Access Utah

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Examining Religious Excommunication on Thursday's Access Utah Apr 02, 2015

Show notes

The recent excommunications of prominent members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints got us wondering about the practice of excommunication, and related practices like shunning and ostracizing. Does excommunication have different meanings across various religions and cultures? Why are some individuals cut off and others not? How should religious institutions respond to unorthodox opinions and beliefs among their members?

"Old Blues Road" On Wednesday's Access Utah Apr 01, 2015

Show notes

In 2005, historian James Whiteside bought a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail, christened it "Old Blue," and set off on a series of motorcycle adventures. Over six years he traveled more than 15,000 miles. In his new book "Old Blue's Road" Whiteside recounts his travels to the Pacific Northwest, Yellowstone, Dodge City, Santa Fe, Wounded Knee, and many other places and considers the ongoing struggle between Indian and mainstream American culture, the meaning of community, the sustainability of the West's hydraulic society, the creation of the national parks system, the Mormon experience in Utah, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and more. Whiteside reflects on the processes of change that made the American West what it is today and the complex ways in which the West's past and present come together.

Food Justice And Sustainability On Tuesday's Access Utah Mar 31, 2015

Show notes

LaDonna Redmond became a food justice advocate after her son developed food allergies and she found that the healthy food she wanted to feed him wasn't available in her Chicago neighborhood. She says that fair and equal access to healthy foods affects the health and well-being of the community and that food justice is tied to social justice, to issues of violence, poverty, and immigration. She advocates for dismantling the "food industrial complex" and returning to the "tables of our ancestors" to make our own food.

"Letter To A Future Lover" On Monday's Access Utah Mar 30, 2015

Show notes

Readers of physical books leave traces: marginalia, slips of paper, fingerprints, highlighting, inscriptions. All books have histories, and libraries are not just collections of books and databases, but a medium of long-distance communication with other writers and readers."Letter to a Future Lover" is a collection several dozen brief pieces written by Ander Monson in response to library ephemera-with "library" defined broadly, ranging from university institutions to friends' shelves, from a seed library to a KGB prison library-and addressed to readers past, present, and future.

Food Fear On Thursday's Access Utah Mar 26, 2015

Show notes

Nancy McHugh, professor of philosophy at Wittenberg University in Ohio, says the fear of bacteria, hormones, and antibiotics is rampant in our society. She is interested in the ways we go about making knowledge and ignorance about food and its relationship to health and argues that these practices have led to a new food movement, "clean eating," which in turn has generated a new eating disorder, orthorexia, or righteous eating.

Mormonism's Future On Wednesday's Access Utah Mar 26, 2015

Show notes

Sociologist and Mormon scholar Armand Mauss says that as a relatively new religious movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has followed a developmental trajectory similar to many other such movements. In the next few years, however, as the church enters its third century it is likely to face many new and unprecedented challenges. Mauss will consider how the church and its members might cope with these challenges, including the definition of gender in church life, and navigating issues of faith vs. doubt, in a lecture, “Mormonism’s Third Century: Coping with the Contingencies,” sponsored by USU’s Religious Studies Program this afternoon at 4:00 in Old Main 121 on the Utah State University campus.

"Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro" on Tuesday's Access Utah Mar 24, 2015

Show notes

Kara Richardson Whitely knew she could reach the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. She had done it once before. But she failed in a second attempt, struggled with food addiction and looked for ways to cope with feelings of failure and shame. Her weight shot to more than 300 pounds. Deep in her personal gorge, Whitely decided the only way out was up. She resolved to climb the mountain again-and this time, she would reach the summit. And she would do it without waiting for her plus-sized status to disappear. "Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds" is the story of her ascent from the depths of self-doubt to the top of the world.

"Tesla: A Portrait With Masks" On Monday's Access Utah Mar 23, 2015

Show notes

Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla produced hundreds of inventions and ideas which have changed our lives in profound ways, ranging from alternating current to wireless communication to remote control. Tesla's AC defeated Thomas Edison's DC, but Edison is celebrated in America and Tesla is largely unknown. Where he is remembered, Tesla is known as the man who invented the twentieth century, but also as an early archetype of the mad scientist.

ARTsySTEM, Integrating Art With Science On Access Utah Mar 19, 2015

Show notes

"The Arts and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) fields share a necessity for undertaking imaginative inquiry of what we perceive as truth and beauty...So many attempts to integrate art and science simply involve creating art at the end of a scientific breakthrough. With ARTsySTEM, we're merging the disciplines at the very inception of the process." That's USU Assistant Professor of Art Mark Lee Koven, who along with USU Ecology Center Director Nancy Huntly, is spearheading the ARTsySTEM project at Utah State University.

Race And Justice On Wednesday's Access Utah Mar 18, 2015

Show notes

Last July 4 on an outing to Long Island, when shots were fired in the vicinity, ProPublica reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones says that "between the four adults [in the group] we hold six degrees. Three of us are journalists. And not one of us ... thought to call the police. We had not even considered it. We also are all black. And without realizing it, in that moment, each of us had made a set of calculations, an instantaneous weighing of the pros and cons." In "A Letter From Black America," (recently published by ProPublica and Politico Magazine) Hannah-Jones says "to a very real extent, you have grown up in a different country than I have."

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