Imagine telling a personal story to a room full of strangers. Regardless of your comfort level with public speaking, you’ll exhibit some apprehension. That’s a good thing according to Derrick Clements, creator of a storytelling platform called The Porch. Based out of Provo, it is working its way into Salt Lake City. Since 2011 The Porch, held at Provo’s Muse Music Café, has … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2014
Trademark Wars: Small Businesses Fight Back Against Abusive Intellectual Property Lawsuits
After years of dreaming, saving and planning, you did it! You opened your own small business! A few weeks into operation, however, you receive a cease and desist order in the mail because you are being accused of violating the intellectual property rights of another business – either a patent violation or a trade dress (trademark) violation. You are convinced that this … [Read more...]
Kate McCleod: A Utah Songstress
Sometimes your destiny keeps tugging at you until you have no choice but to follow it. Fortunately for music lovers along the Wasatch Front and beyond, Kate MacLeod stepped into hers and hasn’t looked back. “I tried to do other things for a long time before I decided I needed to follow the music path even though I’d been writing songs for years. It wasn’t something I’d … [Read more...]
Crows and Wildlife Watchers lose big
In the 7th and final hearing to address Utah's first crow hunt, the Wildlife Board voted, 3-2, to approve it. Those attending the hearing responded with shouts of "Boo!" and "Shame!" and claimed the board ignored overwhelming public disdain as well as scientific evidence against the hunt. Read more here. … [Read more...]
Ekamai Thai: An Affordable Sugar House Experience
A visit to my all-time favorite Momofuku Noodle Bar during a recent visit to New York reignited my love for Asian-inspired dining, but also hit my wallet in a bad way. Not to mention the wait time which, at nearly two hours, bordered on the absurd. It was a welcome change then to be able to walk straight into Ekamai Thai in Sugar House and be shown to a table without … [Read more...]
Ogden LDS Temple Open House Starts Aug. 1
From August 1st through September 6th, Downtown Ogden will welcome nearly half a million visitors for the Ogden LDS Temple Open House. Given the number of visitors and money spent, this will be one of the largest events in Ogden’s history. The temple is one of the largest private re-development investments in the state, just a bit smaller than the City Creek complex in Salt … [Read more...]
SLC Pedicabs: A New Downtown Mode of Transportation
Sitting on the seat of his festive tricycle, Josh Bross halloos a passerby with his favorite line, “Bet you a smile you’ll enjoy a pedicab ride.” Pedicabs are a novel mode of transportation in SLC, and from 10:00 p.m. to 1 a.m. we counted about a dozen cabs taking diners and bar hoppers on short jaunts. The smile bet is a double down—both Josh and the passengers wind up … [Read more...]
Podunk in Utah, Part II
Examine the terrain on Google Maps and you see almost nothing but dirt and salt and a few dusty roads. Do people live here? If so how do they earn a living? It turns out that even north of Willard, even past the turn-off for Bear Lake, east along the shore of the Great Salt Lake – there is some incredible beauty to behold. There are also some amazingly innovative people with … [Read more...]
Po-junk: Podunk in Utah, Part I
Podunk: denotes an insignificant, out-of-the-way town, often used to dismiss significance or importance. Podunk is placid dullness and lacks contact with progress in the rest of the world. I’ve found we city folk have a lot we can learn from Podunk, Utah. Sadly, Utah’s podunk towns are in decline, places where people really “think different.” (Which is Apple’s slogan used … [Read more...]
Young Living Farms Wacky Somalian Adventures
Sultan Yusuf Ahmed Salah of Somalia recently posted a YouTube video in which he claims that Young Essential Oils Founder Gary Young visited Somalia to test resins from their rare Frankincense trees and write about his journey. According to Salah, Young promised to provide charitable donations to establish health clinics and money to train teachers. Young Living Farms’ legal … [Read more...]