Access Utah

The Smithsonian Institution houses a vast collection of artifacts from across the nation and around the world. What can all of these items tell us about American culture and history? Friday on Access Utah, Richard Kurin, Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian, joins Sheri Quinn for a discussion about the stories they reveal. At 9:30 Science Questions explores marijuana policy through the lens of a theologian.

Today we recap the mid-term elections which saw control of the U. S. Senate return to the Republicans and a Republican clean sweep in Utah’s congressional races. One constitutional amendment passed in Utah and two were defeated. Several state school board incumbents were defeated.

From Farinelli, the eighteenth century castrato who brought down opera houses with his high C, to the recording of "Johnny B. Goode" affixed to the Voyager spacecraft, Elena Passarello, in Let Me Clear My Throat dissects the whys and hows of popular voices. There are murders of punk rock crows, impressionists, and rebel yells; Howard Dean's "BYAH!" and Marlon Brando's "Stella!" and a stock film yawp that has made cameos in movies from A Star is Born to Spaceballs. The voice is thought's incarnating instrument and Elena Passarello's essays are a deconstruction of the ways the sounds we make both express and shape who we are—the annotated soundtrack of us giving voice to ourselves.

In “Outlawing Genocide Denial: The Dilemmas of Official Historical Truth” (University of Utah Press) historian and political scientist Guenter Lewy scrutinizes the practice of criminalizing the expression of unpopular, even odious historical interpretations, exemplified by genocide denial. Holocaust denial can be viewed as another form of hatred against the Jews and preventing it can be understood as a form of warding off hate speech. Germany has made it a crime punishable by law. Other European countries have similar laws.

A piece of the 21st century pie--people everywhere are clamoring for their own life-sustaining morsel. But water, pesticide, distribution, and financial issues seem to conspire against assuring a hungry world there will be enough to eat. Noelle Cockett, executive vice president and provost for Utah State University, has long been researching answers to the question of how to feed 21st century populations. Dr. Cockett brought her expertise to Utah State University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Tanner Talks when she kicked off the 2013-15 lecture series last month with a look into the future of food production. Her talk was titled: “Feast or Famine: Feeding a Hungry World in the 21st Century.”

A while back on Access Utah, Glen in the Uintah Basin shared this story: “I used to haul crude oil from oil wells. We have an area in central Duchesne County called the Koch Field. It was originally operated by the infamous Koch brothers' business and developed in the 1970s and early 80s. The Koch field is very remote and quite rugged. Many oilfield workers claimed to have seen a ‘headless horseman.’ I first heard about this when I was dispatched to a load out in the field probably in 1999. Legend has it that the local Natives beheaded a party of Spanish prospectors and this headless horseman is one of them. Many of my former crude haulers refuse to go into the Koch Field at night.”

In this age of smartphones, work doesn’t necessarily end when you leave the office. For many there is an expectation that you should be available after hours. Germany is considering legislation that would ban employers from contacting workers after office hours. Labor Minister Andrea Nahles says "there is an undeniable relationship between constant availability and the increase of mental illness."

On an early autumn afternoon, gay teen Zack Harrington killed himself with a gunshot to the head at his parent’s ranch in Norman, Oklahoma. One week earlier, Zack allegedly attended a local city council meeting in support of a proposal for LGBTQ History Month. When the floor opened up for public comment, some community members made controversial statements equating being gay with the spread of diseases such as HIV and AIDS.

Hal Crimmel, Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of English at Weber State University, is editor of a new book "Desert Water: The Future of Utah's Water Resources" (University of Utah Press) which brings together the results of scientific research and the voices of environmental humanists, social scientists, and policy advocates to provide a broad perspective on Utah water issues.

Logan has some of the worst air in the nation several days many years. On Friday’s AU, USU Professor of Toxicology, Roger Coulombe, talks to host Sheri Quinn about Cache Valley air and what is being done to help clean it up so we can all breathe a little easier.