By Michael Patrick O’Brien– In September 1988, singer-songwriter Nanci Griffith performed “Love at the Five and Dime” at a Salt Lake City concert. I’d never heard of either her or…
Posts published in “Uncategorized”
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– I realized early on that I loved writing. This explains the many volumes of childhood “books” and “newspapers” that I “published” and foisted on family, friends,…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Newspapers loved writing about the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah. They normally reported some version of the same basic story—Holy Trinity Abbey was an odd…
By Gary Topping– To me, the thing that most makes Utah a great place to live is the fact that it lies at the intersection of three major geophysical provinces:…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– When summer draws to a close each year, I recall how—nearly four decades ago—a seven-year-old boy with impaired vision gave me some lasting insight about the…
By Gary Topping– Almost any bucolic setting will have a calming effect on our too-busy, too-complicated lives. Even a cow pasture does it for me, and I’ll go so far…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– The Trappist monks at the old Huntsville, Utah monastery made various promises to God and each other when they joined the abbey. Some of the most…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Can envy ever be good? It is one of the seven deadly sins. The Ten Commandments tell us not to covet. And in Othello, Shakespeare’s Iago called…
By Gary Topping– Seen any stray stained-glass windows lately? If you have, let me know immediately, because you may have solved the greatest mystery in Utah Catholic history: what happened…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– People came from all around the world to visit Northern Utah’s old Trappist monastery in Huntsville. For some—including six monks from China—the Ogden Valley abbey was…