Leaving Salt Lake
In the spring of 2009, my husband, Steve, and I left Salt Lake City—an unacknowledged act of desperation. Without knowing how we would...
Well, Actually
I’ve spent the better part of my life defending misunderstood places. Chicago was the first. Everyone knew about the gun violence, but...
How Living in Utah Changed My Life
Three years ago, during the winter, I was invited to interview at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Utah. I had...
An Alarming Level of Concern
Due to the nature of my work and life, I could live anywhere in the world. I’ve chosen Salt Lake City for the past 12 years—all of my...
I Am a Radon Daughter
My father was a geologist in Utah’s uranium mines. He died young of lung cancer; a uranium miner’s death from workplace air pollution. I...
Twenty-Five Years
In the fall of 1993, a few years before the oil boom, I moved to Vernal, Utah. I have lived here for almost a quarter of a century....
Accounts of the Inversion
As an environmental sustainability major at the University of Utah, I may contemplate the quality of our air and water more than average...
Mythology
Did you know I set myself on fire just for the smoke. Did you know the world set itself afloat and everything melted back to Pangaea with...
Breathtaking: Reflections from the Lake
The air is clean out here on the lake, for now. The hustle and bustle of the city takes its toll on me, and life is busier than I ever...
Attractive Killer
Evenings have a dreaminess to them now, a heaviness filled with fog. A hazy nightmare, where the outlines of shapes blur into their...