Holy War Thoughts

For the first time in a few years, Utah and BYU are meeting during the regular season for a football game. They did play in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl, but nothing beats when they meet in the regular season, which used to be a staple of November when the teams shared a conference. But big time college athletics being what they are, Utah left the Mountain West for the Pac-12, while BYU opted to “spread the message” through their football team, forgoing a conference and deciding to become an independent in football.

Calling it the Holy War never really made a whole lot of sense to me; while BYU is the flagship school of the LDS Church, the University of Utah is just your standard, run of the mill, secular state institution. Holy War made sense when BYU played Notre Dame once upon a time — you know, Catholics vs. Mormons and all that — but they keep trying to force the name on the rivalry game. I’m perfectly content with #BYUvsUtah, but that’s just me.

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Some Big News

With less than two weeks to go until I am done with school forever,* there are a few things about my short-to-intermediate future that I am ready to announce here.

*I reserve the right to return to school at a later date, but only as an instructor or administrator.

First, as you may know from my previous posts on the subject, I am currently looking for a job in Salt Lake City. While I wish this was an announcement of me or Kim finding a full-time position which would hasten our departure from Illinois, it is sadly not the case. Despite my efforts to the contrary, I have been unable to locate a suitable position. Part of the reason it seems is that I live in Illinois and people don’t want to interview me and are instead focusing on local folks first. If that’s the case, then I guess I should just move my happy self to Utah already and get on with it…which is what will be happening. though not for a while.

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Sometimes It Works Like It’s Supposed To

In the midst of everything else happening in the world right now, there is something that I think might be slipping beneath the radar a bit except by those people that truly pay attention to these types of things, as well as the people that just want to point to them as an indicator of their political agenda.

In the last month, there have been four incidents that prove that the checks and balances written into our constitution have worked, with the judicial branch stepping in and deeming certain laws unconstitutional. In a couple of cases, these laws were passed by a popular vote among the citizens of the respective state, and even though they “overwhelmingly” passed, it is still against the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against people, even if it is the majority opinion. A democracy works best when the minority is protected, and sometimes it takes the courts to do this protecting. Continue reading “Sometimes It Works Like It’s Supposed To” →

Utah Should Look to Its Past to Map Its Future

I have high hopes for the future of Utah, especially in regards to the political climate. Perusing the comments on the latest news out of my home state makes me question if this is actually the case.

As it currently stands, it doesn’t seem like that is a possibility, especially in light of the current fight regarding same-sex marriage. It seems that a lot of the current political leadership is stuck in generations past, all but proclaiming that it is the state’s prerogative to discriminate a group of people because they don’t fit into some outdated definition of what is “traditional” when it comes to marriage. Continue reading “Utah Should Look to Its Past to Map Its Future” →