Access Utah

There was a tie atop the 2017 Digital Trend of the Year survey conducted by theUSU Digital Folklore Project. The top trends were: #MeToo and the phenomenon of fake governmentsocial media accounts like @AltUSNatParkService. Jeannie Thomas, co-director ofthe USU Digital Folklore Project and head of the USU English Department toldthe Logan Herald Journal that when they first started the project, She “thoughtit’d be memes all the time we’d be naming. One of the things this shows me ishow much people engage with political and social justice issues.” We’ll talkwith Jeannie Thomas and Lynne McNeill, the other co-director of the USU DigitalFolklore Project and USU assistant professor of English, about #TakeAKnee(second on this year’s list). We’ll also talk about “covfefe” and much more andwe’ll ask you for your selection for top digital trend of the year.

A Cache Valley elementary school art teacher was fired after he had his class pass around prints of classical art from a collection of postcards from the school’s library, which included prints of nude paintings. The teacher, Mateo Rueda said he didn’t know those paintings were part of the set and would not have used them. This story drew international press coverage. Rueda and Cache County School district have reached an agreement in the case. We’ll talk about it on Tuesday’s Access Utah. Our guests will include Mateo Rueda and the mother of one of the students.

“I’m not saying become homeless, but do understand it opens many doors, and helps us appreciate the doors we can close.” That’s Utah native Chris Ames, writing in his book, “An American (homeless) in Paris,” out from University of Utah Press.

Today we’ll explore all things tech with Jonathan Choate from SD7 Technology Group in Logan.

From lightwoodduo.com:

Recently a group called Our Dream organized a sit-in at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City to, as the group puts it, “pressure our representatives to include protection for DACA recipients in the Omnibus Spending Bill or vote against the Spending Bill should protection not be included. And the World Trade Center Utah recently hosted an immigration roundtable with local leaders from agriculture, business, education, tech, and faith as well as political leaders to show support for immigration reforms. The event marked the launch of the iMarch for Immigration Campaign, a national day of action in all 50 states. The World Trade Center Utah thanked Utah’s Congressional Delegation for their efforts and called on them to push forward with action on a solution for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients--the “DREAMers”—quickly.

GENTRI: The Gentlemen Trio was established in June 2014 and is comprised of three highly trained tenors: Brad Robins, Casey Elliott and Bradley Quinn Lever. Pioneering a signature sound that can only be described as “Cinematic Pop,” the music of GENTRI is transfused with lush, epic orchestrations and rich, dynamic three-part harmonies all composed by the group’s producer Stephen Nelson.

Recently, USU philosophy professors Erica Holberg, Charlie Huenemann, and Harrison Kleiner participated in a panel discussion with the provocative title: “Are Students Snowflakes?” Next time on Access Utah they’ll join Tom Williams to explore the tension between the value we place on free speech on college campuses and how that value can sometimes collide with the desires of students and others to not be exposed to ideas they find offensive.This discussion has obvious parallels to ongoing issues in broader society.

David Schwartz, author of “The Last Man Who Knew Everything,” joins us for Wednesday’s Access Utah.

Announcing the actions in Salt Lake City, President Trump has removed some 2 million acres from the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments and split the two monuments into five. Bears Ears was split into two separate areas: Shash Jaa at 129,980 acres and Indian Creek at 71,896 acres. Together the two comprise 201,876 acres, as compared to the 1.35 million acres that President Barack Obama named last December. Grand Staircase, named by President Bill Clinton in 1996, has been divided into three monuments: Grand Staircase at 209,993 acres, Kaiparowits at 551,034 acres and Escalante Canyon at 242,836 acres. The combined areas covered by monument status in the former Grand Staircase Escalante national monument is just over 1 million acres, down from 1.9 million acres originally designated.