I spent the last week in the Salt Lake area and Provo. The fortuitous occurrence which necessitated my trip was a Keystone Conference on TGF-beta at the Snowbird Ski Resort in the mountains east of Sandy. Every single expense associated with the conference was paid for through a professional development allowance provided to postdocs by St. Jude and a scholarship awarded to me through the Keystone organization. To top it off, Sarah came with me. Really none of this would have been nearly as great if she hadn't been there. I'll admit, my wife is pretty much my reason for existing.
First I'll describe the conference and then I'll give an honest assessment of the state of Utah. The conference was great. It was at Snowbird, up in the mountains. The drive, the setting, and the conference accomodations couldn't have been more spectacular. It was truly gorgeous. I presented our work in a poster format on Saturday night and then as an invited oral presentation on Monday. Both came off very well. The work generated a lot of interest. I got some great suggestions about future experiments and I handled the questions that I received very well. I came away loving my science and excited to get back at it.
Now for the serious stuff. When it came time for me to move out of Utah upon my graduation from BYU I was very excited. This trip made me realize that I'm still very excited about NOT living in Utah. First of all, upon deplaning we realize that the entire Salt Lake valley is enveloped in a very thick smog. I had forgotten how awful the air quality is out there. Visibility couldn't have been more than 1/2 mile, no joke. It was disgusting and only added to the grossness of dirty snow and entire cities (Sandy, South Jordan, Taylorsville, Holladay) constructed of strip malls, big box stores, and chain restaurants. Seriously, if it isn't a chapel or a temple it's either a Del Taco, a Carl's Jr., or a Nordstrom's.
On Monday it finally started to clear up a bit and I could see that there were actually MORE chain stores than I had originally thought. So we went to Temple Square and the Church History Museum. The Church History Museum was faaaaantastic. If you ever get the chance you must go. I had no idea that some of those things still existed. But the coolest item, and by coolest I mean stupidest, was in the gift store. Yes, fellow Saints, it truly is the dispensation of the fulness of times when, for just $60 every member of the church can own their very own Liahona. No, not the foreign language version of the Ensign. I'm talking about a genuine brass replica of the Liahona. If you move it words appear just like on those magic 8 ball toys. Don't believe that the sacrilege of commercial Mormonism could stoop so low? You underestimate the power of commercialist Mormons to denegrate the sacred. They're capable of anything out there:
For only $10 you can buy a cheaper, toy version for your kiddies to play with. I'm sure that Lehi would find peace in knowing that the sacred object provided to him to receive revelation and guidance in the Judean wilderness is now a mere child's play thing. Honestly, I don't know why the church doesn't put the kibosh on crap like this. And then to think that there are suckers out there who will pay SIXTY dollars to have this in their home!!!! Good grief I hope I'm not friends with any of them.
First I'll describe the conference and then I'll give an honest assessment of the state of Utah. The conference was great. It was at Snowbird, up in the mountains. The drive, the setting, and the conference accomodations couldn't have been more spectacular. It was truly gorgeous. I presented our work in a poster format on Saturday night and then as an invited oral presentation on Monday. Both came off very well. The work generated a lot of interest. I got some great suggestions about future experiments and I handled the questions that I received very well. I came away loving my science and excited to get back at it.
Now for the serious stuff. When it came time for me to move out of Utah upon my graduation from BYU I was very excited. This trip made me realize that I'm still very excited about NOT living in Utah. First of all, upon deplaning we realize that the entire Salt Lake valley is enveloped in a very thick smog. I had forgotten how awful the air quality is out there. Visibility couldn't have been more than 1/2 mile, no joke. It was disgusting and only added to the grossness of dirty snow and entire cities (Sandy, South Jordan, Taylorsville, Holladay) constructed of strip malls, big box stores, and chain restaurants. Seriously, if it isn't a chapel or a temple it's either a Del Taco, a Carl's Jr., or a Nordstrom's.
On Monday it finally started to clear up a bit and I could see that there were actually MORE chain stores than I had originally thought. So we went to Temple Square and the Church History Museum. The Church History Museum was faaaaantastic. If you ever get the chance you must go. I had no idea that some of those things still existed. But the coolest item, and by coolest I mean stupidest, was in the gift store. Yes, fellow Saints, it truly is the dispensation of the fulness of times when, for just $60 every member of the church can own their very own Liahona. No, not the foreign language version of the Ensign. I'm talking about a genuine brass replica of the Liahona. If you move it words appear just like on those magic 8 ball toys. Don't believe that the sacrilege of commercial Mormonism could stoop so low? You underestimate the power of commercialist Mormons to denegrate the sacred. They're capable of anything out there:
For only $10 you can buy a cheaper, toy version for your kiddies to play with. I'm sure that Lehi would find peace in knowing that the sacred object provided to him to receive revelation and guidance in the Judean wilderness is now a mere child's play thing. Honestly, I don't know why the church doesn't put the kibosh on crap like this. And then to think that there are suckers out there who will pay SIXTY dollars to have this in their home!!!! Good grief I hope I'm not friends with any of them.On Tuesday we went to BYU and visited the Museum of Art where the contrast between modern Mormon kitsch (think Greg Olson, personal Liahona, and Captain Moroni action figure) and true spirituality was on full display. We were lucky enough to be there while the museum had on display a collection of Carl Heinrich Bloch's paintings of Christ including 5 of the 8 altar pieces that he painted. This was the first time that those 5 altar pieces have EVER been away from their native sites in Sweden and Denmark. The works were very impressive and spiritual and it made me think that it's quite disappointing that modern Mormons, having a knowledge of the full gospel and the guidance of the gift of the Holy Ghost, can't seem to come up with anything better than these gems:
In fact, it's a bit embarrassing and I think it's a bit of a mockery to have such AWFUL art for sale in the same building (Church History Museum) as Joseph and Hyrum Smith's death masks, the original Bible that Joseph used in his retranslation of the Bible, and original pages from the Book of Mormon translation in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. Granted, these pieces are a sincere expression of the artists' testimonies, and I don't question their faithfulness, but is that enough to qualify it as worthy of mass production and retail sale for distribution in members' homes? Well, I suppose I could go on and on about this topic but it will just get me angry.
In fact, it's a bit embarrassing and I think it's a bit of a mockery to have such AWFUL art for sale in the same building (Church History Museum) as Joseph and Hyrum Smith's death masks, the original Bible that Joseph used in his retranslation of the Bible, and original pages from the Book of Mormon translation in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting. Granted, these pieces are a sincere expression of the artists' testimonies, and I don't question their faithfulness, but is that enough to qualify it as worthy of mass production and retail sale for distribution in members' homes? Well, I suppose I could go on and on about this topic but it will just get me angry.BYU was fabulous as always. Well, mostly. Based on the fashions that I saw on at least 50% of the females on campus I suppose it is now perfectly acceptable to wear form fitting clothing if you call them "skinny jeans." That was disappointing. Also disappointing was BYU's lack of green space. The new and beautiful Joseph F. Smith Building (which wasn't completed when I left Provo) has a very large courtyard which offered a great opportunity for green space. Instead it is a humongous space filled in with more concrete. Disappointing, but the overall image of BYU is one of extraordinary cleanliness compared to Ohio State.
The Cougareat still serves awesome salad wraps, and Sugar and Spice (I think that was the name of two of those co-eds in skinny jeans that I saw) still serves the BEST bread and honey butter in the history of the world.
Sarah and I met with our old virology professor, Dr. Brent Johnson. I really like him and he shaped my career. We sat in on one of his classes, a class which wasn't around when I was there. It was a small class (only 6 students) and it met in a boardroom where the students gathered around the table and had an open discussion about the material from the textbook. I thought it was a great format for encouraging critical thinking and scientific discussion. I'm pleased to see that BYU is continuing to offer a stellar, student-centered education. Dr. Johnson even introduced Sarah and me and allowed me to chime in on a few topics.
Lastly, our final two nights in the area Sarah and I stayed at Parrish Place Bed and Breakfast in Sugar House, just 5 miles south of downtown Salt Lake. It is an old historic home owned and operated by a couple very friendly Swedes with beautiful rooms and a spectacular breakfast of muffins, granola, yogurt, fruit, juice, milk, and hot chocolate delivered to your room. If you're ever in Salt Lake I highly recommend that you stay there.
So Utah is still out there. It's still unique. It still has some good points but in general I'm glad to be looking out my window right now onto Memphis, TN.
