By Michael Patrick O’Brien– If you ever doubt that history is fascinating and ever-changing, consider that at this time a century ago, Utah’s governor was a Democrat, a non-Mormon, and…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– If you asked me a decade ago to identify the most memorable places that I associate with my old friends, the Utah Trappist monks, Salt Lake…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Beginning in the early 1970s, a now-closed Trappist monastery in rural Huntsville in Northern Utah was my home away from home. My 2021 book Monastery Mornings…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– My favorite British writer Charles Dickens wrote words in 1859 that perfectly describe the state of American collegiate athletics today—“It was the best of times, it…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Mark Twain is known around the world for many things, including my personal favorite of his many books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Twain’s name even…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– A century ago, my Northern Utah hometown was a rough and tumble place. Even Chicago gangster Al Capone reportedly said Ogden’s infamous 25th Street was too…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– This Halloween, my favorite Catholic cemetery—off the beaten path in rural Northern Utah—has transfigured into a much happier haunt. Pioneer monks from Kentucky’s Gethsemani Abbey (where…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– The soundtrack of my Notre Dame education—Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run—was released a half century ago in August 1975, well before I knew where I would…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Each October celebration of national book month reminds me that books are some of our most devoted life companions. A relatively new book by a friend…
By Michael Patrick O’Brien– In 1949, a New York City lawyer named Porter R. Chandler offered some farm land in northwestern New York State to Kentucky’s Gethsemani Abbey. The constitutional…