New community writing center teaching slam poetry

By Anna Tuckett

The Cache Valley Community Writing Center is focusing on performance poetry this month.

Kate Lange, a national slam poetry competition qualifier, taught a workshop for the writing center's Slam September.

Lange's workshop focused on how different styles of poetry are performed.

"For a lot of people performance is the scary part," Lange said. "Everybody has feelings that they're willing to write down, but not everyone is willing to yell about them."

Rachel Telfer, who coordinates the workshops and helps advertise for the writing center, said the first workshops the writing center held were about poetry.

“We’re just experimenting as we go, trying to figure out what people want, what people need,” Telfer said. 

The writing center has professional tutors available after workshops.

“They have specific workshops where you go and talk about like screenplay writing, but after they have tutors who will help you with whatever you’re working on,” Lange said. “The community writing center is a great resource for basically all writers.”

The writing center focuses on helping community members improve their creative writing skills in areas like screenwriting, poetry and novel writing.

“Our goal as a community writing center is to create a community of writers who can feel comfortable and open,” Telfer said “Some people are afraid to share their writing.”

Workshops and tutoring sessions are held every Wednesday.

“We use the Logan Library and we’re so grateful for them for helping us out,” Telfer said.

Cache Valley residents feeling sick after nearby fires

By Anna Tuckett

Cache Valley residents continue to feel the effects of the smoke after the recent Utah and Idaho fires.

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma "have a hard time when there’s smoke or pollution trapped in the valley,” said Alice King, an advanced emergency medical technician for Franklin County Ambulance, located in Preston, Idaho.

King said she noticed the number of respiratory-related calls rising similarly to those received in winter, when toxic inversions are more common.

Lee's pharmacist Jacob Nelson has seen an increase in inhaler prescriptions.

“We’ve seen a lot of Ventolin, which is a rescue inhaler so it’s fast-acting. That one's just been going like crazy,” Nelson said. “People feel the heavy chest tightness or they can’t breathe and it helps open their airways up."

Nelson said the smoke has caused people's allergies to flare up as well, causing an increase in allergy medication purchases.

Few medications are available for reducing respiratory inflammation without a prescription. 

“Bronkaid is probably the closest thing to an over-the-counter product we have that will help with opening the airways in the lungs,” Nelson said.

According to Utah and Idaho fire information, there are no current fires near the Utah-Idaho border

Social media doubling Golden Key Awards attendance

By Anna Tuckett

The Employment Partnership used social media platforms to double the usual number attendees at the annual Golden Key Awards on Sept. 3.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, over 300 community members attended the award ceremony in West Jordan.

The Employment Partnership, a collection of organizations in support of Americans with disabilities, had its members begin connecting their Facebook and Twitter activity to a logo created in celebration of the anniversary at the beginning of the year.

“We started talking with the Employment Partnership about the 25th anniversary back in December,” said Leah Lobato, the head of the Utah Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. “We decided that this year something more needed to take place.”

Lobato said the turnout for the award ceremony is usually around 150 people.

“This year we were able to reach people that we normally couldn’t with the Golden Key awards,” Lobato said.

Storee Powell, the public relations specialist for the Utah Assistive Technology Program, attended and promoted the celebration.

“It was a neat event for younger generations who weren’t there for the act's original pass,” Powell said. “Many people were able to see the progression of where we are today.”

At the ceremony, large and small companies across the state were awarded.

“All of the companies received the awards because of their record for hiring and incorporating people with disabilities into their workforce,” Powell said. “Larry H. Miller received the Freedom award for hiring veterans with disabilities.”

Award recipients included: Zion’s Bank, Large Employer; Nova Group, Medium Employer; Wendy’s (Richfield location), Small Employer; Moore’s Family Restaurant, Ace Award; Larry H. Miller Group, Freedom Award.

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About the Reporter

Anna Tuckett is an undergraduate student at Utah State University, where she studies journalism, marketing, and public relations.
While at Utah State, Tuckett has become well acquainted with the world of social media marketing, including a social media internship for the Utah Assistive Technology Program last spring.
Her last year she spent working for Advantage Sales and Marketing, improving her marketing skills as an event specialist.
She is a fitness enthusiast and hopes to one day run the public relations department of a small, start-up fitness company.
Tuckett lives in Logan, Utah with her husband, Hadley, and two sons, Kamden and Hatcher.