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Inside Voices: The perspectives you read most in 2024

Plus: A Utah psychiatrist speaks out on insurance standards.

(The Salt Lake Tribune, The Associated Press) From left to right: Bottles of alcohol sit on a shelf at a liquor store in downtown Salt Lake City. The Jazz Bear messes around with a fan at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. A school bus drives through snow in Sugarhouse. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad locomotive No. 223 is seen outside Union Station in Ogden. A gas-lit flame burns on a natural gas stove. LDS faithful walk to the Conference Center.

Happy Saturday, and welcome to Inside Voices, a weekly newsletter that features a collection of ideas, perspectives and solutions from across Utah — without any of the vitriol or yelling that’s become all too common on other platforms. Subscribe here.

Happy Saturday, friends. As we approach the end of the year, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for subscribing to Inside Voices and reading along each week. My hope was to create a forum for opinions you won’t find elsewhere and to share your own experience without any of the vitriol or yelling that’s become all too common on other platforms.

I’m especially grateful to those of you who have shared your perspectives, analyses and ideas. To celebrate that, I’d like to take a look back at some of The Salt Lake Tribune’s most read Voices pieces from 2024:

  1. LDS women should join me in skipping church on Sunday | Kierstyn Kremer Howes
  2. If Ryan Smith can’t afford his own entertainment district, I have no choice but to assume he is poor | Brian Higgins
  3. ‘Heretic’ brings back scary, suffocating memories of my LDS mission | Beth Adams
  4. After three decades of being a Utah Jazz fan, I can’t do it anymore | Bryan Griffith
  5. Christ put his trust in women, why won’t more LDS men? | Rosemary Card
  6. Glen Canyon Dam has created a world of mud | David Marston
  7. The Utah Jazz need to stop giving Karl Malone a platform | Ben Dowsett
  8. For millennial women like me, LDS garments carry a complicated symbolism | Annie Mangelson
  9. Natalie Cline bullied our child, and she should be impeached | Al and Rachel van der Beek
  10. Weber State is embracing change in our approach to serving students. As its leader, I welcome scrutiny. | Brad Mortensen
  11. I grew up in Park City, and I don’t recognize the place it’s become | Fletcher Keyes
  12. Utah, it’s OK to go outside without winning | Brian Higgins
  13. As a parent, I hated sending my kids to school so early. As a sleep researcher, I know how damaging it is. | Wendy Troxel
  14. It’s time to step away | Paul Huntsman
  15. I’ll be at my LDS church this weekend, pushing for change | Amy Watkins Jensen
  16. Why Utah teachers say they’re leaving the profession | Tribune Readers
  17. After six weeks on SLC public transit, I can’t give up my car quite yet | Elise Armand
  18. I’m a Latter-day Saint and a horror expert. Here’s what ‘Heretic’ gets right — and where it went wrong. | Michaelbrent Collings
  19. I’m in Oslo. But I see a big case of Stockholm syndrome in Salt Lake City. | George Pyle
  20. As a former Republican senator in Utah, I’m embarrassed | Stuart C. Reid
  21. Ogden has a rare piece of history. It shouldn’t sit around and gather dust. | Dana Parker
  22. My LDS family adopted an American Indian child in the 1970s. It was wrong, and the church should apologize. | Thomas DeVere Wolsey
  23. The University of Utah can’t ignore us — its staff and faculty — forever | Kristina Lynae
  24. It’s time for Utah chefs to get off their gas | Victoria N. Stafford and Edwin R. Stafford
  25. Liquor store refrigerators boldly usher Salt Lake beer-lovers into the mid-20th century | Brian Higgins

Thanks for sharing and for reading! If you’re interested in contributing an op-ed or Letter to the Editor in 2025, please take a look at our guidelines — which include several helpful prompts — and reach out to me at sweber@sltrib.com.

Utah Voices

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) CEOs and their families check out what organizers are calling the world's largest cardboard fort at the Gateway, during the official launch on Thursday, August 6. The rooms of the fort are dedicated to educate visitors on how to build mental wellness. According to the press release nearly 40% of people say their company has not even asked them how theyÕre doing since the pandemic began, making these people nearly 40% more likely to experience a decrease in mental health. Utah ranks 48 out of 51 for its high prevalence of mental illness and low access to care, according to Mental Health America and in 2019, we had the 5th highest suicide rate in the nation. The fort, called Òroom HereÓ will officially open to the public on Friday, August 7 from Noon to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, 2020.

The following excerpts come from op-eds recently published in The Tribune.

Health insurance

  • “Too often, we’ve seen treatment denied because patients aren’t deemed ‘depressed enough’ by insurance standards, yet as I sit across from them, I see them suffering to the point of suicidal ideation,” writes Utah psychiatrist Alex Mageno. Read more.

    • Housing

  • “Utah has the space to provide support for the unhoused and suburban communities have a chance to lead this charge,” writes Chandler Whitlock, a master’s student at the University of Utah. “Society thrives when we support each other. We can utilize existing resources to support one of our community’s most vulnerable populations.” Read more.

    • Education

  • “In an era where people are concerned about controversial groups and bad actors infiltrating education, shared governance gives a name and a face to the people who are influencing education at the local level,” writes Utah teacher Sarah Nichols. “Parents consistently express trust for their child’s teacher and their own local schools. Removing teachers from the decision-making process will only weaken community influence on public education.” Read more.

    • Diversity, equity and inclusion

  • “The legislators who presented HB261 said that student clubs were to remain untouched, but this did not happen. Instead, this ‘anti-discrimination’ law has undercut some of the most important anti-discrimination organizations in the state,” writes Michael Lee Wood and Jacob S. Rugh at BYU. “We believe the Utah Legislature can correct their mistake and stay true to the aims of anti-discrimination, rooting out racism and interracial support by repealing HB261 in the next legislative session.” Read more.

    • Transgender rights

  • “Anti-trans laws are being proposed and passed almost every day in America. Federal lawmakers are condoning and/or encouraging violence against us. As a teacher and a trans person, my livelihood is in jeopardy,” writes Kiley Campbell. “My question would be: What does de-escalation do to help any of this?” Read more.

    • Share Your Perspective

    (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday December 17, 2024.

    I’m gathering predictions ahead of the new year. What do you see happening — or what would you like to see happen — in Utah in 2025?

    From Bagley’s Desk

    Gift List | Pat Bagley

    I’m always looking for unique perspectives, ideas and solutions that move our state forward. Learn more about our guidelines for an op-ed, guest essay, letter to the editor and more here, and drop me a note at voices@sltrib.com.