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Goblin Valley State Park, Utah - October 2023

If you have ever watched Galaxy Quest, this place might look familiar!

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I tell you what, this country has gone to heck in a hand basket. We've lost sight of what we were. We need to go back to a time when Men were Brine Shrimp and Women were also Brine Shrimp.

We need to return to the values of the late pleistocene era, when Lake Bonneville was a vast inland sea covering much of what is now Utah and parts Idaho and Nevada.

TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY WE NEED TO REFILL LAKE BONNEVILLE!

Now you might be saying, "but Brothermouse, wouldn't dumping trillions of gallons of water into the Great Salt Lake with the intent of returning water levels to their prehistoric levels cause untold damage to infrastructure, massive loss of human life and irrevocably damage the local ecosystem for the foreseeable future, to say nothing of the economic effects?"

To that I say, of course it will, and that's just the price I'm willing to pay.

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Dinah the Pink Dinosaur once held the sign for the Dine-A-Ville Motel in Vernal, Utah.

She's still there, but the motel didn't make it. The 4,200 pound fiberglass statue was moved to a park where it now holds a sign welcoming visitor's to "Vernal—Utah's Dinosaur Land."

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UT HB 521

Prohibits public funds from being used for gender-affirming care, aka no more Trans Health Program at the Univ of Utah and no more Medicaid access to hormones, etc.

This was just introduced in the house, so focus on your representatives. If you’re writing your state senator, tell them to keep an eye out for it in the future.

Read and track the status of the bill here. Info about tax savings comes from the fiscal note for the bill.

find your state rep here.

Hi [your representative],

I hope your week is off to a good start. I’m writing today about HB 521, which would prohibit using public funds for gender affirming care for trans adults in Utah.

I’m opposed to this bill for a variety of reasons. First of all, it is estimated to save Utah taxpayers as a whole only around $251k a year, which, as you know, is a really small part of the state’s expenditures. This small number also indicates that there are relatively few trans people using Medicaid to access gender-affirming care. Why is the legislature so concerned with what a few adults decide to do with their bodies? We have many other pressing concerns, like maintaining the Great Salt Lake, improving Utah public transit, and ensuring Utahns have affordable housing.

Blocking access to gender-affirming care infringes on Utahns’ rights. I’m interested, like you say you are, in smaller government that is directly responsible to the people. I fail to see how prohibiting well-studied and safe medical procedures fits into Utah’s conservative values.

Finally, regardless of whether or not you think trans people should exist, they do. Regardless of whether or not you think they should receive hormone treatment or psychotherapy, if they’re truly a different gender or merely confused, trans people should be treated with respect, including access to medical care that in many instances is literally life-saving, relieving intense dysphoria that often leads to suicide.

I’ve hesitated in sending this email. I know it will likely be dismissed without a second thought. But I’d ask you to please consider the impact of HB 521 on Utah’s trans citizens. Not only does it make it harder and more expensive to access care, it sends the message that Utah does not care about all its citizens equally. I hope you’ll consider voting against HB 521 and ask other legislators to do the same.

Best,

[your name and zip code]

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Working on some books currently, so here's an old set I reedited for print recently. Night Skyline, downtown Salt Lake City.

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Let's do this Utah! Two protests coming up: Saturday March 1 and Tuesday March 4.

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WORLD’S END ARBY’S

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Antelope Island, Utah

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rocy5 - Wasatch Mountains from the Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA

TAG themes on ‘Archive’  https://scooby-doo-exploration.tumblr.com/archive

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Mountain Chickadee at a local nature center!

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These pelicans didn’t seem to mind the freezing temp, the ice on the water or the rain. It was a very cold day at Farmington Bay.

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Park City, Utah

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There are places in Utah that you can’t describe. They have to be seen to be enjoyed. Moonscape Overlook is one of them. I have been several times and am always speechless at the surreal beauty of the area.