volunteer

I just had one of the busiest weekends I've had in a really long time. There was everything from shopping to volunteering to working. And school starts tomorrow! No time for sleeping in anymore, it's all business from here on out!

My weekend started Friday with a coffee date to Nobrow Coffee and Tea, a fun little local shop. I had a 3.5 mile run to complete that morning so I decided to run to the shop instead of getting up earlier and running before. I'm so glad I did! It was a fun little experience. And the coffee was great! We went specifically to try a local roaster, La Barba, and it was wonderful. I'll be looking out for them in other places too.

Friday afternoon I met with the roommate and her boyfriend at The Leonardo, a museum downtown for an after hours event. They shared some interesting information linking information overload and science with visualization. Not stuff I would normally seek out, but it always turns out to be interesting. After the presentation we headed over to Squatters, a local brew pub, for beer and dinner and it was so yummy. I've never really had anything there that I didn't like. It's a definitely must-visit if you are ever in the SLC area.

My favorite summer sandals while waiting for our table.

Saturday morning started with a bike ride to yoga and back. My legs and arms are sore a day later and I love it. Shortly after I got back from yoga the roommate and I went to Poor Yorick Art Studios to help set up for the Local First “I Am Local” photo exhibition. I'm the media intern for Local First so it was part work part volunteer hours. The exhibit turned out really nice and it was fun to get all dressed up and head back in the evening to shmooze and chat up interesting people from the community.

Open studio event posters from Poor Yorick.

Me and the roommate at the party.

Between Local First appointments I covered a story for the Salt Lake Tribune. It was a home invasion self defense class taught at a karate school in Sandy. I had never been to a karate class before and it was pretty interesting. I don't think I'll start taking any classes myself, but I would totally be interested in any future bambinos being involved. I really liked the things they teach kids about self-esteem, confidence and focusing on defense instead of offense.

The teacher is on the left. The kids loved jumping on each other when it was time to partner up.

After the Local First photo show I went with a good friend to his cousin's birthday party. We drank too much and stopped at Burger King for cinnamon rolls at 1 a.m. They were wonderful. Totally not paleo but so worth it.

Sunday brought early morning errands, a hangover headache, getting the last of my school supplies and grocery shopping. A volunteer meeting for the Beer Fest next weekend and my first day back at The Daily Utah Chronicle for editing and work for our first issue of the semester. It is still smokey and hazy here, we really need a good storm to blow all this nasty air away. But it was all sunshine and the mountains still look beautiful.

I'm very much looking forward to school starting tomorrow. I'm excited to get into the flow of the newspaper and classes and homework. It's going to be a busy semester and I just can't wait.

This last weekend in Salt Lake City was the Pride Festival. I had been wanting to volunteer at an event or festival this year, when summer came around and I was ready to do it, the Pride Festival was the next one on the schedule. And they needed volunteers. So I filled out the application, got in contact with the coordinator, and was assigned a shift to work.

I was supposed to work Sunday afternoon from 4:30 to 7:30. I checked in at the volunteer tent at 4, they got me in touch with the fork lift operator I would be assisting, and we waited for our work to start. And we kept waiting. And waiting. We waited until 6:30. You see, our part of the work was supporting the take down efforts of the group, which doesn't happen until the festival is over… at 7:00.

Since I didn't have anywhere else to be I let him know I was there to work as long as there was work for me to do. So after the festival ended, the grounds were cleared, we finally got to work. And we worked. And worked. We moved pallets and metal racks around the festival grounds for the volunteers to stack the tables and chairs on. We consolidated the half full pallets to make room for more tables and chairs. We moved dumpsters. We stacked and unstacked pallets. We emptied ice coolers. We worked and worked.

About 11pm I realized I was not hearing the trains anymore. Which was a problem since I had taken trax downtown so I wouldn't have to fight parking. And now the trains weren't running. I was kinda stuck downtown with no vehicle to get home. I was able to call a friend who came to get me in the middle of the night. Life saver.

I worked until about 12:15 when my ride home arrived to save me. After rolling into my apartment just before 1 am, I slept like a log. For about 4 1/2 hours until I had to be up to go to work. The next few days have proved to be long and trying. But I'm making it.

While the experience turned out to be a bit different than I expected, I'm so glad I did it. I worked alongside some people I would not have other wise met. They had a quirky sense of humor, they worked hard, and they had fun while they did it. My kind of people.

I found the Pride Festival to be quite the party. It was loud, fun, and a celebration of individuality and acceptance. And while I don't share their lifestyle choices, I felt accepted and appreciated for who I am, why I was there, and celebrated for my differences. Next year I may not attend the Pride Festival, either as a patron or a volunteer, but I'm certainly glad I went this year.

This year was more attended than last year, over 25,000 people came through during the 2 day festival.

Utah Pride Festival 2011

Utah Pride Center

Marjorie Clark

Mountains are Life

weekend recap

Pride Festival 2011