Access Utah

USC Professor Tara McPherson recently gave a lecture in the Tanner Talk series at USU titled "Platforming Hate: The Internet and the Rise of Hate Online." In her talk Professor McPherson examined the ways in which platforms like Discord, Reddit, YouTube, and Facebook are used by various groups to spread hate and white supremacy both on- and off-line. She detailed the active recruitment of white teenage boys in online environments and considered the relationship of these more recent developments to the early digital presence of neo-confederates on the web more than twenty years ago. And she argued that the internet has changed in key ways that help support the spread of white supremacy online.

We’re heartened by all the good being done in our communities by dedicated individuals and nonprofits. They sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve, and you may want to help but don’t know where and how. Today we’re opening the phone lines, email and Twitter to give you the opportunity to spotlight a nonprofit or individual doing good in your community.

Craving Supernatural Creatures: German Fairy-Tale Figures in American Pop Culture analyzes supernatural creatures in order to demonstrate how German fairy tales treat difference, alterity, and Otherness with terror, distance, and negativity, whereas contemporary North American popular culture adaptations navigate diversity by humanizing and redeeming such figures. This trend of transformation reflects a greater tolerance of other marginalized groups (in regard to race, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, social class, religion, etc.) and acceptance of diversity in society today. The fairy-tale adaptations examined here are more than just twists on old stories—they serve as the looking glasses of significant cultural trends, customs, and social challenges. Whereas the fairy-tale adaptations that Claudia Schwabe analyzes suggest that Otherness can and should be fully embraced, they also highlight the gap that still exists between the representation and the reality of embracing diversity wholehe

From Wikipedia: “Sylvia Mendez (born June 7, 1936) is an American civil rights activist of Mexican-Puerto Rican heritage. At age eight, she played an instrumental role in the Mendez v. Westminster case, the landmark desegregation case of 1946. The case successfully ended de jure segregation in California[1] and paved the way for integration and the American civil rights movement.[2]

Barrie Gilbert's fascination with grizzly bears almost got him killed in Yellowstone National Park. He recovered, returned to fieldwork and devoted the next several decades to understanding and protecting these often-maligned giants. He has spent thousands of hours among wild grizzles in Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks, Alberta, coastal British Columbia, and along Brooks River in Alaska's Katmai National Park, where hundreds of people gather to watch dozens of grizzlies feast on salmon. His research has centered on how bears respond to people and each other, with a focus on how to keep humans and bears safe.

We’re answering your questions about Electric Vehicles today. Our guests include USU student and EV owner Samuel Bona; EV owner and early adopter John Loveless; EV and Electric Bicycle owner and USU Associate Professor of Computer Science Nicholas Flann; and Rep. Raymond Ward, who is working to develop an EV charging infrastructure in Utah. Originally aired on 9-10-19

John DeVilbiss writes in USU Magazine, "It flashes like a beacon to millions of birds on migratory marathons. It is a sea in the sand that shimmers lavender in one glance and pale turquoise in another. A place you can go for an entire day without seeing a single soul, yet where two million people live within an hour's drive. It is a lake of paradoxes, said historian Dale Morgan, a liquid lie, said Terry Tempest Williams. The salty truth, however, is that the Great Salt Lake, the largest saline lake in the Western hemisphere, is drying up."

On Thursday's Access Utah, Richard White, Stanford University historian and lecturer, joins us to talk about the transcontinental railroad’s impact on Utah’s environment, culture and political atmosphere. We preview his talk Thursday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m., at the Logan Tabernacle as part of Utah State University Libraries’ 25th annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture.

On this pledge drive edition of Access Utah, we're joined by Dean Joseph Ward of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at USU. We’ll feature segments from our conversations with Nathan Richardson and Renée-Noelle Felice, Jeannie Johnson, and a conversation on community trauma and resilience.

There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation.Traffickers and smugglers, pirates and mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, seabound abortion providers, clandestine oil-dumpers, shackled slaves and cast-adrift stowaways — drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, survival and tragedy, he uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation that emanates from the fishing, oil and shipping industries, and on which the world’s economies rely.

On Monday's Access Utah, we preview an Ethics Slam: an event modeled around a Poetry Slam in the sense that it occurs in a community space and it is open mic. Members of the community are asked to share their thoughts in a civil, respectful manner about a pressing social issue. This slam will focus on responding to climate change. The event takes place on Monday, September 9th at 7:00 p.m at Lucky Slice pizza in Logan.

Legend Tripping: A Contemporary Legend Casebook explores the practice of legend tripping, wherein individuals or groups travel to a site where a legend is thought to have taken place. Legend tripping is a common informal practice depicted in epics, stories, novels, and film throughout both contemporary and historical vernacular culture. In this collection, contributors show how legend trips can express humanity’s interest in the frontier between life and death and the fascination with the possibility of personal contact with the supernatural or spiritual. The volume presents both insightful research and useful pedagogy, making this an invaluable resource in the classroom. Selected major articles on legend tripping, with introductory sections written by the editors, are followed by discussion questions and projects designed to inspire readers to engage critically with legend traditions and customs of legend tripping and to explore possible meanings and symbolics at work. Suggested projects incorporate digital

You’re riding in your self-driving car when suddenly the doors lock, the route changes and you have lost all control. Then, a mysterious voice tells you, “You are going to die.”

Utah State University is joining the nation and state in celebrating significant voting rights anniversaries in 2020: the 150th anniversary of suffrage for Utah women; the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States; and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. As the university honors these important milestones in our history, and as part of those celebrations, Utah State University also declares this the Year of the Woman.

“Northern Indigenous Crees were native to Montana and the northern Plains long before the US-Canada border divided the region. But bisected by the line, Crees became asylum-seekers on their own lands 150 years ago. Though some were granted political refugee status, Crees were still denied basic rights. Instead, many were killed, ignored and deported on both sides of the border. … The Chippewa Cree story is little-known outside the tribe, but it echoes the uncertainty in the immigration crises the US faces today.”

Activists battling climate change, a former child soldier and health workers pioneering new treatments around the world are among thousands of participants who will gather in Salt Lake City, Utah, from 26 to 28 August at the sixty-eighth annual United Nations Civil Society Conference for a global conversation on building inclusive and sustainable cities and communities. More information on the conference can be found here.

Yoga is growing in popularity in the U.S. There were 36 million practitioners (or ~9% of the population) in 2016, up from 20.4 million in 2012, and 28% of Americans have participated in a yoga class at some point in their lives. (Yoga Journal 2016 U.S. Market Research Study). We’ll talk about Yoga, past, present and future on Tuesday’s Access Utah. Our guests include Emily Perry, Director of Yoga Studies at USU; Chantel Gerfen, Owner of Transcend Yoga Studio in Logan; Jennifer Sinor, USU Professor of English, who has been practicing yoga for ~20 years; and Michael Sowder, Poet, USU Professor of English, and affiliated faculty member in USU’s Religious Studies Program and its Yoga Studies Program, where he teaches a course on the History of Yoga.

A terminal cancer patient rises from the grave. A medical marvel defies HIV. Two women with autoimmunity discover their own bodies have turned against them. Matt Richtel's An Elegant Defense uniquely entwines these intimate stories with science's centuries-long quest to unlock the mysteries of sickness and health, and illuminates the immune system as never before.

There is much to fear in the dark corners of cyberspace. From well-covered stories like the Stuxnet attack which helped slow Iran’s nuclear program, to lesser-known tales like EternalBlue, the 2017 cyber battle that closed hospitals in Britain and froze shipping crates in Germany in midair, we have entered an age in which online threats carry real-world consequences. But we do not have to let autocrats and criminals run amok in the digital realm. We now know a great deal about how to make cyberspace far less dangerous–and about how to defend our security, economy, democracy, and privacy from cyber attack.

Nearly every US city would like to be more walkable—for reasons of health, wealth, and the environment—yet few are taking the proper steps to get there. The goals are often clear, but the path is seldom easy. Jeff Speck’s follow-up to his bestselling Walkable City is the resource that cities and citizens need to usher in an era of renewed street life. Walkable City Rules is a doer’s guide to making change in cities, and making it now.