By Michael Patrick O’Brien– As a skilled lawyer, I expertly handle many difficult, unique, and unusual matters for my clients. I do so with confidence and poise, teaching myself the…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Those of us who knew and loved the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, fondly recall the place’s unique Quonset hut structure. Yet, two of the…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Salt Lake City is nestled along the Wasatch Front, on the sunset side of a 160-mile long mountain range extending north into Idaho. Because of this…

By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Signs led my troubled family and me to a life-changing event—our first visit to the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah. I don’t mean miraculous messages…

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…

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…