Access Utah

The editors of The Atlantic write: “The election of Donald Trump … [has] driven many Americans to rummage through history in search of context and understanding. Trump himself has been compared to historical figures ranging from Ronald Reagan to Henry Ford, and from Andrew Jackson to Benito Mussolini. His steps have been condemned as unprecedented by his critics, and praised as historic by his supporters.”

After oil was discovered beneath their land in the 1920's, the richest people per capita were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. They rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe.

James A. McLaughlin grew up in rural Virginia and lives in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City. His debut novel “Bearskin” is getting rave reviews. He joins us for the hour next time on Access Utah.

President Trump has signed an executive order allowing families to be detained together under his “zero tolerance” immigration policy. This comes amid a furor over the separation of children from their parents at the border. In the meantime, Congress continues to search for a fix to the immigration system. We’ll talk about the crisis at the border today on Access Utah. Our guests will include Pastor Steve Klemz of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City; Erika George, Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law in the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah; and Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Enrique’s Journey.

From USU's College of Humanities and Social Sciences:

Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's—Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that by the end of the 20th century they would be considered two of the most important people in British history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. Thomas Ricks writes in his new book “Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom” that In a crucial moment, they responded first by seeking the facts of the matter, seeing through the lies and obfuscations, and then they acted on their beliefs. Together, to an extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West's co

The King’s English Bookshop (TKE) has published a collection of Ann Cannon’s Salt Lake Tribune columns. It’s titled “I’ll Tell You What.” Ann Cannon joins us for the hour on Monday’s Access Utah.

In his new book “Back Cast: Fly Fishing and Other Such Matters” Jeff Metcalf writes: “These waters have been my home, and I fish them more than most. In truth, they have saved my life on more than a few occasions. I seek refuge in the quiet solitude of rivers, and in dark hours of my life—including this particular year—I need desperately to be fly-fishing." Metcalf’s play “A Slight Discomfort,” is a humorous take on his battle with prostate cancer. And a previous award-winning collection of essays, “Requiem for the Living,” resulted from a challenge Metcalf gave himself when presented with a dire prognosis with his cancer: writing one essay each week for a year. Metcalf volunteers with Reel Recovery, an organization that conducts retreats for men living with cancer. He says that it’s important for men to learn to talk about their cancers and their lives.

Luma Mufleh was raised in a wealthy family in Jordan, but left that life behind to come to school in America. After graduating from Smith College, she moved to Georgia to begin a life for herself. She did not have family support and was struggling on her own. One day she made a wrong turn and came across a group of refugee boys playing soccer. She says they were barefoot, playing with an old ball, and having the time of their lives. Mufleh continued to watch the boys play, and on her third visit, joined them. That was the beginning of her Fugees organization, which grew from a focus on soccer to include education and more. Luma Mufleh continues to help hundreds of refugee boys and girls through Fugees Family. www.fugeesfamily.org

Cache Valley residents Roy and Kathleen Sneddon have been living with their son’s disappearance since 2004. 24-year-old David Sneddon was last seen hiking in China, leaving no physical trace. The Sneddons and several sources in Asia believe David was kidnapped by North Korea. The Sneddons believe their son is likely one of many who have been abducted and held captive in North Korea.

It’s Summertime! The kids are out of school and life slows down for some of us and speeds up for others. Trips to favorite vacation spots and into the backcountry ramp up. On Monday’s Access Utah, we’ll come together as a UPR community to share ideas for summertime trips, activities, traditions and stories.

Frank Montoya, Jr. is a retired FBI special agent and senior executive. In addition to running FBI field offices in Honolulu and Seattle in the course of his career, from February 2012 to May 2014, he served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as the National Counterintelligence Executive, in which role he was head of national counterintelligence for the United States government.

Jeff Meldrum is Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University. He is author of “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.” He is a leading expert on Bigfoot or Sasquatch, or the term he prefers: “Relict Hominoid.” He says “...[I]t is one matter to address the theoretical possibility of a relict species of hominoid in North America, and the obligate shift in paradigm to accommodate it, but there must also be something substantial to place within that revised framework. There must be essential evidence to lend weight to the hypotheses, and counter the critics’ various aspersions. I was once confronted by a colleague, who declared, ‘After all, these are just stories.’ My response: ‘Stories that apparently leave tracks, shed hair, void scat, vocalize, are observed and described by reliable experienced witnesses. Hardly just stories.’”

Iconic Utah outfitter Ken Sleight began his river-guiding career in Glen Canyon during the mid-1950s, just as the Glen Canyon Dam blueprints jumped from the drawing board to remote desert terrain. The pulse of the Colorado River through the canyon would soon be halted by a cement wall and Glen Canyon backfilled with water. Sleight knew the condition of the canyon was terminal. He used every ray of daylight to memorize every detail of the canyon before inundation: to learn its 125 side canyons, to observe Native American ruins and mining relics, and to immerse himself in the lives of seminal guides who preceded him like Dave Rust, Bert Loper, and Moki Mac.

Today, as a part of Utah State University’s Year of the Arts, we’ll focus on the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, which is looking forward to a grand re-opening in September after renovation and expansion. We talk about a new book, “Collecting on the Edge: Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art.” We’ll talk with the museum’s Executive Director and Chief Curator, Katie Lee-Koven; writer, curator, and museum director Bolton Colburn, who edited the book; and independent curator and corresponding editor for Art in America, Michael Duncan, who wrote an introductory essay for the book.

The Bennion Teachers' Workshop for the Perpetuation of Democratic Principles is a program made possible by an endowment to Utah State University's Mountain West Center for Regional Studies. The endowment was created by Ione Bennion, a teacher and community activist, to "provide an atmosphere and the educational resources to explore the concepts upon which democracy is built, the conditions under which it flourishes, and the dangers to its existence." Taught by Utah State University faculty and guest speakers who represent the latest scholarship in the topics presented, the workshops focus on giving inservice and pre-inservice teachers practical tools that they can use in the classroom.

From Amazon.com:

The Utah Women's Giving Circle (UWGC) will host a panel on The Slippery Slope of Sexual Harassment at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30th in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Auditorium at the University of Utah. The panelists will talk about the media representations of sexual harrassment and violence, the connection between sexual harrassment and violence, and the role of public policy.

As we head toward summer we want to know what you’re reading. What’s on your nightstand or device right now? Is there a book that has had a big impact on you? Which books are you looking forward to reading? Perhaps you’d like to tell us a personal story connected to a favorite book. We’d love to hear about books in the adult, young adult & children’s categories. One suggestion or many are welcome.

In a remote corner of Oregon, James Pogue found himself at the heart of a rebellion. Granted unmatched access by Ammon Bundy to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Pogue met ranchers and militiamen ready to die fighting the federal government.