Utah is more than just Mormons, y'know.

So I happened upon this fairly old (mid 2010) article about non-Mormon inhabitants of Utah, and I thought it was quite interesting. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700050353/Other-pioneers-Members-of-various-faiths-made-their-way-to-set-root-in-the-Salt-Lake-Valley.html?pg=1

The article points out that while Utah is Mormon country, our heritage is not solely Mormon. I think that's something that's forgotten in Utah. Many of us are Mormons, yes, and outside Salt Lake City and a few of the former mining towns there's hardly any non-Mormons, but Utah is not 100% of the LDS Church.

Faith of all kinds has long been a factor in Utah, you see. In the Gilded Age, Catholic priests dueled theologically with Baptist preachers, who themselves combated the ever-mighty LDS missionary program. Way back in the latter half of the 1800s, the anti-Mormon military official Patrick Edward Connor incessantly encouraged non-Mormon immigration to Utah, opening up new avenues of faith within the Utah territory while Brigham Young ramped up the missionary program. One of the most celebrated and successful governors of Utah, Simon Bamberger, was a Jew adored by Latter-Day-Saints. Faith defines Utah, yes but not only one faith.

I'm sick and tired of Mormons only seeing their own faith in the history of Utah, and I'm tired of non-Mormons giving up on Utah simply because the majority of Utahns are Mormons. I would love to see all manner of faiths be mentioned in Utah history lessons.

Perhaps learning about other faiths would lead my fellow Utahns, non-Mormon and Mormon alike, to be more interested in different creeds, and thus more tolerant. Heck, Joseph Smith himself said that the contention between the Christian creeds would have to end in order for Jesus to be pleased with us once he comes back. So lets lessen the contention between LDS and Gentile (and yes, for the purposes of this argument, Jews do count as Gentiles. Fun fact, there's a funny story involving Governor Bamberger and the usage of the word Gentile. If anyone wants, I'll mention it in the comments).

Let's build bridges by learning Utah's non-Mormon history, not burn them by remaining ignorant.

"Write what you know".

I promised myself that the first non-introductory post on this blog wouldn't be political, so here goes.

I am a writer. I write. I want to write, and it is enjoyable for me. There's a problem, however. I am told to write what I know. That's the advice that everyone gives you. That's the tried and true method, and it's one that I use. The thing is, you're told to write what you know, but you're not told how to do it.

Oh sure, I can take my knowledge of history, my experiences as a Mormon, and my knowledge of the architecture of Salt Lake City, but nobody tells you how to make your personal experience into an interesting story. You're just told to use your personal experience, with no advice on how it's done.

What's worse is that you're not told what parts of your personal experience would be interesting to someone who doesn't have the same background as you. I mean, I find a few bits of my background boring, and I don't know what would be terribly interesting to someone not of my faith or culture.

So how can I write what I know, when I don't know what should be written?

Sorry for the first real post of this blog being a rant, it's just been an issue I've been annoyed about for years.