salty: Raspberry Gose 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: OG Juice 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

We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

MIKE RIEDEL

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DECEMBER 2, 2021 | 27

isher/City Weekly - Private Eye: You may not know this, but Colby Frazier of Fisher Brewing Company was also an award-winning journalist for City Weekly some years ago. His time in the brew house hasn’t softened his love of journalism or City Weekly, however, and to prove it, he and CW grand poobah John Saltas got together and created a special beer to honor SLC’s weekly paper of many decades, all while donating a few drachma to Press Backers, a nonprofit aimed at supporting free alternative news-media outlets. This pale ale pours a solid apricot-blonde color; it’s quite clear considering it’s not filtered, and is topped with one finger of frothy, off-white head. It recedes gradually over a period of minutes, leaving behind a soapy film on the surface. There’s a generous collar around the edge, and a loose draping of lace is left behind on the glass—a beautiful-looking beer. The aroma isn’t half-bad either, with notes of bready malts, lemonypine notes and a touch of grapefruit. It didn’t take long for my palate to give this one a hearty thumbs-up. A sturdy backbone of pale, bready malts and caramel sweetness soon gives way to some citrusy grapefruit peel and resiny pine notes. The finish is pithy and bitter, with a lingering, astringent aftertaste. It’s on the light side of medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation levels that are appropriate for the style. Fairly refreshing, with a reasonably hoppy kick to it, definitely session-worthy.

Overall: Private Eye is a very respectable 5.0 percent pale ale. Its bitterness does tend to take you on a trip to IPA territory, but the malt bill quickly boomerangs you back. This makes for an enjoyable glass, and one that I’d definitely recommend to those in the market for a hop-forward pale ale. RoHa Barrel-Aged Nights Out: The RoHa Brewing Project took their Belgianinspired stout and aged it for six months in Beehive Distilling’s rye whiskey barrels. The result is a beer that pours basically pitch-black in color, with two fingers of tan colored foamy head that was full of tiny bubbles which faded slowly and left very nice foamy lacing and a spotty layer on top. Smells of dark chocolate, roasted malt, peat moss, charred wood, vanilla, faint bourbon, oaky/barrel notes, brown sugar and sweet malty accents emerge. The rye whiskey, vanilla and chocolate dominate, and then some fruit notes pop up, like raisins and red wine. There’s no real sign of the booze, making it nice to inhale. Flavor builds upon the nose with the same line up, and some additions which taste like dark chocolate, molasses, roasted malt, coffee grinds, peat moss, charred wood, vanilla, bourbon, dark fruit, oaky/ barrel notes, brown sugar, caramel and sweet malty/grainy notes. It almost seems like a piney hop bite, adding a dash of peppery spice and cutting down on the sweetness, making this seem balanced even though I know it’s all malt, all the time. The rye is always present in a subtle way, adding pleasing complexities. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, with mild carbonation—a medium-to-heavy body that has enough texture to resemble a meal in a bottle, but doesn’t come off as thick or dense. Overall: The level of sweetness covers the 8.6 percent ABV very well, but still allows the whiskey and vanilla flavors to add a lot of depth. A really tasty stout with six months of age, this one is enjoyable enough that I’ll try to get my hands on more of it. Barrel-Aged Nights Out is a limited release, so I don’t have to tell you to move your ass to snag some of this. Private Eye is available on draft or in 32-ounce cans from the brewery. If you want a can, I’d hurry before all the CW employees buy them all. As always, cheers! CW

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No matter if imbibing or contributing, these beers just make you feel better.

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Dining at the Grand America Hotel (555 S. Main Street, grandamerica.com) just got a bit more exciting with the recently opened Laurel Brasserie and Bar (801258-6708, laurelslc.com). From all early previews, this place looks like it’s going to be a stunner that suits one of downtown Salt Lake City’s most prestigious hotels. The concept looks to revolve around Europeaninspired contemporary cuisine, with a pronounced focus on craft cocktails and libations. I’ll be going to check out the pumpkin arancini, the chicken lasagna and the steak frites. Any place where I can get these European classics under one roof is going to see a lot of traffic from me, that’s for sure.

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The team at Publik Kitchen (931 E. 900 South, 385229-4205, publikcoffee.com) took to social media to announce a year-long hiatus. It sounds like the idea is to focus on renovations to their space and upgrade their kitchen. Any closure in our restaurant community— especially one as venerable as Publik Kitchen—hits pretty hard. I am reassured and a bit excited about their anticipated fall 2022 return, though. Who knows what cool stuff they’ll roll out a year from now? In the meantime, it sounds like the other Publik locations will remain open during the renovation process for those in need of some locally-provided caffeination.

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One of Australia’s most popular Vietnamese restaurants has set its sights on Salt Lake City as the beachhead for its international expansion. It’s called Roll’d Vietnamese (rolld.com.au), it boasts around one hundred locations in Australia and we should see it sometime in May of next year. They’re all about Vietnamese favorites like pho, banh mi, and goi, but it looks like they also have bao and—quite inexplicably—fries. I love new restaurants of all stripes, but I wonder if the Roll’d management knows what they’re getting into as far as local competition goes. Our Vietnamese restaurants are definitely strong contenders for anyone to tangle with. We’ll see how it all goes down in spring 2022, I suppose. Quote of the Week: “The only think I like better than talking about food is eating.” –John Walters

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CINEMA

FILM REVIEW

Un-Conventional

Benedetta continues Paul Verhoeven’s career of wrapping social commentary in problematic packaging

spond to the same sentence with “where do I buy a ticket!” should temper their expectations. The scene in question becomes the foundation for an ecumenical trial charging Sister Benedetta with acts that would bring a death penalty, presided over by the Vatican’s nuncio, Bishop Alfonso (Lambert Wilson). And that trial is itself only part of a larger exploration of power dynamics within an institution where the pose of holiness sits beside naked greed and ambition. Rampling’s performance is particularly delightful as a woman who is both a believer and a pragmatist, reacting with considerably more skepticism than the other nuns when Benedetta begins to manifest stigmata wounds. As Benedetta makes what appears to be a play for Mother Felicita’s leadership role, Benedetta starts to evolve into a tale of which ends justify what means, and the selectivity with which certain standards of religious purity have always been upheld. The degree to which Verhoeven and coscreenwriter David Birke complicate Sister Benedetta’s motivations feels a little bit like both a feature and a bug in her characterization. At times, it seems like her actions are manifestations of her ability to figure out how to manipulate the system

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in which she’s trapped; at other times, she appears to be completely sincere that her every action is born of divine inspiration. The notion that prophetic messages might not conform to accepted dogma is a useful one, while still making it harder to grasp what our protagonist is really all about. That’s important when some justification is needed for the more extreme material— not just the sex scenes, but an instance of torture that’s rough going. Verhoeven has always pushed the boundaries, and risked the ire of those who don’t like (or don’t understand) what he has to say. It’s just rare to find an artist so adept at tricking an audience into thinking they’re just having dessert, when they’re also eating their vegetables.

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Daphne Patakia and Virginie Efira in Benedetta

The fact-based story takes place in the 17th century in the small Tuscan village of Pescia, where Benedetta Carlini enters a convent as a young girl. Eighteen years later, Benedetta (Virginie Efira) has begun to have powerful religious visions, causing concern for the abbess, Mother Felicita (Charlotte Rampling). When Benedetta intervenes to allow Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia), an illiterate young woman fleeing from her abusive father, to enter the convent, Bartolomea is made Benedetta’s companion to watch out for Benedetta’s increasingly erratic behavior. And that “companionship” soon evolves into something more physical. This, naturally, is the subject matter that will make most headlines about Benedetta, since it involves stuff usually only found in search histories for fetish porn sites. Yes, as the source material’s title indicates, this is about the life of a lesbian nun, and yes, the relationship between Benedetta and Bartolomea is consummated quite graphically, including the carnal application of the aforementioned figurine of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Those who are losing their minds over the previous sentence would be best served checking out now. On the other hand, those who would re-

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n an uncertain world, it’s comforting to realize that, 60 years into his career as a director, Paul Verhoeven still loves wrapping social commentary in problematic packaging. In the 1980s, when the notion of dangerously violent, fascistic policing wasn’t remotely as pervasive as it is today, he served up those notions in the violent science-fiction of RoboCop. A decade later, he took on the jingoistic militarism of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers in a way that still confounds a lot of viewers who just focused on blowing up giant bugs. From Basic Instinct to Showgirls to 2016’s Elle, provocation has seemed to be a fundamental piece of Verhoeven’s playbook— and often as a way to deliver uncomfortable ideas. The logline for Bendetta alone—it’s an adaptation of a non-fiction book called Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy—makes it seem like exactly the thing that will lead to pearl-clutching over its sacrilege, especially when it becomes evident that a key plot point involves the transformation of a religious statuette into a sex toy (more on which later). But Benedetta, like so many Verhoeven features, isn’t as simple as its easiest-to-sell marketing points. Here’s a narrative full of naughty, salacious moments that also manages to be a particularly pungent takedown of hypocritical theocracy.

IFC FILMS

BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

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SLC THURSDAYS

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Holiday shopping notions for the music-lover on your list. BY ERIN MOORE music@cityweekly.net @errrands_

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he hunt for the perfect gift is on, and we’ve got some spots worth checking out. Whether you’re searching for the perfect gift for a music-lover, or hoping to find a little entertainment in your shopping, read below for some local stops to include in your outings this year. S&S Golden Ticket: We all have that one person in our lives who is always complaining about how much money they’ve spent going to too many shows, or missing shows with friends in an attempt to save money. Well, this gift pick is the thing to get that person. Local venue owners and bookers S&S Presents is bringing back their popular Golden Ticket program, where one can buy what are basically season passes to shows of one’s choice through the entire year of 2022. The Golden Tickets are for sale in three tiers: unlimited access to shows at the 21+ S&S venues The Urban Lounge and Metro Music Hall for $250; Audio Club, which grants the Golden Ticket-holder access to one show a month at The Urban Lounge; and Unlimited Kilby Court access for $150. The Golden Tickets really do act as a pass, featuring a photo ID that holders can show at the door of any eligible show. So whether this is the gift for your concert-obsessed friend in need or you are that very friend, and want to give yourself the gift of saving some money on your show habit, these tickets are the way to go. The Golden Tickets are on sale through Dec. 23, available at sartainandsaunders.com. Win Win Holiday Market and After Party: Brought to you by the same folks who bring you the Vintage Market at Clubhouse SLC each year (the sustainable and local-focused curators of Animalia), this holiday version of the event will feature much of the same that the Vintage Market offers—namely, vintage goods and wear from vendors like Blue Velvet Bunny, Chubby Dust Bunny, The Thrill of a Thrift, Shadowplay and Lost in Space. But there’s tons more to seek out at this market, from ceramics and glassworks, jewelry, apothecary goods, artwork, home goods and eats and drinks from local vendors.

The Clubhouse Vintage Market If you stick around long enough, stash your presents in the secure trunk of your car and swing back by the venue for the after-party event. Featuring music from local artists Angel Magic and Bobo, it’s the perfect way to unwind after a day wandering the crowds, and to treat yourself, too. You deserve it for doing a really good job finding presents and supporting local business at the same time. Clubhouse SLC is at 850 E. South Temple, and the market starts at 11 A.M. on Saturday, Dec. 4 and goes through 6 p.m., with a $2 entrance fee. The after-party runs 8 p.m. - 1 a.m., with an entrance fee of $5. Follow @ winwinpopup_slc on Instagram for updates and details on vendors. 9th and 9th Book and Music Gallery: A shop that’s been around for just over a year on the 9th and 9th block of shops comes with a simply descriptive name: 9th and 9th Book and Music Gallery offers books and music. But not just any books and music! The hodge-podge of a shop, which has the air of a trinkety antique mall, specializes in rare and collectible books, and the same goes for their musical offerings, which include instruments and records. Those instruments are often deeply vintage, including banjos and guitars, suited for beginner and intermediate levels alike and from brands like Fender, Epiphone, Yamaha, B.C. Rich and SX. There are also more oddball musical offerings, from vintage harmonicas to—in one case that may have already sold—a hand-painted Australian aboriginal didgeridoo, plus things like a full harpsicle harp. The shop also offers up other curios and artwork of the locallymade variety, making this a place to stop into whether you walk out with a gift for the music nerd in your life or not. 9th and 9th Book and Music Gallery also buys merchandise, so feel free to trade in something old for something new. Visit the shop on 872 E. 900 South, and keep up with their news and stock announcements on Instagram at @9thand9thbookandmusic. Through the holidays, they are open from 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Tuesdays - Thursdays, from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Just Look At All Those Spring Tours!: Once the shining lights and glitzy parties of the holidays are past, how do we keep our spirits up through the rest of the season? Well, looking forward to the coming deluge of spring tours is one good way. Venues already have the spring months filling up with amazing shows, and some are selling out even all these months in advance. So, look up any of your loved one’s favorite artists, because chances are at least one of them is already planning to visit SLC this spring. Buy two tickets, and tell your buddy to meet you in March. CW

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The queen of Australian indie rock, Courtney Barnett, remains so, thanks to a new album that builds on an enduring legacy of lackadaisical, pithy songwriting established by albums like Tell Me How You Really Feel and and 2015’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit. The new album in question is Things Take Time, Take Time, an altogether more stripped-down affair than her prior works, with less backing instrumentation from her usual band. Her voice and lyrics take the main stage, though some critics have noted that this makes the album weaker—anyone who knows Barnett’s signature deadpan style of singing, often more statement-like than musical, can at least acknowledge that it maybe isn’t best left without the snarling guitar rips that often make her music so effective. Either way, the album has raked up success among fans, who are very loyal to Barnett, always an artist who remains distinctively herself. On tour for the album, she’s bringing along a rotating star cast of up and comers: Bartees Strange, Shamir, fellow Aussi Julia Jacklin and Bedouine. The latter, Bedouine, is the one who will be with her when she comes through SLC, and her warm blend of ’60s folk sentiment will open the night up sweetly. The all-ages show is Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at The Depot and tickets are $31 at depotslc.com.

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Metalheads already know this about themselves, but for readers who know less, metalheads are just nerds. See: Mastodon, who earned their fame in the early 2000s from writing a super-epic, thrashing concept album loosely based on Moby Dick. With that, they joined a legacy of heavy metal artists who have long applied their sound to all things epic and literary; Lord of the Rings isn’t the only book metal guys love to soundtrack. Since that album, aptly titled Leviathan, the band has continued to be a favorite in the world of prog metal and sludge, developing a style all their own within the saturated genre, while also earning Grammy noms over the years. They’ve done so to the extent that, upon the release of their 2021 Hushed and Grim, there was a tweet going around about how “this new Mastodon album sure sounds like a Mastodon album,” the kind of statement from a long-devoted fan that makes all the more sense when taking the new in context with the old. Joining them will be Opeth, who also just released a fresh work, this year’s Blackwater Park, which is already being acclaimed as the band’s best work to date, despite the fact that the band puts out albums on a dizzying-ly regular basis. The two take the stage together, with opener Zeal & Ardor on Saturday, Dec. 4 at The Union Event Center. The show is allages, doors are at 5:30 p.m. and tickets are $49.50 at theunioneventcenter.com.

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34 | DECEMBER 2, 2021

MUSIC PICKS

TV Girl at The Complex

A dose of nostalgia for 20-teens indie pop is coming your way soon, and while it’s not necessarily a true anniversary show, it’s still not to be missed. The California band TV Girl blazed onto the scene in 2014 with their album French Exit, a synth pop-driven work that drew from the lovesick themes and bubble-gummy, upbeat be-bop sounds of ’50s and ’60s pop music, blending them together with a modern jadedness (thanks to the vocal delivery of Brad Petering) and woozy, looping hip hop drum beats. The whole album—and the sound TV Girl would go on to develop in other works—shares the same kind of warm, vibey amiableness that characterized the chillwave scene around the same time, but is altogether more lively thanks to warped samples, lyrics that are clever despite their despondency and a general lushness in the layers of production. Many critics have pointed out that the album is both an at-a-distance study of love story tropes, and one that actually finds itself within those tropes, re-producing them—and their disappointments. The band is celebrating an odd, six-anda-half year anniversary of French Exit, playing the album in its entirety for the first time ever. This retrospective tour comes, also oddly, along with the recent release of a fresh album, Summer’s Over in collaboration with Jordana, who is also touring with them. The all-ages show is Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at The Complex, and tickets are $18 at thecomplexslc.com.

COURTESY PHOTO

CARISSA AGUIRRE

TV Girl

El Ten Eleven

Psych Lake City’s Holidaze Party at The Urban Lounge

Christmas parties do not have to be one kind of party, and Christmas music does not need to be the only thing played at them. They can, for example, be an excuse to rock out to local psych bands, as is the case here with the upcoming Holidaze Party at The Urban Lounge. The show blends together Psych Lake City tradition and bands with the tradition of holiday partying, and the lineup looks like they’ll have much more to offer than Christmas music. First on the lineup is headliner Lord Vox, the psych-rock band specializing in a sweeping, mystical sound that’s all the more impressive when one sees that they’re only a three-piece. Also playing are Harpers, who bend their psych-rock towards a Southwestern disposition, and who also just released their debut album in September. They’ll be joined by the surf-infused psych of Casio Ghost and the dreamy, pop meanderings of FutureMystic. And while it will surely be a Psych Lake City event like any other, it would be something to see some super freaky, reverbedout covers of some classic Christmas tunes—just sayin’. The 21+ show is on Saturday, Dec. 4 at The Urban Lounge. Doors are at 7 p.m. and tickets are $10. Visit theurbanloungeslc.com for tickets and more info.

El Ten Eleven at The Urban Lounge

You know El Ten Eleven by their greatest hits, surely, but do you know where you know them from? Songs from their debut self-titled album like “My Only Swerving” and “Fanshawe” almost come across as a long-lost soundtrack from the early 2000s, if it were a movie. They just feel so ubiquitous. The songs off that first album are practices in delicacy that build into gently-driving movement, meditative stuff that established a real vibe for the post-rock movement at the time, incorporating elements of math rock and ambiance that set them apart from other, heavier-handed new prog bands. And while that sound was iconic, they didn’t stay there. In years that followed, the band’s released a lot of varying material, and across seven albums since have dug into lo-fi, sharp and noisy post-rock and even some synth pop. Their latest, 2020’s Tautology, is a massive three-part album that starts off with meditations on youth which explode with a powerful sound not typical for the duo, driven by snarling guitar and bass parts that eventually relax back into more mellow and measured tones for the last two parts of the album. They’ll find an opener in Utah natives Sego, edgy synth pop rockers who just released a new single with Big Black Delta, “Into the Night.” The 21+ show is on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m., and tickets are $16 at theurbanloungeslc.com.

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ARIES (March 21-April 19) It’s a favorable time to get excited about your future and entertain possibilities that have been on the edges of your awareness. I’d love to see you open your heart to the sweet dark feelings you’ve been sensing, and open your mind to the disruptive but nourishing ideas you need, and open your gut to the rumbling hunches that are available. Be brave, Aries! Strike up conversations with the unexpected, the unknown and the undiscovered.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Gemini author Chuck Klosterman writes, “It’s far easier to write why something is terrible than why it’s good.” That seems to be true for many writers. However, my life’s work is in part a rebellion against doing what’s easy. I don’t want to chronically focus on what’s bad and sick and desolate. Instead, I aspire to devote more of my energy to doing what Klosterman implies is hard, which is to write sincerely (but not naively) about things that are good and redemptive and uplifting. I urge you, Gemini, to adopt my perspective for your own use in the next three weeks. Keep in mind what philosopher Robert Anton Wilson said: “An optimistic mindset finds dozens of possible solutions for every problem that the pessimist regards as incurable.” CANCER (June 21-July 22) An organization in Turkey decided to construct a new building to house its workers. The Saruhanbey Knowledge, Culture and Education Foundation chose a plot in the city of Manisa. But there was a problem. A 3-century-old pine tree stood on the land. Local authorities would not permit it to be cut down. So architects designed a building with spaces and holes that fully accommodated the tree. I recommend you regard this marvel as a source of personal inspiration in the coming weeks and months. How could you work gracefully with nature as you craft your future masterpiece or labor of love? How might you work around limitations to create useful, unusual beauty?

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TAURUS (April 20-May 20) A Tumblr blogger named Evan (lotad.tumblr.com) addressed a potential love interest. “Do you like sleeping, because so do I,” he wrote. “We should do it together sometime.” You might want to extend a similar invitation, Taurus. Now is a ripe time for you to interweave your subconscious mind with the subconscious mind of an ally you trust. The two of you could generate extraordinary healing energy for each other as you lie together, dozing in the darkness. Other recommended activities: meditating together; fantasizing together; singing together; making spiritual love together. (P.S.—If you have no such human ally, sleep and meditate with a beloved animal or imaginary friend.)

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LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Author Melissa Broder wrote a preposterous essay in which she ruminated, “Is fake love better than real love? Real love is responsibility, compromise, selflessness, being present and all that shit. Fake love is magic, excitement, false hope, infatuation, and getting high off the potential that another person is going to save you from yourself.” I propose, Leo, that you bypass such thinking about love in the coming weeks and months. Here’s why: There’s a strong chance that the real love at play in your life will feature magic and excitement, even as it requires responsibility, compromise, selflessness and being present.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) “The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get 22,” author Dashiell Hammett said. I’m passing that on to you—just in time for a phase of your cycle when putting two and two together will probably not bring four, but rather 22 or some other irregularity. Since I’ve given you a heads-up, it shouldn’t be a problem. On the contrary. You will be prepared and will adjust faster than anyone else—thereby generating a dose of exotic good fortune. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) In her poem “Is/Not,” Scorpio poet Margaret Atwood tells a lover, “You are not my doctor, you are not my cure, nobody has that power, you are merely a fellow traveler.” I applaud her for stating an axiom I’m fond of, which is that no one, not even the person who loves you best, can ever be totally responsible for fixing everything wrong in your life. However, I do think Atwood goes too far. On some occasions, certain people can indeed provide us with a measure of healing. And we must be receptive to that possibility. We shouldn’t be so pathologically self-sufficient that we close ourselves off from tender help. One more thing: Just because that help may be imperfect doesn’t mean it’s useless and should be rejected. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “All my days I have longed equally to travel the right road and to take my own errant path,” wrote Norwegian-Danish novelist Sigrid Undset. I think she succeeded in doing both. She won a Nobel Prize for Literature. Her trilogy about a 14th-century Norwegian woman was translated into 80 languages. I conclude that for her—as well as for you in the coming weeks and months—traveling the right road and taking your own errant path will be the same thing. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Capricorn author Susan Sontag unleashed a bizarre boast, writing, “One of the healthiest things about me—my capacity to survive, to bounce back, to prosper—is intimately connected with my biggest neurotic liability: my facility in disconnecting from my feelings.” Everything about her statement makes me scream no! I mean, I believe this coping mechanism worked for her; I don’t begrudge her that. But as a student of psychology and spirituality, I know that disconnecting from feelings is, for most of us, the worst possible strategy if we want to be healthy and sane. And I will advise you to do the opposite of Sontag in the coming weeks. December is Stay Intimately Connected with Your Feelings Month. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) In some small towns in the Philippines, people can be punished and fined for gossiping. Some locals have become reluctant to exchange tales about the sneaky, sexy, highly entertaining things their neighbors are doing. They complain that their freedom of speech has been curtailed. If you lived in one of those towns, I’d advise you to break the law in the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, dynamic gossip should be one of your assets. Staying well-informed about the human comedy will be key for your ability to thrive.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) “Originality consists in thinking for yourself, and not in thinking unlike other people,” wrote Piscean author James Fitzjames VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Virgo author Andre Dubus III describes times when “I feel Stephen (1829–1894). Another way to say it: Being rebellious stupid, insensitive, mediocre, talentless and vulnerable—like is not inherently creative. If you primarily define yourself by I’m about to cry any second—and wrong.” Sounds dreadful, rejecting and reacting against someone’s ideas, you are being right? But it’s not dreadful for him. “I’ve found that when that controlled by those ideas. Please keep this in mind, dear Pisces. happens,” he concludes, “it usually means I’m writing pretty I want you to take full advantage of your astrological potential well, pretty deeply, pretty rawly.” I trust you will entertain a during the next 12 months, which is to be absolutely original. comparable state sometime soon, Virgo. Even if you’re not a Your perceptions and insights will be unusually lucid if you writer, the bounty and fertility that emerge from this immersion protect yourself from both groupthink and a compulsive repuin vulnerability will invigorate you beyond what you can imagine. diation of groupthink.

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