Headed to Disneyland this fall? Here's an unofficial guide to what food to eat, where and when and why, at the Happiest Place On Earth.
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The opportunity is closing for members of the Utah public to give feedback on Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola project. The Utah Department of Public Transportation’s (UDOT) public comment period closes on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, as opposition to the gondola finds a foothold in Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson has been a vocal opponent of the UDOT plan, and just in the past week, the Salt Lake County Council passed a joint resolution recommending that the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) eliminate the gondola as a potential option to alleviate Little Cottonwood Canyon’s traffic woes.
Any Utah skier knows that the traffic congestion on S.R. 210 up to Alta and Snowbird is a nightmare during the ski season. Possible traffic mitigation projects included widening the highway, bussing and versions of the gondola, but none of them satisfied all or even most concerned parties. Ultimately, UDOT chose the $550 million gondola proposal over the bus-based solutions.
The proposed Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola would carry passengers from a station at La Caille at the mouth of the canyon to stations located at the base areas of Alta and Snowbird. The gondola would run every two minutes, each cabin is set to carry 35 passengers and the ride will take 30-40 minutes, depending on which ski resort is their destination. To support the gondola, UDOT would construct a 2,500-car parking lot at the base of the canyon for people riding the gondola to park as well as numerous towers along the entire length of the canyon. The impact of that construction, especially the towers is one of the points of contention for the project. (See more on the UDOT gondola plan.)
“Instead of constructing 23 sky-scraper-sized gondola towers that will devastate the majestic views of the canyon, UDOT should pursue common-sense solutions that invest in more practical, adaptable and less invasive transportation strategies,” said Salt Lake County Mayor Wilson in a statement, following the council’s resolution to oppose it.
The mayor also objects to the initial construction cost of $550 million (funded by taxpayers) for the gondola, which would have just two stops, each at private ski resorts, who stand the most to gain. Wilson also contends that the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola would remove only 30% of vehicle traffic from the canyon road.
The Mayor also offered some alternatives to the gondola, saying, “These solutions on their own have the potential to solve the traffic problem without destroying our canyon. This common-sense approach will demonstrate that the costly and unsightly gondola is not right for our canyons.” The alternatives she would support include: electric, high-quality buses with mobility hubs; tolling; parking management strategies such as ski parking reservations and enhanced smartphone app technology; multi-passenger vehicle incentives such as micro-transit, carpooling, and rideshare programs; and traction device requirements with expanded inspection hours and enforcement.
UDOT is accepting feedback from the public on its Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola plan through their website littlecottonwoodeis.udot.utah.gov until Oct. 17, 2022.
When it comes to reporting on mental health in Utah, there’s a lot of smoke—but figuring out what caused the fire can be tricky.
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Last month, President Joe Biden announced his plan to forgive student loan debt for some student loan borrowers. And, ever since then, student loan borrowers (such as myself) have had a lot of questions. Who qualifies? How is this going to work? How much of my debt will be forgiven?
This impacts a lot of people. 43 million Americans have outstanding student loans, about 92% of those people have federal loans of some kind and, all told, we owe about $1.6 trillion. Many of us have had some leeway the last couple of years because of pandemic forbearance on all of our loan repayments, but that’s set to expire for most borrowers come December 31, 2022. Before that rolls around, most of those 43 million people could get relief in the form of student loan forgiveness—either reducing the amount of debt we hold or absolving it entirely, depending on how much is owed.
Off the top, we know this is a one-time student loan debt relief and The U.S. Department of Education changed this week exactly which loans would be eligible. Here’s what we know.
Who is eligible for student loan forgiveness?
Borrowers are eligible if their income on their 2020 or 2021 tax return is either less than $125,000 for individuals or less than $250,000 for households. For dependent students, their eligibility is based on their parents’ income. Loan forgiveness could come in the form of up to $20,000 in debt relief for Pell Grant recipients or up to $10,000 in debt relief for those who did not receive a Pell Grant.
The Biden administration recently changed which federal student loans qualify for the debt relief program. Based on the most recent change they are:
- Undergraduate and Graduate Direct Loans
- Parent PLUS and Grad PLUS Loans
- Consolidation Loans (underlying loans disbursed on or before June 30, 2022)
- Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program Loans held by The U.S. Department of Education (ED)
- Perkins Loans held by ED
- Defaulted loans (ED-held or commercially serviced Subsidized, Unsubsidized, parent PLUS, grad PLUS; and Perkins held by ED)
Borrowers can check with their loan service provider if their loans are direct loans or if their lender is the U.S. Department of Education.
People who made payments on their student loans during the pandemic forbearance will also be eligible for a full or partial refund for the payments that they made during that time.
How will student loan forgiveness work?
Student loan borrowers will need to file an application for the debt relief. The U.S. Department of Education will post an online application sometime next month, October 2022. Once the application is submitted, the Department of Education will review it, determine your eligibility and work with the loans’ service or services to process the debt relief. Federal student loans borrowers will have until December 31, 2023 to apply.
What do student loan borrowers need to do before then?
There’s not a lot to do right now, honestly, but wait and see. It’s too late to consolidate loans if borrowers needed to do that to qualify for forgiveness. Any updates will be posted at studentaid.gov where student loan borrowers can also login to or create an FSA account to track their loans. They can also make sure their loan servicer has their most current contact information.
There are some lawsuits to keep an eye on that could throw all of this out the window, depending on how the ruling goes. This week, Attorneys General from Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and South Carolina filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in a Missouri federal court. The lawsuit alleges that the student loan forgiveness could hurt lenders of privately held student loans because it encourages borrowers to consolidate their loans with the federal government (denying the private loan lenders of repayments). The change in eligibility, however, excluding privately held student loans that have not already been consolidated by September 29, 2022, seems to have been done to weaken that legal argument.
During the last legislative fight over tax incentives for Utah film productions, Kevin Costner tipped the scales by promising to shoot his forthcoming movie Horizon: An American Saga in the Beehive State if the Utah State Legislature sweetened the deal. The legislature bumped the tax incentive cap in the end, and Horizon began filming in Utah at the end of August. One can’t help but admire Costner’s play here. He’d already proved he meant business by moving production of Paramount’s Yellowstone from Utah to Montana after Yellowstone shot its first three seasons in Utah (reportedly bringing $80 million in local revenue).
It wasn’t a coincidence that Montana had just raised its filming tax incentives to $12 million, and at the time Utah film incentives capped at $8.3 million. Now, incentives as part of Utah’s Motion Picture Incentive Program are on par, capped at $12 million for productions based in rural areas. And the Utah Film Commission is trying to draw more film productions to Utah to show it was all worthwhile.
For the past year, the Commission reports it has been working with city and county officials to enable more rural areas to support productions filming in their regions. The Commission created “The Film Ready Utah” designation as a way to signal to would-be Utah film productions that the designated community can provide a “local support network, access to resources, and…that these communities are ready to support their work.”
The list of “Film Ready” communities already included Kanab, Moab to Monument Valley, Ogden, Park City, Utah Valley and Salt Lake City. This month, 12 other communities joined their ranks, including Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Davis, Emery, Garfield, Heber Valley, Juab, San Juan, Tooele, Uintah, Washington and Wayne.
“Utah’s film industry is expanding to every corner of our state,” said Virginia Pearce, director of the Utah Film Commission, in a statement. “The Film Ready Utah program gives rural communities resources to match local businesses and unique locations with production-related needs.”
Horizon will shoot on location in Grand, San Juan, Emery, Kane and Washington counties, according to the Utah Film Commission. It’s slated to be a sprawling, epic Western that spans multiple movies. The cast thus far includes Sienna Miller, Jena Malone, Jeff Fahey, Thomas Haden Church, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Isabelle Fuhrman, Michael Rooker and Tatanka Means, with Costner himself starring and directing. There’s no official release date as of yet.
The Commission announced the production was approved to shoot in Utah back in June, along with 12 other projects, estimated to have an impact of $142.5 million on Utah’s economy with about 90% of the projects shooting in rural Utah. Last year at this time, the Commission announced just 7 projects approved to film in Utah. “We’ve seen increased interest for filming in Utah from filmmakers and rural community stakeholders,” said Pearce. “This new rural film incentive allows Utah to attract more film production and remain competitive.” According to the Commission, in the last 10 years, Utah’s Motion Picture Incentive Program generated $463 million in economic impact and created more than 34,600 production jobs across the state.
The new Utah film productions are a mix of features and episodic series with distribution to platforms like Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, FX/Hulu, Nickelodeon and Paramount+ as well as theatrical releases. In addition to Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga, there’s Joy to the World, a new feature from Jerusha Hess, co-writer of Napoleon Dynamite, and an untitled limited series from the creator of Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan.
Here is the list of approved 2022 productions:
Alma Richards: Raising the Bar
Estimated Utah Spend: $879,108
Distribution: Independent
Locations: Utah County
Logline: “Alma Richards, a lanky, unassuming Parawon, Utah farm boy seemed an unlikely competitor in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden.”
The family feature from Traverse Films is about real-life figure Alma Richards, a Mormon high jumper.
Cub Scout
Estimated Utah Spend: $1,107,114
Distribution: TBD
Locations: Sanpete County
Logline: “Scout, a teenage boy mysteriously living alone in the woods, is harboring a monstrous secret.”
Cub Scout is set to be a short film, following a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign by Matt Heder (youngest brother of Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame, who is listed as a producer).
The Chosen: Season 3
Estimated Utah Spend: $1,400,327
Distribution: Self-Distributed
Locations: Utah County
Dark Highway
Estimated Utah Spend: $4,004,367
Distribution: Independent
Locations: Emery County, Juab County, San Juan County
Summary: “Dark Highway is an intense thriller about four friends who go on a ghost town adventure to record and “get famous” on Social Media…but it goes terribly wrong.”
Hondo
Estimated Utah Spend: $10,271,416
Distribution: Amazon Prime Video
Locations: Tooele County
Summary: “Hondo is a collaboration between Big Indie Pictures and Amazon Studios. The series is currently in pre-production, but the details are being kept under wraps.”
It’s reported to in fact be a cover for the series Fallout, based on the mega-popular Bethesda video game series of the same name.
Logline: “The world of Fallout is one where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. In Fallout, the harshness of the wasteland is set against the previous generation’s utopian idea of a better world through nuclear energy. It is serious in tone, yet sprinkled with moments of ironic humor and B-movie-nuclear-fantasies.”
Horizon: An American Saga
Estimated Utah Spend: $53,925,008
Distribution: TBD
Locations: Emery County, Grand County, Kane County, San Juan County, Washington County
Logline: “Horizon chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west. Horizon tells the story of that journey in an honest and forthcoming way, highlighting the points of view and consequences of the characters’ life and death decisions.”
Joy To The World
Estimated Utah Spend: $8,300,000
Distribution: TBD
Locations: Salt Lake City
Logline: “Joy is an angel that “welcomes” the recently deceased to the afterlife. Even though she is extremely good at her job she wants to become a “Guardian Angel” so she can help Chad, a lost soul.”
Joy to the World is slated as a comedy feature from Jerusha Hess.
Recipe For Love
Estimated Utah Spend: $328,268
Distribution: Independent
Locations: Salt Lake County, Utah County
Retreat: Season 1
Estimated Utah Spend: $1,407,920
Distribution: FX/Hulu
Locations: Emery County, Grand County, Tooele County
Logline: “The mystery series follows Darby Hart, a Gen Z amateur sleuth, as she attempts to solve a murder at a secluded retreat.”
The Streak
Estimated Utah Spend: $183,500
Distribution: Independent
Locations: Salt Lake County, Weber County
Summary: A documentary about the 1987 Salt Lake Trappers. The single-A baseball team won 29 games in a row, the longest winning streak in professional baseball history.
Unnamed Green Beans Show
Estimated Utah Spend: $10,700,000
Distribution: Apple TV+
Locations: TBD
Untitled Movie
Budget: $9,966,336
Distribution: Nickelodeon
Locations: TBD
Logline: “Movie musical about best friends stuck in a time loop on the first day of summer break.”
Untitled Taylor Sheridan Series
Estimated Utah Spend: $40,000,000
Distribution: Paramount +
Locations: Summit County, Wasatch County
Summary: Slated as a true-crime series about the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
Among past Utah productions, here are some upcoming releases:
Deadstream – October 6 on Shudder
V/H/S/99 – October 20 on Shudder
American Murderer – In select theatres on October 21
A Cozy Christmas Inn – October 28 on Hallmark Channel
Falling for Christmas – November 10 on Netflix
See Salt Lake magazine’s list of some of our favorite films shot in Utah.
While much of the media’s preoccupation with Mormon Fundamentalism centers on the FLDS, Under The Banner Of Heaven (adapted from the Jon Krakauer book of the same name) focuses on a small group of budding fundamentalists. Created by Dustin Lance Black, it tells the story of the 1984 murders of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, by Dan and Ron Lafferty, Brenda’s brothers-in-law. The brothers had broken away from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began practicing a version of Mormon Fundamentalism. They believed the murders were commanded by God in the form of divine revelation they received, also making it a story about what happens when zealotry and strict adherence to violent principles of faith trump all else.
“Under The Banner Of Heaven is not just an examination of Mormonism but an examination of faith in general,” says series creator Dustin Lance Black. He spent a decade working to adapt the book into a film, then TV, then film, then back to TV before we got the FX streaming hit that first aired in April 2022. “It’s not an easy needle to thread—a crime show that also examines faith in America,” explains Black. “Who would want to watch that?”
“The show centers on Mormonism because that is my lived experience,” says Black, who parted ways with the LDS Church when he was a teenager. “There was passion there to keep the project alive until it could get made. I’m a believer in writing what you know as a fruitful exercise.”
While the Laffertys’ journey from (albeit strict) mainstream Mormons to fundamentalists with violent and tragic results is a true story, Black says the story is not unique. Rather, it is only unique in its specificity. “The core themes of this true story include examining the wisdom of strict interpretations of doctrine,” says Black. “It questions, where is the value in that? Or is it a dangerous path to take?” Whether it is the strict, originalist interpretation of a document that’s only 100 or 200 years old—like the works of Joseph Smith or the writers of the constitution—“this is a cautionary tale about what happens if you do that,” he says.
Black likens the story of the Laffertys to those who wish for a return to the past and its values and strictures. “Under The Banner Of Heaven is a journey back in time to what some folks hope is a better way, but there is no pot of gold at the end of that journey—only ruin.” He hopes the show will shine light into the dark corners of the past to help generate ideas of how institutions and people could now be better than they were. He adds, “I say this more than anything else about the show—when we know better, we can do better.”
That said, he does not believe the LDS Church or any faith should escape accountability for its past. Even he, in some way, feels accountable. “I did not help write the Book of Mormon or settle Utah. I did not make the decisions that made Mormonism one of the most patriarchal faiths in the western world. I didn’t cause the misogyny or racism within the faith. I didn’t do those things…but my ancestors did.”
The show draws a direct line from the history of the Mormon Church to the actions of the Laffertys, who feel inspired by Brigham Young and Joseph Smith to embrace practices like polygamy and blood atonement. It’s a comparison that has made some members of the LDS Church uncomfortable and earned Under The Banner Of Heaven—both the show and the book it’s based on—vocal critics.
Some criticisms of the show have focused on the trivial, like the Mormon characters’ supposed overuse of “Heavenly Father” in place of “God.” (Most Latter-day Saints are careful to avoid saying God’s name “in vain.”) According to Black, it’s not a mistake or something he got wrong about Mormons. The usage is a direct lift from the writings of Brenda and the Laffertys.
In a 2003 statement, a spokesperson for the LDS Church called Krakauer’s book “a full-frontal assault on the veracity of the modern Church” and religious faith in general, rather than Krakauer’s stated intention to examine how religious extremism can lead to violence. Likewise, Black, as a former Mormon and out gay man, has been criticized as having an axe to grind against the church. For his part, Black says Under The Banner Of Heaven is not a hit piece against the LDS Church. “Some people out there hope for the extinguishment of the faith. That’s not my aim,” he says. “But a lot of people are having a tough time right now, and they’re wondering why their church doesn’t stand up for them.”
“I do hope it puts pressure on the church to change,” says Black. The kind of change the LDS Church made in 1978 when it gave the priesthood to black men and allowed all of its black members to participate in LDS temple ordinances, but “there will be no revelation to make life easier for all Mormons—of all races, genders, sexuality—without shining a light on the past.”
The One(s) Mighty And Strong
In Under The Banner Of Heaven, we see how Ron Lafferty is propelled deeper into fundamentalism by a persistent notion that appears within a number of fundamentalist sects but originated in the early (mainstream) church. Lafferty begins to believe he is the subject of a prophecy by Joseph Smith.
In 1832, Smith wrote, “[T]he Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God[.]” The words were later canonized with their inclusion in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Doctrine And Covenants section 85.
Ron Lafferty was not the first nor last to claim to be the “one mighty and strong” that will “set in order the house of God.” The claimants number in the dozens, a number of fundamentalist leaders among them.
“If it’s canonized it’s as close to God saying it as anything. So, every single Mormon group has an interpretation of it,” says Lindsay Hansen Park. Park, the Mormon Fundamentalism consultant on Under The Banner Of Heaven, created the podcast Year Of Polygamy and is the executive director of the Sunstone Education Foundation, which focuses on discussions around Mormonism.
In Park’s experience within mainstream Mormonism, “you’re the one mighty and strong” was used more colloquially as a compliment, usually directed toward young men. Some believe that the prophecy refers to Joseph Smith himself, who already restored what the faithful call “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth.”
“But for people who find themselves in disagreement with the church but not their faith,” says Park, “that scripture often justifies their beliefs because it says there’s a problem in the church and someone needs to fix it. For a lot of men, they’ve interpreted that as ‘I guess it has to be me.’”
“I’ve met a lot of ‘ones mighty and strong’ in my work with fundamentalism,” says Park.
The prophecy is both canonized within Mormon scripture and remains open to interpretation about what or who it’s alluding to, “and that’s why we see so many break-off sects,” says Park.
Among those who have claimed to be the “one mighty and strong” (or others claimed them to be) are some men who have been excommunicated from the mainstream church and fundamentalists like Jeffs, Joseph Musser, Joel LeBaron, Ervil LeBaron, the Laffertys and Brian David Mitchell. Like the Laffertys, Ervil LeBaron used his claims to justify murders, including that of Rulon Allred, the leader of another fundamentalist sect.
What do we really know about Mormon Fundamentalists? Consider this complete FLDS church timeline as an initiation.
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Achurch that grew from the violent frontiers of the Old West now fills the halls of modern and modest meetinghouses, but members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not the only faithful who call themselves Mormons. Hundreds of groups profess to be the truest iteration of the church that was founded by Joseph Smith, and a subset of them has captured renewed national interest through recent documentaries and the FX series Under The Banner Of Heaven. What do we really know about Mormon Fundamentalists? How much do the documentarians and the TV writers get right? Consider this simply an initiation into Mormon Fundamentalist faith in Utah.
It’s hard to go anywhere in Utah without spying a sign of its deeply religious past (and present). From Temple Square to the home of Brigham Young to This Is The Place Heritage Park, these religious artifacts of the 19th century are monuments to the history of not just The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) but many, many other groups that believe themselves the faithful followers of Joseph Smith’s original church.
The frontier religion that began with a young man’s vision in New York, that traveled across the midwest and found its home in Utah, has birthed, by some estimates, more than 400 offshoots and break-off groups. While all of these sects place themselves under the banner of Mormonism, some sought for what they call a return to the fundamental practices and beliefs of the early—very early—Mormon Church. The most well-known of these fundamental practices is polygamy, which the State of Utah decriminalized in 2020, and FX’s series Under The Banner Of Heaven has introduced the uninitiated to another: blood atonement.
A violent relic of a frontier faith, blood atonement conjures images of some of the most notorious figures in Mormon Fundamentalism. Ron and Dan Lafferty murdered their sister-in-law Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter in American Fork in 1984. Warren Jeffs instituted a tyrannical one-man-rule over the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints (FLDS) in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz. through control, manipulation and abuse before he was convicted of raping children and sentenced to life in prison only a decade ago.
But for every Lafferty and Jeffs, there are hundreds of everyday, ordinary people—fundamentalists—doing their best to hold fast and true to the articles of their faith. We see their faces, as well as the likes of Jeffs, in a slew of new documentaries, demonstrating a growing fascination of our fundamentalist neighbors: Discovery+’s Keep Sweet, not to be confused with Netflix’s Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey and Paramount’s Preaching Evil.
Some look like what we might typically think of when someone says “Mormon Fundamentalist.” We picture a woman in a long, plain dress, hair piled high to heaven with intricate braids and plaits. Others might look more like members of the mainstream LDS Church on any given Sunday, including women in modest blouses and skirts and men in blocky black suits and neckties. The uniform might change, but they have all called themselves Mormons, and many look up to those monuments of Utah’s theocratic past and are filled with the same sense of reverence and respect as any member of the mainstream iteration of the faith.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For clarity, we refer to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints both by its full name and the LDS Church and to its members as “mainstream” Mormons.
Timeline of Mormon Fundamentalism
1832
Joseph Smith prophesies of “one mighty and strong.”
1832
1862
Polygamy in the U.S. is outlawed with the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law.
1862
1890
LDS President Wilfred Woodruff issues D&C Official Declaration 1 or The Manifesto.
1890
1942
The United Effort Plan (UEP) is started in Short Creek.
1942
1982
Bob Crossfield (AKA Prophet Onias) formally establishes the School of the Prophets, later joined by members of the Lafferty family.
1982
1984
Dan and Ron Lafferty kill their sister-in-law Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica.
1984
1986
Leroy Johnson passes away and Rulon Jeffs becomes leader of the Short Creek fundamentalists, incorporating as the FLDS Church.
1986
2002
Warren Jeffs becomes FLDS president.
2002
2006
Jeffs is placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and apprehended in August.
2006
2011
Jeffs convicted in Texas on two counts of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to life in prison.
2011
To see a complete timeline up to the current date, click here.
A Selected Glossary of Polygamist Terms, Beliefs and Practices
(From Utah and Arizona attorneys’ general 2006 publication “The Primer” and other sources; not all terms and beliefs apply to all groups)
Adam/God doctrine: Some fundamentalists believe Adam is God the Father and came to the Garden of Eden with Eve, who was one of his many wives. There are disputes concerning this belief, but many practicing polygamists still adhere to this doctrine.
Bleeding the Beast: An expression used by some fundamentalists as a rationale for accepting (and sometimes abusing) assistance (i.e., financial grants, WIC, TANF, food stamps, housing, medical assistance, etc.) from governmental agencies. Within certain groups, it is taught that “bleeding the beast” will assist God in destroying the “evil” U.S. Government and is considered a righteous endeavor.
Blood Atonement: Some groups teach a doctrine known as “blood atonement,” which was introduced by Joseph Smith, embraced by Brigham Young, but no longer espoused by the mainstream church. It requires a person to have their blood “spilt upon the ground” to repent for what are considered to be unforgivable sins.
Creekers: Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) who live in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are often called “Creekers.” The nickname “Creekers” began when this area was called Short Creek.
Double Cousin: One may call a person a “double cousin” if he or she is related to them through both their mother’s and father’s families.
First Rate or Second Rate: According to historians, some fundamentalists are considered first-rate or elite because of their bloodline. Women and their children can also be considered first-rate and receive special privileges within the family if they are favored by the husband.
Fundie: A slang term short for “fundamentalist” in reference to Fundamentalist Mormons.
God Squad: This slang term refers to a group of men within the FLDS community who monitored and reported the activities of its members to the church leadership under Warren Jeffs.
House Mother: A sister-wife who stays home to provide the daily care for children of other wives who work outside the home.
Joy Book: Girls are said to be listed in this book while they wait for the FLDS prophet to have a revelation about whom they will marry.
Lifting-Up: The FLDS Church reportedly predicted that some members would be “lifted up” into heaven while God destroyed the wicked, and then be returned to Earth to peacefully live polygamy. When no one was lifted-up, the members were blamed for sinning and lacking faith.
Lost Boys: Young, unmarried men who are exiled from FLDS communities. Some have been told they were asked to leave for being a bad influence but many believe it is because they are competing with older men who are looking for wives.
Memory Gem: Phrases that are rehearsed and repeated by members of the Kingston group. Some repeat the Memory Gems each day before family prayer. Examples include: “If The Order doesn’t have it, we don’t need it,” “True happiness is not found in doing what you want to do but in learning to like to do the things you ought to do,” and “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and all else will be added.”
Mother Church: Some fundamentalists use this term for the mainstream LDS Church. They believe they are custodians of certain “keys” to rites and authority and will eventually reunite with or replace the LDS Church at a later time.
Numbered Men: The Kingston group uses this term to refer to male members who hope to be numbered among the Lord’s people. They are believed to be part of the 144,000 people mentioned in the Biblical Book of Revelation. Some men are selected by the Kingston leaders to receive their actual “number” in public meetings.
Plyg or Polyg: A highly offensive and demeaning term for those who practice polygamy.
Sister Wives: Women married to the same man. Other terms that identify this position are “other girls in the family,” “other mothers,” or “other ladies.”
The FLDS…After Warren Jeffs
While many of the new documentaries on the Fundamentalist LDS Church cover the rise, crimes and eventual fall of Warren Jeffs, Keep Sweet on Discovery+ was more interested in examining life in the Short Creek community after Jeffs received a lifelong prison sentence.
Before Jeffs went to jail, a documentary crew may have been run out of Short Creek by the so-called “god squad” (Jeffs’ pick-up-driving private security forces). Now, many of the walls have come down (including literal walls that Jeffs had constructed around the community), and there’s a new sheriff in town.
Lindsay Hansen Park has been making regular trips down to Hildale (the half of the community on the Utah side of the border) for the better part of a decade. “Before, it was lawless, in every sense of the word,” says Park. “Hildale had to go through a lot of growing pains to become a legitimate town.” Where once Jeffs had closed all of the public schools, they’re back open now and students have had success in both academics and sports. After historically rejecting modern medicine, the community now has a health and dental clinic. The police and government are no longer run by the FLDS church, with the election of Donia Jessop as mayor in 2017. Jessop is the first woman and ex-member of the FLDS to ever be elected mayor in Hildale.
In the Keep Sweet documentary, a point of contention that remains in Short Creek—the United Effort Plan (UEP), a land trust, which includes hundreds of homes formerly controlled by the FLDS, is now under the purview of a nonreligious board. Under the board, some former FLDS members—who were exiled, left or escaped Jeffs’ church—have returned to their homes. Some homes have been sold to “outsiders.” And some FLDS members, still faithful to Jeffs, have been evicted for refusing to cooperate with the board’s criteria to keep their homes because they do not recognize the board’s authority.
But both Park and the Keep Sweet documentary point to a Fourth of July celebration as a sign of hope for the future of Short Creek. When Jeffs was in power, he had banned the large celebration, which had been a beloved event for many of the residents. After his arrest, the people of Hildale put on their first big Independence Day extravaganza in years. “I was there. It felt historic,” says Park. “It was also a celebration of independence from Jeffs.”
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Another FanX is in the books, having delivered an extremely high turnout and some fun moments for fans—from celebrity photo-ops and Q&As, panels, art and so, so much merch. In particular, we have to mention FanX cosplay. It’s one of the things the show is known for—the sheer number of attendees that show up in cosplay just because they love it. In addition to FanX cosplay, there were some new features this year that made the con for fans.
FanX Cosplay
“Best cosplay” is pretty subjective, but in our wanderings around the exhibitor floor and artist alley at the Salt Palace Convention Center, we found some cosplay that stood out from the crowd and offer a little insight into what makes them special.
Two cosplayers dress as The Sisters from Kubo and the Two Strings. They posted about the “behind the scene” making of the cosplay on their Instagram, @camilla_art_247, showing how they captured the unique style of the stop-motion animated film.
Big cosplay builds require a fusion of artistry, imagination, engineering prowess and time—lots and lots of time—like this B73-NS from Overwatch cosplay, capable of mobility with articulated joints.
Some cosplayers make armor from materials like craft foam, leather fabrics and thermoplastics (such as Worbla or Sintra) and make it look like the real thing, like these Star Wars Mandalorians hanging out in Jabba’s Palace.
It looks like a full-body prosthetic mold was used to make this Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cosplay that looks like it could have walked right out of one of the 90s movies.
In addition to being a fun and loving take on the character, this Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street cosplay utilized puppetry to bring the beloved character to life as they do on the show itself.
While some cosplayers aim for accuracy, others like to put their own spin on a character, like these steampunk Disney cosplayers.
Of course, classic Disney characters (here we see Lady Tremaine from Cinderella and the Evil Queen from Snow White) still show up in force.
Magical Moments
Fans of fantasy, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), other tabletop games got to have a rest-up and enjoy a drink at Evermore Park’s (the fantasy-themed adventure park in Pleasant Grove, Utah that Salt Lake magazine wrote about previously here) booth, where they could also meet TikTok, Twitch and social media stars like Quincy’s Tavern, Critical Dice, and The Smoking Barrel.
It’s not the last collaboration between Evermore Park and the tabletop-savvy TikTokers. They’re planning an upcoming event called The Convergence. The Convergence is an immersive D&D getaway that will take participants into the once virtual-only world of Quincy’s Tavern, which will be transported to this material plane at Evermore Park for the event. Convergence: Quincy’s Tavern at Evermore Park is coming May 2-6, 2023, and tickets are on sale now.
Cosplay Meet-ups are scheduled events at the convention that set aside a time and place for all of the people cosplaying as characters from a particular intellectual property (think Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter or Doctor Who). They are a cornerstone of FanX and FanX cosplay. It gives fans a chance to get together at the convention (which can be difficult, given the crowds), show off their handmade costumes and props and geek out about the thing they all love. It’s hard to find time on the schedule for a cosplay meet-up for every fandom, so some fans took things into their own hands this year. As part of a grassroots started by a local Facebook group, then spread by word of mouth at the convention, fans of the online streaming phenomenon Critical Role, organized their own unofficial cosplay meet-up with a much bigger turnout than some of the official cosplay meet-ups.
This year, a well-known local cosplayer took the top prize at the FanX Cosplay Contest: 1st Prize in the Cosplay Contest Masters category. We interviewed Gayle Dowdle for our September 2021 issue of Salt Lake magazine along with other talented local cosplayers making couture-level cosplay. Dowdle creates beautifully accurate recreations of Queen Elizabeth I of England’s infamous gowns. She came to FanX with her latest, a lovingly rendered “Armada” portrait gown. Her victory at the FanX Cosplay Contest comes on the heels of another victory—her battle with cancer. (See more of how she made her award-winning Armada gown on her Instagram, @dowdledesign.) Congratulations, Gayle!
Salt Lake FanX will return to the Salt Palace Convention Center September 21-23, 2023.
FanX Day One Highlights
FanX Day Two Highlights
FanX Day Three Highlights
Salt Lake City’s FanX is back this week, taking over the Salt Palace Convention Center. It’s Utah’s biggest pop culture convention and, by attendance, one of the biggest in the country. No matter the size, every comic convention is a little bit different and comes in its own unique flavor. The particular flavor can be a little difficult to identify unless you’ve been to other comic cons to compare it to. So, how does FanX taste compared to other large conventions in the region?
FanX
Location: Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Dates: Three-day show (Thurs.-Sat.); September 22-24, 2022
Size: FanX organizers say average attendance is around 125,000
Flavor: The hardcore geeks, nerds and fans in Utah make FanX what it is. Every year, attendees show up in stellar cosplay with money to burn on clever celebrity photo-ops and signings. For animation and book buffs (especially of the fantasy persuasion), the con brings in some fan-favorite voice actors and authors like Brandon Sanderson. Celebrities, particularly TV actors and performers, dominate the guest list. With Utah’s penchant for big families, FanX shows some love to its Kid Con and all-ages programming, and the craftiness of the local populace means you’ll find some interesting wildcards among the vendor and exhibitor tables. As far as actual comics go, there likely won’t be many comic exhibitors, and attendees get to know very well the local creators who turn out every year.
Tickets: fanxsaltlake.com
Sister Shows: Tampa Bay Comic Con, Indiana Comic Con, ATL Comic Con
See our video from Fan X Day One featuring the Q&A session with Anthony Micheal Hall
Emerald City Comic Con
Location: Washington State Convention Center, Seattle
Dates: Four-day show; March 2-5, 2023
Size: Estimated attendance of 100,000
Flavor: The floorplan of this con is huge, in large part due to a vast and dense Artist Alley. It’s the place to make friends with comic creators, and some comics publishers have official booths at Emerald City where artists and writers will do signings. Big celebrity guests and packed panels are abundant. Whole sections of the floor are devoted to literature and cosplay guests, interactive exhibitions and vendors selling some cool con exclusives. March weather in Seattle is not always ideal for post-con hangouts, but that doesn’t seem to stop people from keeping the party going around town. And, you can always find a good cup of coffee.
Sister Shows: In addition to ECCC, ReedPop puts on New York Comic Con and C2E2 in Chicago
Fan Expo Denver
Location: Denver Convention Center, Denver, Co.
Dates: Three-day show (Fri.-Sun.); June 30-July 2, 2023
Size: Estimated attendance of 115,000
Flavor: Formerly Denver Pop Culture Con, this con has gone through some identity shifts of late, now that it’s been brought under the Fan Expo umbrella. But it remains a standout for attendees in cosplay who want to meet-up and take photos with fellow cosplayers, and some professional and celebrity cosplayers turn out to the con. Big-name comic creators like Jim Lee have been guests at the con in years past, and panels and photo-ops with guests from TV and voice acting are a key selling point. The nightlife around downtown Denver means there are some solid post-show “Bar Con” options. Because of the show’s origins with Pop Culture Classroom, there are educational programs at Fan Expo Denver for parents, teachers and students who want to learn more about creating their own comics and art.
Sister Shows: Fan Expo puts on more than a dozen fan events across the U.S. and Canada
San Diego Comic-Con
Location: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, Ca.
Dates: Four-day show; July 20-23, 2023
Size: Estimated attendance of 150,000
Flavor: It might not be fair to include San Diego in a list of comparisons because there is nothing quite like it. Everyone and everything comes out for this show. At its center is the exhibitor floor, where major film, TV, animation and video game studios, comic and book publishers, toy and collectable makers and sellers all have a presence. The panel programming is overwhelming, the pinnacle of which is the infamous Hall H—where this past year featured star-studded panels and trailer premieres for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and the entirety of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s phase five lineup. The con extends far beyond the boundaries of the convention center, taking over a good portion of San Diego’s downtown with large displays, exhibits, meet-ups and parties. The flavor of San Diego Comic-Con is everything flavor. All of the flavors.
Sister Shows: Comic-Con International also puts on Wonder-Con in Anaheim, Ca.
Check out some of the amazing local cosplayers that grace FanX, as well as Salt Lake magazine’s coverage of FanX 2021.
