Salt Lake City offers glimpse of socialism, Mormon-style ...

Wow, is it time for the Year in Review already? It seems like only a couple decades have passed since January 1, 2020 -- a year some experts are now saying lasted a full double dog year, 14 human years, or about three stake conferences in length.
Although TSCC's shenanigans were overshadowed this year by outrageously insane behavior from every corner, TSCC nevertheless made its own valuable contributions to the insanity pile -- the icing on the cake, if you will, or perhaps more accurately, the dry heave on top of the stomach-emptying vomit.
But now, as 2020 comes to a close, let us sit back, reflect on the past year, and wonder what the hell was everyone smoking? Yet somehow, despite everything getting turned upside down this year, 2020 still began with . . .
January
Foreshadowing the year to come, 2020 attacks right from the start and scorches Australia with massive wildfires. Also foreshadowing the year to come, TBMs offer to help by skipping a couple of meals and donating the value of those meals to the church, which then used the donated money to pay the cable bill for Brother Richards in your ward. The logic behind this series of transactions is still somehow one of the least confusing aspects of the year to come.
Despite the Book of Mormon literally saying the Lamanites were cursed with dark skin, TSCC claims it was an "error" in the Come Follow Me manual that described the Lamanites' dark skin as a curse. Clarifying the clarification, Pres. Newsroom stressed that it wasn't the dark skin that was the curse, the curse was having to still defend the racist passages in the Book of Mormon in 20 freaking 20.
Finally in January, controversy erupts at BYU over, of all things, ballroom dancing, when BYU announced it would prohibit same sex couples from competing in the US Nationals Amateur Dancesport Championships it was hosting, despite national organization guidelines which allowed same sex couples to compete. Several prominent dancers announced they would boycott the BYU-hosted competition, but BYU stuck to its principles despite this withering pressure from super-intimidating ballroom dancers. Ha ha! But seriously though -- BYU predictably caved and allowed same sex couples to dance in the competition. Pres. Newsroom later defended BYU's changing stance, claiming the university had not sold its values for a mess of pottage but had done so for the glory of ballroom dance, which was a different matter altogether.
February
Two years after Ballard emphatically declared that church leaders weren't hiding anything, church leaders admit in a Wall Street Journal article that they've been hiding 100 billion dollars out of fear members would stop paying tithing if they knew about it. Following the example of shining role model, Enron, TSCC used more than a dozen shell companies to hide their investment portfolio from members. Shocked by this brazen deception, TBMs vigorously protest by continuing to pay a full tithe, keeping their mouths shut, and pretending this is all fine.
In an unusual move, BYU deletes the section prohibiting homosexual behavior from its honor code, leaving the impression that comparable hetero behaviors such as dating and kissing would now be permitted for homosexual students, with BYU's own Honor Code office privately telling students homosexual couples would now be held to the same morality standards as unmarried heterosexual couples. After a photo of two female students kissing outside the honor code office goes viral, BYU spokesperson Carrie Jenkins backpedaled and claimed there had been a "miscommunication", but refuses to say what the school's policy is. After much confusion, the matter is finally cleared up when Mormon church president Nelson issues a statement demanding the media stop referring to him as "Mormon church president Nelson" and insists the media instead refer to him as "brilliantly gifted heart surgeon Nelson".
A man wielding a knife is shot and killed by police after caught trespassing inside the MTC in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Afterward, police claimed the man was clearly suffering from mental illness, noting that he willingly entered a location known to be crawling with Mormon missionaries.
March
In March, absolutely nothing happened, so we can move on to April -- unless you consider the beginning of the apocalypse, the end of the world as we know it, and the imminent return of Jesus to be worth mentioning.
But first, in March: in the midst of continued confusion over the BYU honor code change, Ballard offers hope to the LGBT community when he delivers a BYU devotional speech condemning marginalizing anyone based on sexual orientation, calling it "evil and horrifying". Gay BYU students barely have time to applaud Ballard's speech when, the very next day, BYU -- which aspires to the level of evil and horrifying -- marginalizes LGBT students by issuing a formal letter stating that no, they are still not allowed any form of romantic expression because such behaviors still violate the "principles", if not the actual language, of the honor code. Clarifying the matter further, BYU spokesperson Carrie Jenkins said LGBT students should have known all along the honor code changes were meant for the Big 12 Conference and not for them.
TSCC gets pummeled from all sides in March, with God hitting Salt Lake City with a 5.7 earthquake that breaks the angel Moroni statue on top of the temple, and Covid forcing TSCC to cancel church services, close its temples, recall missionaries from overseas missions, close the MTCs, and cancel all BYU sports, just as the basketball team looked to have its best showing in the NCAA tournament in years. Summing up the disastrous month, Pres. Newsroom said TSCC hasn't taken a beating that bad since the last BYU-Utah football game.
April
In a historic first, TSCC cancels the live audience for general conference. The precaution was necessary, Pres. Newsroom said, to prevent panicky Mormons from stealing all the toilet paper in the Conference Center.
Recalling that last October Nelson promised a conference unlike any other, TBMs feverishly share wild rumors in the run-up to April conference, ranging from Jesus Christ personally appearing at conference to the prophet solemnly ordering members to pack up and move to Missouri. Realizing the conference had been a deep disappointment compared to expectations, Nelson tried to spin the narrative by insisting the conference had achieved a historic first: for the first time ever, not a single live audience member had fallen asleep during a session.
In the midst of a global pandemic, economic collapse, apocalyptic rumors, and widespread unemployment, TSCC demonstrates how keenly they are in touch with members' needs when they . . . rollout a new church logo. Dubbed "Snow Globe Jesus", the new logo design barely won out over top contenders Bobblehead Jesus and 70s Playgirl Centerfold Jesus.
Having failed in their first fasting attempt to eradicate Coronavirus, Nelson announces a second, more powerful fast to be held on Good Friday, for an extra spiritual power-up. Cases in Utah -- which averaged 100 positive cases per day prior to the fast -- promptly doubled, then tripled, then increased 5x, then increased 10x, then increased 20x, then increased 30x . . . Alarmed at the exponential increase in cases, Utah lawmakers hurriedly pass legislation preventing Mormons from conducting a third fast.
May
TSCC -- long accused of being a money-seeking corporation masquerading as a religion --releases plans for the Tooele Utah temple, including a master planned community of high-priced homes surrounding the temple which will be developed, and profited by, TSCC. When asked about the comparison to Jesus driving the money changers at the temple, Pres. Newsroom happily cited the prepositional loophole of "at" vs. "around" to justify TSCC's money changing behavior. When informed that the same Hebrew preposition means "at, in, by, or near" in English and therefore the church is technically still in violation of Jesus's injunction, Pres. Newsroom claimed his religious freedom was under attack from linguistics.
In the midst of a global pandemic, economic collapse, apocalyptic rumors, and widespread unemployment, TSCC again demonstrates how keenly they are in touch with members' needs when they . . . proudly release updated standards for the artwork permitted in church foyers. Although Caucasian Jesus predictably won the coveted approval, Pres. Newsroom let it be known there was stiff competition from top contenders Catholic Sacred Heart Jesus and Fat Buddha.
In what many observers regarded as a somewhat controversial move, two BYU students, Jeff and Steve, are disciplined by the honor code office for failing to say "no homo" after engaging in a handshake that lingered a bit too long.
June
In the midst of a global pandemic, economic collapse, apocalyptic rumors, and widespread unemployment, TSCC again demonstrates how keenly they are in touch with members' needs when Rebrand Rusty makes a fashion update to that most recognizable symbol of Mormonism, the missionary in the white shirt. Although missionaries may now wear blue shirts, over-zealous elders quorum presidents everywhere want you to know you will still be looked down upon if you wear a blue shirt to quorum meeting.
Three months after Ballard condemned persecution of the LGBT community as "evil and horrifying", TSCC files an amicus brief in a Supreme Court case, arguing in favor of the right to fire LGBT employees simply for being LGBT and not for any job violation. When asked whether the church was now "evil and horrifying" or whether Ballard had been wrong in his devotional address, Pres. Newsroom wondered aloud how difficult it would be to find another job in this weak economy.
In the face (ha ha!) of rising anti-mask sentiment, a coalition of Utah religious leaders sign a joint statement urging Utahns to wear face masks. TSCC is represented in the coalition by a counselor in the Utah area presidency, who ranks on the Mormon authority meter somewhere around the assistant secretary of the Beehive class.
In a fiery online speech, Bednar complains about the loss of religious freedom during the pandemic, claiming that governments had forced TSCC to shut down. When pointed out to him that other churches adapted by conducting online services, and that Alma 32:10 specifically says that meeting in a church is not required, Bednar doubled-down on his complaint, insisting that his religious freedom to sit on the stand and be adored by the congregation each week had most definitely been infringed.
July
In an all-out attack on exmos, the July Ensign boldly claims that truth will never be found on exmormon sites. Exmos quickly compiled a list of truths hidden by TSCC that were revealed on exmo sites, such as the $100 billion Ensign Peak investment, general authority pay, the seer stone translation method, the LGBT policy of exclusion, the multiple versions of the first vision, and church tithing money being invested in City Creek. When confronted by this list, the Ensign published a follow-up article claiming its religious freedom to lie about its religion was under attack.
Looking to send a stronger signal on the mask mandate, the full Utah area presidency now issues an official statement to members, urging them to wear masks in public. This upgraded authoritative mandate now ranks on the Mormon power meter somewhere around a ward PEC meeting with half the attendees asleep.
Finally in July, Utah County Mormons make national news when, in the midst of the pandemic, they crowd into a packed Utah County Commission meeting, purposefully not wearing masks, to demand that area schools reopen without requiring students to wear masks, because -- given the size of their excessively large families -- the least the school district could do is help them trim the number back a bit.
August
In the midst of a global pandemic, economic collapse, apocalyptic rumors, and widespread unemployment, TSCC again demonstrates how keenly they are in touch with members' needs when Rebrand Rusty renames the church magazines. The Ensign will be rebranded as The Liahona and The New Era will now be called For the Strength of Youth, because "New Era" simply wasn't weird enough. TSCC also dropped the old fashioned term "garments", now calling its special underwear For The Strength of Your Loins.
Colleges across the country begin to reopen, but with modified sports schedules, leaving independent football school BYU scrambling to fill its schedule at the last minute. Announcing its modified schedule, BYU noted that the 200,000 U.S. Covid deaths, while tragic, were a small price to pay to guarantee that BYU would not lose to Utah in football again this year.
And August wraps up with the First Presidency issuing a letter forbidding bishops and stake presidents from testifying in court cases, because the last people TSCC wants on the stand are leaders who have pledged to be honest in all their dealings.
September
Always striving to use the full name of the church and emphasize the name of Jesus Christ, Rebrand Rusty renames LDS Business College to Ensign College, after the itself recently rebranded Ensign magazine, with neither rebranding using the full name of the church or of Jesus Christ. This series of name changes is still, somehow, one of the least confusing aspects of 2020.
With the Covid epidemic worsening by the day, TBMs plead with God in fervent prayer to please let them die of Covid before they have to eat the 40 year old buckets of wheat in the basement.
October
Feeling like 2020 hasn't kicked enough people while they are down, Christofferson attacks a vulnerable group in his general conference talk by insulting single women who choose to have their baby rather than have an abortion, calling their children "bitter fruit." When asked about his choice of words, Christofferson defended himself, saying that he couldn't very well call them "bastards" over the conference center pulpit, now could he?
Two years after gaslighting church youth about polygamy at a Face 2 Face broadcast in Nauvoo, Master Gaslighter Cook uses his general conference address to gaslight the entire church over slavery and Native American relations. Boldly claiming the church was always against slavery and had great relations with the Native Americans, Cook spun a beautiful but demonstrably false narrative. It was somewhat surprising then, when independent fact checkers awarded Cook's talk the exact same credibility level as the other conference addresses.
The Book of Mormon becomes the surprise publishing hit of the Fall, with copies flying off the shelves, after Mormon Senator Mike Lee compares serial adulterer, porn-star banging, own-daughter-lusting Donald Trump to Book of Mormon fictional character Captain Moroni. Publishing experts scrambled to proclaim the Book of Mormon the next big hit in the popular billionaire porn genre, adding that a powerful, shirtless military captain in the early Americas breathed new life into the somewhat tired genre. Negative reviews soon killed book sales, however, with reviewers slamming Captain Moroni as "even more vanilla than my parents", with one reviewer tartly noting that even if all the "coming to passes" were replaced with "coming with lasses", the book would still be boring beyond belief.
November
With a contested US election, rumors and accusations flying on all sides, and the Constitution hanging by a thread, Mormon Senator Mitt Romney fulfills the long-awaited "White Horse" prophecy by saving the Constitution and the election by acknowledging that Trump lost the election and there is no legal path to overturn it. TBMs rejoice in the prophecy's fulfillment and delight in their role at preserving the US Constitution in such a critical moment. Ha ha! No. TBMs start a petition calling for Romney's impeachment, continue to call for overthrowing the election result, and demand that God himself reissue the white horse prophecy, with the "right" side winning this time. For his part, God answered the prayers of the right-wing petitioners in exactly the same way he answered Joseph Smith's prayer in 1820.
With the Covid epidemic worsening by the day, Nelson addresses the full church and kind of, sort of hints that members should maybe follow medical advice and wear masks. TBMs, who only last March were waxing poetic about God calling a doctor -- a doctor! -- to be president of the church during a pandemic, promptly ignore Nelson's counsel and turn to the real experts: some anonymous guy on Youtube and Aunt Phyllis on Facebook.
In what many observers regarded as a somewhat controversial move, BYU roommates Emma and Madison are disciplined by the honor code office for sitting too close together on the couch while watching a romcom on Netflix.
December
December opens with the traditional First Presidency Christmas devotional, but with the unusual sight this year of the first presidency seated in a socially distant arrangement. Noting the seating change, Nelson likened the social distancing to the Savior himself, who -- as in all things -- had led by example by socially distancing himself from the church for 200 years now.
In a final effort stressing the importance of masks, Elder Renlund -- himself a Covid survivor -- releases a video unambiguously instructing members to wear masks, calling it a sign of Christlike love. TBMs, many of whom opposed mask-wearing, thoughtfully ponder this clear counsel from one of God's chosen mouthpieces and reflect how to bring their lives in harmony with . . . Ha ha! No. TBMs excoriate Renlund for being too political and grumble that if everyone wears a mask, they might have to start going back to church soon, and no one wants that.
Fairmormon -- already sufficiently embarrassing thanks to its own tortured apologetics -- sinks to a new level of shame by releasing clownish videos attacking the CES letter on a Youtube show called This Is The Show, or TITS for short. As if that weren't juvenile enough, show host Kwaku El, in a fit of bravado, threatens to kill John Dehlin -- which even stiff-necked exmos know violates at least one of the commandments. Fairmormon's behavior is so appalling that even Tapir Dan Peterson, former Fairmormon shill and staunch defender, distances himself from the group and resigns from its board. Fairmormon's antics -- disturbing as they are -- somehow still provide a comforting assurance that even in 2020, when everything is upside down, some things still remain the same: the best weapon against the church isn't the CES letter, it's a passionate Mormon believer with a microphone.
And now, fellow exmos, as 2020 -- finally! -- comes to a close, let us gather our families together in the fallout bunkers where we are hiding, and wish each other a better and brighter 2021. It can't get any worse, can it?
No, really -- can it?
Happy New Year, exmos.

The Sins of the Parents Are Affecting The Children of the Mormon Latter Day Saint Church

One saying that is often brought up is this one, "The sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children." Moses 6:54
But can they?
Statistically we know that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka 'Mormon' or 'Latter Day Saint') those now leading and paving the way in the church are those sixty and older. According to Pew Research, 2/3 (66%) of the population in the church is under age 50. However, the level of activity of those under 50 has waned significantly over the years and often those over the age of 50 are assuming the positions of the major leadership roles of the church. We also know statistically that there are greater divisions among the younger and older populations of the church. Statistically the younger populations of the church (under 50) tend to be less conservative in their religious and political views, view LGBTQIA+ issues with more acceptance, and are more open to the non nuclear family structure.
This has caused a significant division in the church in recent years and this division has been apparent in the tone the church is taking in general meetings. Those 50 and younger in the past twenty years have noticed the sins of our parents affecting them (the children) in the church. Those who have been in the church since at last 2000 have noticed over the past twenty years that the church has struggled with the backtracking of their positions on LGBTQIA+ issues, womens issues, and more. In 2000, President Hinckley across the pulpit encouraged women to wear only one pair of modest earrings and refrain from tattoos. He encouraged men to not wear earrings at all and also to not tattoo. But the whole women's "modest earrings" had some teens scratching their heads wondering why? The church rode high and garnered a lot of positive attention following the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. But in 2008, the churches stand on Proposition 8 and it's opposition to gay marriage would begin to make headlines nationwide. LDS church members were by far the largest donors financially to Proposition 8, and while other churches were encouraging their members to donate, the LDS (Mormon) church was by far the most vocal. Members canvassed house to house and waged massive campaigns in their local neighborhoods and communities. Congregations were even given zip code assignments for canvassing. In the aftermath of Prop 8, the church was legally fined for failing to report earnings, and a great silent division was erupting within the pews of the church on this issue. This furthered again when the issue of gay marriage became a division within the church when the 2015 an announcement from the church "banned baptisms for children of gay parents and made gay marriage a sin worthy of expulsion." In 2019, this ruling was reversed by the church and a more tolerant acceptance was distributed church wide.
Another issue that has also been a hot topic in the church is the news of the church having close to $100 billion dollars stored away. The church has largely kept quiet on it's net worth and the way it distributes money. However, this division has caused quite a stir within the church. Members of the church yearly must meet with their bishop in a tithing settlement interview. This interview includes a person declaring if they have paid 10% of their net earnings throughout the year to the church. If a person is not a full tithe payer, blessings like holding a temple recommend or holding certain callings within the church can be withheld from a member until they become a full tithe payer again. This has caused many within the church, especially during the recession and subsequent pandemic years to question the churches stance on finances and how it views its members of the church who struggle financially. Many have stated their church leaders appear "loving and understanding in their words but callus in their actions." Meaning the leadership is empathetic to that person's hardship but until you have a plan for paying tithing again and execute it for x amount of time you are not going to be considered worthy to receive a temple recommend again. 2020 was also a very difficult year for many members as the pandemic raged through the world. Those members of the church in the United States struggled especially hard as jobs were slashed, deaths piled up (over double of other countries) and the government remained divided on how to help struggling Americans. Which left many Americans struggling. Each general conference (a conference of all of the church members in the world) in 2020 brought news from the headquarters of the church in Salt Lake City Utah that new temples were going to be built (8? new temples were announced in 2020). It is estimated that each temple costs approximately $10-50 million dollars each to build. (Speculative, the church doesn't readily provide the information on the cost of the temples). It also is still in the process of building many temples across the world and some like the historic Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah are undergoing costly renovations to the tune of multi millions of dollars.
The issue of woman in the church has also grown to become a very popular topic in recent years. The growing population of women within the church (and many other churches) has been a topic that is largely slid under the rug amongst higher up church officials. Utah, the state with the largest population of those in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been voted as the worst in the nation for women's equality. Women hold only a slim amount of leadership callings within the church congregations and have even slimmer leadership callings among the head of the church. Church history has also pointed to evidence that women were able to give healing blessings to their family members. The church in recent years in reply to women speaking out more vocally in the church against these issues has given out small bones to women of the church. one change includes some of the temple wordage being changed. Women are no longer encouraged to obey their husbands during the temple cermony as they had in the past. They can also stand as witnesses at baptisms and temple ceremonies now. But they can still not hold any major leadership callings in the church, except for those over the women themselves. And often they may be one person on a committee of men in major leadership meetings. And often women of abuse at the hands of their husbands or who are going through a divorce have only men in leadership positions to go to to receive permission to receive help with their bills, counseling, food, clothing help etc initially. Once a woman goes to the bishop, or the leader of their local congregation to explain her situation, she can then receive help. The bishop then tells the female leadership of the congregation (the Relief Society president) to help that member receive food and clothing help. It can be a very difficult situation for a woman to go through if she is also dealing with an abusive husband or spouse.
The name emphasis to the church also sparked some great debate. Several years ago the prophet of the church announced that the correct name of the church must be used, "the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." The website of the church was redirected to the new site "churchofjesuschrist.org" and interestingly the biggest change came with the fizzling of the critics. SEO is a great thing. One column stated that "it’s hard to be a prophet in the age of the iPhone, when any statement can be fact-checked in real time." Which was definetely to the prophets disadvantage for awhile. But the prophet did a great thing by "correcting" the name of the church. With all the criticism of the church in the past twenty years and the facts that have come to a head about the church, correcting the name now allows the division of "good" versus "bad" to become more apparent. It's now much harder to find critical articles on the "church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" versus "criticism of Mormons" or "LDS". And statistically today, critics of the church still use "LDS" and "Mormon" more than the corrected name. So it makes it easier now for the prophet and his team to find those critics and point out what they are saying against the church while other things happening in the church that should be noticed (like women's issues, etc.) can be easier swept away and blurred in the internet and land of SEO by the prophet and his team.
Jana Reiss, popular religion scholar and religious writer brings to head in a very vague manner this idea of the "sins of the parents affecting the children." She writes "we've learned three things in the past decade (about the LDS church), first, that the church has made clear progress in it's position on LGBTQ+ issues, second, that it (the church) does change in response to internal and external criticism even while insisting that such pressure has no effect; and, third, that it's evolution is not a linear process. There is progress, then backtracking, then some more progress."
But are the backtracking moments the church has gone through over the past twenty years affecting the children of the church now? Numbers are declining in the church, especially amongst younger generations in the church and recently '20 things that the church has done to appeal to millenials' has come out as the church has desperately tried to cling onto the younger generation of LDS. But it doesn't seem to hold a lot of merit when the church pews are still being controlled and run by those who are clinging to old customs and the way of the church while toting how loving and accepting they are. Just watch as the older generation openly stares at a gay couple that walks into church and then listen as they gurgle out a few awkward and uncomfortable words to them after the church meeting. The prophet himself every time he talks has to speak on loving all, not judging, prejudice and accepting all members no matter how active or not they are. That largely speaks volumes to the fact that the leadership may be trying to appeal more to everyone in the church and unify them by directing and teaching and focusing on Christ's core principles. But is it being heard by the generation that will (hopefully) fill the pews long after this current generation is gone? They don't hold much leadership or voice to change much of anything in the church unless they hold on and hope that in 20-30 years they get put into a position that they can have more of a voice. But will it be enough or will those remaining be groomed to follow this type of small progress, backtracking, small progress, backtracking cycle the church has seemed to embrace since it's inception? Is this current generation (Millenial and Gen Z) saying it's enough and turning away from the sins of their parents (and grandparents), not wanting to be a part of the backtracking history the church has? It will be interesting to see in the coming years if the sins of the parents continue, if we see the church grow, or if we see much smaller numbers of those in the church.
What are your thoughts?

I think I came in contact with a cult

Housewife highlights/Daily shit talk - January 21st, 2021

SALT LAKE CITY

‘Real Housewives of Salt Like City’ Star Heather Gay on Escaping Mormonism to Become a Real Housewife (Kevin Fallon for The Daily Beast)

"It is an episode of The Real Housewives and so, just as the sky is blue and the grass is green, a woman is screaming and crying in public. In this instance, it was in the snowy parking lot outside of a Prohibition era-themed cocktail party in Salt Lake City, the surprising location of the most recent installment of the Bravo franchise.
Cast member Jen Shah, in her beaded ball gown with an attention-demanding train, had just finished yelling at her arch-enemy Mary Cosby, who had recently offended Shah by saying she “smelled like hospital.” (Shah had been holding vigil over her aunt who had both legs amputated.)
Across the loud restaurant, Shah was calling Cosby a “grandpa-fucker”—which, well, is at least adjacent to the truth. Cosby had married her late grandmother’s husband, her own step-grandfather, as part of a stipulation to inherit the family’s empire of churches; Cosby and her husband/former step-grandfather have a son together.
And yet it is Shah, the woman who was calling someone else a “grandpa-fucker,” who is fleeing the soiree in a semi-sloshed huff of hysterics, ushered with concern into the snowy parking lot where a fleet of Ubers and black cars are playing a precarious game of Tetris. Guiding the teetering basketcase as she drunkenly navigates snowdrifts in high heels is fellow cast member Heather Gay, the rarest gem of reality-TV personality: a pillar of calm, an audience stand-in and voice of reason, and still a goddamn hoot to watch in her own right.
With an almost serene assuredness—in stark contrast to the bonanza of boozed-up buffoonery staging a circus around her—Gay, in her 1920s-themed dress and Gatsby-esque headpiece, zig-zags the parking lot on the phone with Shah’s husband, attempting to wave him down like an air traffic controller guiding in a plane. It’s then that she delivers what may be the line of the inaugural season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City: “You’ll see me. I look like a flapper with cankles.”
If you read the preceding five paragraphs, you’ll know it’s no small feat that, with all that going on, it’s Gay, in all of her centeredness and quick wit, who has become the breakout star of what’s been the buzziest installment of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise in years.
Gay, who describes herself as “a purebred, pedigreed, pioneer Mormon”—and whose emotional candor about deciding to leave the church is at the crux of her Real Housewives arc—has accepted and embraced that “a flapper with cankles” is now an inextricable part of her identity, as much as being a divorced single mother, successful business owner, and former Mormon.
When we connect over Zoom ahead of Wednesday night’s new episode of RHOSLC (the girls go on a group trip to Las Vegas), she giggles at the mere mention of the now-famous line.
“It was an outtake!” she laughs. Production was around, Shah was inconsolable, and she was just trying to find Shah’s husband and bring a semblance of peace back to Utah.
“I was just doing what you normally do. You try to de-escalate with humor and make some jokes and just let everyone know it’s gonna be OK. I was in mom mode, like, ‘Let’s get her in the car. Let’s get her out. And don’t worry about it. You may be uncomfortable, but I’m a flapper with cankles. It can’t be much worse than that.’”
It’s a testament to Real Housewives’ evolution that the woman whose chief concern is de-escalation, and not concocting more petty drama, is emerging as the new installment’s fan-favorite.
Don’t be misled. RHOSLC contains scenes that belong in the pantheon of Housewives lunacy alongside table-flips, fake-leg tosses, and wig snatches. But there’s something about the confidence and maturity with which Gay interacts with the other, more volatile women in her cast—combined with her self-deprecating sense of humor and, ultimately, humility—that makes her a crisp breath of fresh mountain air in a genre that’s gone scorched-earth with personalities that stoop and pander to base-level drama.
To assign specific Housewives references, she’s got Lisa Vanderpump’s ability to be intimately connected to everyone’s tangled web of dramas while appearing above it all; Bethenny Frankel’s knack for clever-in-the-moment wordplay and one-liners; and the authority and projected intelligence to be the voice of reason without sacrificing her own right to be the goofy life of the party—a Dorinda Medley specialty—all while being clear-eyed and articulate about a very personal, sensitive issue: her experience with the Mormon church, why she left it, and how speaking about the darker aspects of her journey have complicated her relationships with those she loves.
Gay had just wrapped shooting the show’s reunion, which Grand Poobah of Real Housewives Andy Cohen touted as the longest taping in franchise history, and gotten back to Salt Lake City when we connected. With the show’s first season nearing its end and a reunion—easily the most traumatic filming day for cast members—in the bag, we ask Gay if she officially feels like a Real Housewife now.
“I hate to go dark and deep on you…” she cautions, a running theme to our conversation, “but I don’t think I ever even allowed myself to believe that it would really happen.” Initially, she was just volunteering to connect friend and RHOSLC cast member Lisa Barlow with other Salt Lake City businesswomen she knew through her Botox spa business, never imagining she’d be in the running for a TV slot herself.
She makes a note to parse that further with her therapist, but manages some introspection about it: that maybe this is why she works on the show.
“I watched all these women over the years and just admired that they had the balls to go and put their life out there, good, bad, and ugly,” she says. “I’ve always had empathy for the women because I’m grateful that we get to escape into their lives. I think I probably feel, subconsciously, a compulsion to just open it up and lean into the bloopers of life because that’s what I cherished about the show and that’s also what I know I’m capable of.”
She laughs: “Like I can’t be Lisa Vanderpump. I’m not going to be feeding swans anytime soon.”
When Bravo announced that the next new installment of its Real Housewivesfranchise would be Salt Lake City, fans were certainly intrigued… but also confused.
If there is one recurring character that appears in every episode of every city’s version of the series, it is alcohol. In fact, it may be the star of the show. How would a version of Housewives set in a city where the Mormon church—and its moral imperatives that forbid alcohol consumption—has its tendrils in every aspect of life possibly produce a season that feels at all in line with what the franchise is known for? (Which is to say: messy partying.)
And beyond that, while there is an obvious fascination with the intricacies of Mormonism and the social lives of its followers, would Bravo and the Real Housewives franchise, of all outlets, really be equipped to educate and enlighten the country on such a delicate and controversial subject matter?
On the one hand, the more serious story arc is in line with the evolution of Real Housewives, which has, in recent seasons, incorporated difficult conversations about politics, the Black Lives Matter movement, sobriety, sexuality, the pandemic (and, with it, COVID conspiracies), and the responsibility of Black women in the public eye into its otherwise absurd and diverting brand of entertainment. On the other, this is God we’re talking about.
Critics have noted that the RHOSLC cast all currently live lives tangential to the church, though all have deep personal ties to it in their pasts. While some wonder whether it would have been prudent to cast women who are still involved in the religion—Mormon “mommy bloggers” are a niche segment of successful social media influencers, for example—the women are all remarkably candid about how Mormonism impacts almost every aspect of their daily lives.
As Gay explains on the show, her family crossed the plains and settled in Utah generations ago. Her Housewives tagline: “Just like my pioneer ancestors, I’m trying to blaze a new trail.” All of her descendants can be traced back to Mormonism, she says. Her three daughters with her ex-husband were all brought up Mormon, too.
Growing up, she was taught to place all of her value in who she married and his connection to the church. So it was like winning the lottery, both religiously and financially, when she married into what she calls “Mormon royalty.” Her ex-husband, who she was married to for 11 years, comes from a family that she says is worth “billions.” His grandfather was Howard Hughes’ driver and “henchman.” When Hughes died, his family inherited a large portion of his estate.
(A business owner in her own right, Gay is no financial slouch. She owns a cosmetic spa chain called Beauty Lab + Lasers that, according to Decider, is worth north of $20 million.)
Gay and her ex-husband divorced five years ago, a byproduct of her increasing disillusionment with the conservative, myopic teachings of the church and the constraints that were put on her as a woman. Discovering how to be an independent woman when her entire life was spent being told that she was nothing without the salvation of the church and her marriage sent her into an existential tailspin, one that she is just now recovering from and talking about for the first time on the show.
When it came time to discuss the Mormon church on camera, “I approached it really cautiously,” she says. “As much as I feel compelled to expose the things that have forced me to walk away from my faith and to teach my children differently, my entire extended family, my entire community, my customers all have one toe in the pond of Mormonism.”
Attempting to characterize what Utah is like to the uninitiated, she explains that most people you meet will either downplay or pretend they have no connection to Mormonism. But spend 10 minutes chatting with them, and you’ll learn that they left the church when they were 15, or their family is still involved, or they consider themselves “Mormon 2.0,” which means they follow lax rules when it comes to indulgence and consumption.
“I always say, just scratch under the soil a little bit and you can Erin Brockovich it,” Gay says. “There it is, green as a shamrock: Mormonism in the soil.”
At a time of extreme polarization, especially in pop culture, when bad is bad and good is good and nothing is shaded or in between, she was worried how discussing this so truthfully would play.
“How do you address something as nuanced as a religion that has a very complicated history and even more complicated present? At the same time, it’s what created you and what has informed every decision in your life. Not just, you know, who to pray to. What clothes to wear. What college to attend. Who to marry. Where to live. What to study. What children to have. How to raise your children. Every choice was under this umbrella of a faith that I was walking away from and that my family and community were still entrenched in.”
Every lapsed Mormon has lingering scars of the teachings that inform how they talk about leaving the church. She could have gone on Bravo and taken the PR approach, delivering innocuous answers that she’s been trained to give about the faith and its teachings in order to avoid exploiting the fascination in the religion and creating unnecessary discord.
“But that’s not the truth,” she says. “There’s a reason I’m walking away from the church, and there’s a reason I want to teach my children differently. And it’s because there are fundamental flaws in the doctrine. While I would love to stay in the culture and be embraced by my community, at the same time I am deeply passionate about being unflinchingly honest about how damaging the doctrine is to the LGBTQ community, to single women, and to women in general. And our history with racism. That’s all real and that’s all true. You can spin it positively, or you can just say it’s ugly, it’s bad, and let’s stop.”
Her awakening came about two years ago, she says, when she felt she was failing at her attempt to “toe the line” for her children: distancing herself from the church because of her fundamental disagreement with its teachings, but still wanting her daughters to belong in the community. But as they got older, she couldn’t reconcile lying to them anymore. She was losing respect for herself, and they were losing respect for her. On the show, she speaks openly with them about it for the first time.
When I ask what the reaction has been to her talking openly about leaving the church, she doesn’t mince words: It’s been rough.
“I’m definitely a Benedict Arnold,” she says. “The thing that makes it the most uncomfortable is that I live with the people I used to go to church with every day. My Uber driver was a man from my congregation that I had sat in Sunday School lessons with. My daughter’s friend’s moms are women who feel offended by the fact that I’m on the show and saying the things I’m saying.”
What she has to keep telling herself is that she’s saying these things because they’re true. Because they’re her experience. And it’s not helpful to spin them in a positive way. “I don’t want to apologize for that. but I feel sympathetic and I feel ashamed. And I feel compelled to apologize, constantly.”
We talk briefly about how all of this fits in with the new identity of Bravo series and Real Housewives, which has cast members speaking openly about their experiences with Black Lives Matter. Fans have begun to hold stars accountable for their political opinions and social beliefs. What she’s doing isn’t exactly in line with that socio-political discourse. But she is articulating in a remarkable way what is a very sensitive relationship to religion and a fraught journey to assert her own independence and worth.
“For better or worse I have influence because I have followers,” she says. “I have followers because I am crazy and unstable and make food jokes. I don’t have followers because I am smart or important or know how to navigate this. I am as overwhelmed as everybody.”
“So I want to absolutely be an advocate for the things I’m passionate about,” she continues. “But I also feel like everyone deserves the right to change the channel and not have their, you know, ‘flapper with cankles’ Housewife spouting off about their political views—be they the same or different from you.”
Maybe this is another case of Heather Gay’s humility: her inability to understand that, after this first season of RHOSLC, fans will likely follow the flapper with cankles anywhere she goes."

Jen Shah on the dangers of calling women of color ‘scary’ (Page Six exclusive)

"After allegedly being called “scary” on a recent episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” Jen Shah says she wants her co-stars to understand how dangerous that label is for women of color.
Shah, who is of Tongan and Hawaiian heritage, yelled and threw a glass during her husband Sharrieff’s birthday party when she heard that Meredith Marks and Lisa Barlow had allegedly made the claim — and in a sneak peek of this week’s episode, the women deny having said it.
“It means something different to us,” Shah, 47, told Page Six in a recent interview.
Shah also noted that none of the ladies called co-star Heather Gay “scary” after a recent blow-up.
“Heather came on there and was like, ‘I’m going to cut a bitch.’ Everyone laughed,” Shah said. “If I said that I’d be in handcuffs, they’d be dragging me over to the jail if I said that.”
She added, “There’s this double standard and I hope that we can get some education from it and people can make some changes… I don’t think it’s coming from a place of being malicious. I think it’s coming from a place of ignorance.”
Shah explained that she touched upon how her life is different from some of her co-stars’ during the recently filmed reunion, and told us that she worries for her sons’ safety growing up in an affluent, gated neighborhood. She said that she will sometimes follow her 16-year-old in her car when he goes on a run at night as part of his football training.
“I’m afraid they’re going to see a black boy,” she said. “And they’re going to think, ‘Oh, my gosh, he’s robbing someone’s house and running away.’ You hear those stories all the time. And as a mom, it scares the crap out of me.”
She also stopped her older son from driving Las Vegas with friends for spring break because he would have been driving an expensive car and she worried police would think he had stolen it.
“These are the things I have to deal with that my [white] castmates don’t,” she explained. “That’s why it’s for me it’s so hard, it’s so dangerous to label a person of color or to accuse them of something when they’re just freely throwing around terms.”
And while some viewers may think that Shah can have over-the-top reactions and lavish parties, she explained, “My family and I, we’ve had to work very hard for what we have and things mean a little bit more to us than probably other people … Yeah, I am big and over-the-top because hell yeah I’m gonna celebrate every single thing and milestone we accomplish.
“I want to celebrate — I want people to see that people of color are doing great things.”

Andy Cohen Confirms Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Will Return for Season 2 (WWHL/People)

ORANGE COUNTY

Shannon Beador Wishes Tamra Judge ‘Good Luck’ Amid Speculation She’s Returning Next Season (HollywoodLife exclusive)

"With Season 15 of The Real Housewives of Orange County coming to a close, fans are already discussing the future of the series. More specifically, they’re hoping that longtime cast member Tamra Judge will return after exiting the show in 2020. But don’t count Tamra’s former friend Shannon Beador as one of those hoping to see Tamra make a comeback. During an exclusive interview with HollywoodLife on Jan. 11, Shannon only had one thing to say about Tamra’s possible return: “Good luck to her.”
Shannon told us that’s all she’d say about Tamra wanting to return to RHOC, but when asked about some of Tamra’s recent jabs at her, she had no problem clapping back. After hearing that Tamra accused her of being an alcoholic and said she should be demoted to a “friend” role on the series, Shannon said, “I wasn’t [the one] crying in a bush at the end of Season 14. I don’t take my top off and jump in the pool naked. I keep my Spanx on!”
And the alcoholic accusation doesn’t really phase Shannon. Shannon said she’s been accused of being “an alcoholic” for the past seven seasons, but “that’s not the case.” She further explained, “At this point, I know who I am. My family and friends know who I am, so you want to try it again for an eighth season if I’m back? OK.”
Then, when the discussion of her newfound friendship with longtime enemy Kelly Dodd came up, Shannon said that had nothing to do with Tamra and Vicki Gunvalson‘s exits from the show. “No, it didn’t,” she said while also acknowledging how much of a hard time Tamra and Vicki gave her in the press, following her reconciliation with Kelly. “It’s weekly at this point that there’s some sort of an attack [on me], but it’s just a sad situation that people I considered my best friends chose to start attacking me on social media and in the press and if you are upset with anything, which by the way, I called [them] the second I made up with Kelly, so there wasn’t any sort of new news for anyone, but there’s just some untruths out there and it’s been very, very hard to just sit back. But I’m not going to take apart a friendship that I had for almost seven years, publicly. I’m not going to do that. I don’t care how many weeks, how many times people keep coming. They keep coming at me, I’m not going to talk about it."
DALLAS

Kameron Westcott Celebrates Her 38th Birthday (Kameron Westcott Instagram/Bravo)

Watching the shelf break in real time

Bloomberg: Nikola founder Milton's fall reveals what his backers feared

Back in March, long before a short seller would raise questions about electric-truck company Nikola Corp. and hasten its founder’s exit, early investors in the company were expressing concerns of their own. Those investors, led by mutual-fund giant Fidelity Investments, were worried that Trevor Milton, for all his brash visionary talk and Twitter braggadocio, lacked the ability that Elon Musk possesses to deliver these sorts of newfangled products to market. They lobbied successfully to remove him as CEO before the company’s June IPO and for Milton’s father to leave the board, according to people familiar with the matter. When the deal was done, Milton only held the title of chairman, the post he resigned this month.
The back-room negotiations show that Milton’s past was a concern to investors months before General Motors Co. executives placed a bet on the company in a US$2 billion deal carved out after the IPO. They liked Milton’s vision and his ability to raise cash and felt the venture was safeguarded from his shortcomings in operations by his push upstairs, say people familiar with the matter. Nonetheless, the events that have unfolded since the short-seller report, with Nikola’s stock plunging amid a steady stream of negative headlines, have exposed just how high the risks still were.
Now, it’s up to former GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, whose blank-check company VectoIQ took Nikola public via reverse merger in June, and Nikola CEO Mark Russell to stabilize the business and regain investor confidence. The plan with GM was to use Nikola’s hot stock and Milton’s ability to raise money to build a hydrogen-fueled trucking business with GM’s technology.
“There is obviously someone on the diligence side who isn’t going to get a nice bonus this year,” said Reilly Brennan, founder of the venture capital fund Trucks Inc. “The best possible thing if you’re a shareholder is that Milton is no longer running the company and you have Girsky as chairman and GM providing technology.”
The GM deal was originally scheduled to close Sept. 30, and the automaker has said it plans to carry through, but that timing may slip, say people familiar with the matter. BP Plc is still engaged with Nikola in talks to partner on a network of hydrogen fueling stations for fuel-cell trucks the company hopes to sell, but also is slowing the pace for a deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. BP and GM declined to comment.
Milton’s tale reads like a Greek tragedy. The report by short seller Hindenburg Research accused Milton of overhyping Nikola’s technology and has prompted investigations by the Justice Department and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A cousin has accused him of a decades-ago sexual assault, which he denies. The company’s value peaked at US$30 billion and is now worth about US$7 billion.
Girsky and GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra have both said publicly that they did plenty of due diligence. People familiar with the matter say that GM found out when scouting the deal that it had better batteries and fuel-cell technology but joined forces because Nikola had a working semi truck and access to capital markets. In addition, GM will get paid to build Nikola’s Badger pickup on existing assembly lines. Milton was so excited to get the Badger pickup program moving that he signed a deal that heavily favored GM, one of the people said.
Nikola’s stock and GM’s US$2 billion stake are worth less than half what they were on Sept. 8, when the deal was announced. Milton’s own stake is worth US$1.7 billion, down from almost US$5 billion at one point.
Milton said in a June interview with Bloomberg News that he grew up in modest surroundings in Layton, Utah. His family moved to Las Vegas when he was very young and he lost his mother to cancer shortly after moving back to Utah in the sixth grade. He wrote on Twitter he didn’t finish high school, earning an equivalency certification instead, and later dropped out of college. His Twitter account has since been deleted.
He grew up in a tight-knit Mormon family, according to Aubrey Smith, his first cousin. She went on social media recently and accused him of sexually assaulting her in 1999 when she was 15 and he was 17.
In a public account on Facebook and Twitter, and repeated in a phone interview, Smith said that Milton came onto her at the funeral of their grandfather. He took her shirt off without permission, Smith wrote, and then he touched her inappropriately before someone knocked at the door and she ran out.
Milton denied the allegations through a spokesman.
Smith said Milton raised money from family members to get his start. He founded and ran several businesses, including a home-security company that Milton claims he sold for US$1.5 million. Next, in 2009, he founded an e-commerce platform called Upillar.com, which Milton claims “pioneered the shopping cart online.”
Then he got into clean propulsion but ended up embroiled in litigation with dHybrid Inc., which he founded in 2009. The company retrofitted diesel vehicles with natural-gas-burning turbines, claiming the dual system had greater efficiency.
But a deal with Swift Transportation Co. in 2010 ended in court when Swift alleged dHybrid defaulted on a US$322,000 loan and that it retrofitted only half of the agreed vehicles. The case was dismissed in 2015.
Milton later tried to sell dHybrid to a company called sPower in May 2012 but that, too, got mired in lawsuits after sPower backed out and accused Milton of exaggerating its technological capabilities.
Amid the litigation, Milton started another company with a very similar name, dHybrid Systems, selling it in 2014 to Worthington Industries.
During an interview with Bloomberg in June, Milton said that dHybrid Inc. was a success but conceded that, “we ended up closing that one down because of some litigation.”
His next startup was Nikola, founding it in 2014 in Salt Lake City before moving to Phoenix. Emulating Musk, he took the name from the electricity pioneer Nikola Tesla, and the company was soon billed as the Tesla of Trucks. His plan was seen as potentially disrupting the entire transportation industry by making trucks that ran on batteries or hydrogen-fuel cells. He also planned to build a network of hydrogen filling stations.
Friends and Family
Milton had friends and family members working for Nikola despite resumes that didn’t match the job. His brother, Travis Milton, is director of hydrogen and infrastructure. His LinkedIn profile shows that most of his experience was being “self-employed” in Maui. The short seller, Hindenburg Research, said that Travis Milton poured concrete as a contractor. Milton’s father Bill was originally on the board but stepped down when VectoIQ took the company public.
The company’s stock prospectus said that Nikola had awarded more than 3 million stock options “to recognize the superior performance and contribution of specific employees.” The list included Travis Milton and an uncle, Lance Milton, the document said, acknowledging that they are relatives.
As Milton went public with Nikola’s technology, questions soon arose involving his claims about the company’s fuel-cell system. He bragged in an investor video in 2019 that the company had created “what other manufacturers said was impossible to design.” But while Nikola holds patents in fuel-cell and battery technology, most of its planned hardware was coming from German supplier Robert Bosch Gmbh.
Nikola Demonstrations
It became clear that Milton had gotten ahead of himself. A 2016 demonstration showed a truck that didn’t have a working hydrogen-fuel-cell system and was missing key parts, people familiar with the matter said in June. Milton said at the time that the parts were removed as a safety precaution.
In July of this year, he recorded a video of the semi truck in which he ran alongside the vehicle as it coasted at low speeds in a parking lot. Aping Musk’s combative social-media persona, Milton took a shot at his detractors saying, “these damned trolls, I wonder if they are going to apologize to everyone for the lies they spread the tens of thousands of comments about how fake we are.”
Girsky said in the webcast “Autoline This Week,” in which Bloomberg participated, that he has been in Nikola’s fuel-cell trucks and that they work.
Still, when the GM deal was done, GM will be supplying all of the technology for every global market except Europe. Nikola’s pickup truck, called Badger, will use GM’s Ultium battery, and the semis will run on a fuel cell developed by GM and Honda Motor Co.
Since Milton’s departure, Nikola has billed itself more as an integrator of other technologies into its Badger pickup and semi trucks.
For GM’s part, the automaker is protected from any financial downside. GM got 11 per cent of the stock for no cash investment and gets paid for its technology. If Nikola fails, GM won’t lose a dime.
Milton has remained silent and is out of the company. He unknowingly presaged his own downfall in the June interview with Bloomberg: “Part of becoming a better person in life is losing everything you have got and having nothing left.”
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/nikola-founder-milton-s-fall-reveals-what-his-backers-feared-1.1500376

Housewife highlights/Daily shit talk - December 28th, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY

Scott D. Pierce: Is ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ a hit? Ratings say no. (Salt Lake Tribune)

"There is a certain contingent of people out there who are highly offended by “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.” And the common thread is that the show disrespects and misrepresents The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Following the premiere of the series, Brittany Maddux, known as a Mormon influencer on social media, posted on Instagram: “I’m actaully (sic) livid about the housewives. NOT OFFENDED but livid at the worlds (sic) double standard. It’s okay for them to BASH a religion & share fake information about it’s (sic) ‘entertainment’ but HEAVEN FORBID it was another religion or race or group of people because that would be prejudice, wrong, bullying …”
Yes, there have been inaccuracies. One of the Housewives said there are 6 million Latter-day Saints; according to the church, its membership is about 16.5 million. (How many of those are practicing members of the church is unknown.) And, no, there are no fully active, temple recommend-holding church members among the cast members, so viewers aren’t hearing that perspective.
But if you’re convinced that “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” is reflecting poorly on the LDS Church, maybe this will calm you down a bit — by no stretch of the imagination is this a big, hit show.
Through seven episodes, the series is averaging 648,000 viewers per episode. That’s about 0.2% of the population of the United States.
Ratings are relative, and it’s not like Bravo is expecting 5 million viewers to tune in to “RHOSLC.” The original series in the franchise — “Real Housewives of Orange County” — averaged 1,054,000 viewers in the first seven weeks it has been airing in the time slot before “Salt Lake City.”
If the locals had numbers like that, it would probably already be a done deal that they’d return for a second season. Bravo hasn’t renewed “RHOSLC” yet, but that shouldn’t be taken as a sign the show won’t be back. There’s really no reason to renew it now, because — in the midst of the pandemic — there’s virtually no chance production could begin on Season 2.
Bravo has never canceled a “Real Housewives” after one season, and there’s no indication it will cancel this one.
Here are a few things worth noting about the show’s ratings:
• That 648,000 average viewers number comes from overnight ratings, which are far less important than they once were. They don’t include people who record the show on their DVR and watch it later, and that viewing can make a big difference.
We don’t have complete information for “RHOSLC,” but the numbers from Dec. 12 are worth keeping in mind. Through six episodes, the show is averaging a 0.24 rating among viewers ages 18-49 — the group that advertisers are most willing to pay to reach. On Dec. 2, “RHOSLC” averaged a 0.27 rating in that demo among viewers who watched it live or the same day it aired.
That number more than doubled in the live+7 ratings (those who recorded and watched it within a week), rising to a 0.58.
• “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” is losing 38% of the audience that’s watching “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” And some “Salt Lake” fans are crying foul, claiming that the show is being hurt by a later time slot and insisting it should air earlier. But it’s not quite as clear-cut as they believe.
It is true that, in general, the later a show airs the lower the ratings — simply because the later it gets, the fewer viewers are still awake watching TV. (TV execs know this and they take it into consideration.)
And there’s an argument to be made that by scheduling “RHOSLC” after “RHOC,” Bravo is building an audience for the new show.
If Bravo can establish “RHOSLC,” it could move it to an earlier time slot in Season 2. Assuming there’s a Season 2.
• TV programmers pay close attention to how a show is trending — whether the ratings are going up or down or holding steady. And, to date, “RHOSLC” is holding sort of steady, albeit lower than Bravo would like.
The show got its best overnight numbers for its premiere, which is not unusual for a TV series. And the overnight numbers have looked like this:
That big dip on Nov. 25 might be cause for concern, except that that was the night before Thanksgiving and viewing numbers were down across the board. The same might be said for Dec. 23, although “RHOC” was up very slightly from Dec. 16 — and that comparison is cause for concern. Other than those two nights, “RHOSLC” has held steady and even shown some slight increases, which is a good thing.
Fans are, however, concerned about the future of the series. But executive producer Andy Cohen — a former Bravo programming chief who also hosts “Watch What Happens Live” — tweeted, “Don’t be worried. It’s a hit. We are ecstatic.”
A hit? That’s stretching the truth. And Cohen is not an impartial observer — he has a financial stake in the show’s success.
But it’s way too early to conclude that “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” won’t have a nice long run like its sister shows — “Orange County” (now in its 15th season); “Atlanta” (now in its 13th season); “New York City” (12 seasons); “Beverly Hills” and “New Jersey” (10 seasons each); “Potomac” (now in its fifth season); and “Dallas” (four seasons).
The shortest run by any “Real Housewives” show was “Miami,” which was canceled after three seasons.
By the way, if you’re offended by the content of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” Cohen was correct when he told The Los Angeles Times, “I think there will be a lot of people who say this doesn’t represent Salt Lake City or the Mormon church. It’s not supposed to. It’s supposed to represent a certain group of friends in that area.”
And nobody should take it any more seriously than that."
CHESHIRE

Real Housewives of Cheshire stars' Instagram goldmine (CheshireLive)

"Stars from the Real Housewives of Cheshire could be earning around £2,000 per post on Instagram, according to a recent study.
Digital media group Pilot Fish has calculated how much celebrities from Real Housewives shows across the world could be making per Instagram post by looking at how many followers they have.
Top of the table is Kandi Burrus from the Atlanta version of the TV show who, with her 8.2million followers, could be earning as much as £21,000 per post.
But within the top 60 were Real Housewives of Cheshire favourites Tanya Bardsley, and Dawn Ward, who quit the show earlier this month.
According to the Pilot Fish study, Tanya could be earning about £2,023 per post with her 527,000 followers, putting her 50th in the table.
Meanwhile Dawn, who currently has more than 480,000 followers on Instagram, could apparently be making £1,843 per post, putting her in 57th place. The top 50 in the study can be viewed here."
ATLANTA

Cynthia Bailey Is Open To Joining RHOBH “If It Were The Right Time And Situation” (Madame Noire exclusive)

"Christmas is just one day away, but the holiday season is far from over. If you’ve been desiring to support more Black-owned businesses this season, but you’re not sure where to begin, consider checking out the Seagrams Escapes Holiday Marketplace — a joint venture between the adult beverage company, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Cynthia Bailey, and Eva Marcille. We caught up with Bailey to discuss the holiday shopping expo, her recent wedding, blended family life under quarantine, and her future with the Real Housewives franchise.
MN: Tell me about the Seagrams Escapes Holiday Marketplace. How can people who are interested get involved?
Cynthia: Basically, all they have to do is go to the website,www.seagramsescapesholiday.com, and it has all the information, but basically it is a platform that Seagrams and I created together to just help promote Black-owned businesses to give them exposure. As a Black-owned business owner myself, my most recent business being the Bailey Wine Cellar, was also hit during COVID. A lot of businesses, Black-owned businesses specifically, are definitely still struggling — the ones that even made it. So, we wanted to come together to create this platform to drive business to the business owners that need to stay afloat and also, one of the other great things, we’re going to be announcing in January that we also offer a $10,000 grant to three Black-owned businesses. It’s a lot of money when you’re already struggling to keep your business afloat so we have the grant e will be announcing that the first week of January, after the new year.
MN: Congratulations on the wedding! I got married on 10/9 several years ago so I definitely understand wanting the perfect date.
Cynthia: Well, I’m glad you did girl because I was getting a lot of heat about this date. Hindsight being 20/20, everything did work out. No one that came to our wedding tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of being at our wedding. I do have that to look forward to and that information is already out there. But you guys will see the process, the journey of the back and forth. We almost postponed it several times. We had a hurricane the week of my wedding. We tried to do everything outdoors because we did everything we could do on our end to make sure everybody was COVID-19 conscious. And one of the things I just wanna make clear is I was never like, if legally I could not have this wedding, then I would not have had it on the date but I was under the understanding that as long as I was following the rules and I was COVID-19 conscious and I gave everybody what they need it to be safe at this wedding that I could still have the wedding. And I think, you know, you guys will see all of that play out a little bit more. But that was it, like, I would never not take this pandemic seriously. You know, I just really thought about it like, ‘Hey, all right. Since we don’t know when we’re going to get to the other side of this thing and it looks like we’re gonna be in masks for all of 2021, how can I have it and be COVID conscious and you guys will see that play out.
MN: What is it like being a newlywed in a pandemic?
Cynthia: Well, one difference is that we weren’t able to go on a honeymoon because, you know, traveling internationally right now because of COVID is not ideal. The plan before COVID was we were planning a trip to the Maldives for our honeymoon, so there was no honeymoon. So that was one of the differences. The other thing is I think it’s a deeper bonding experience for me as a wife because, you know, usually you get married and everybody goes back to work and travel and live their life. But we are married and we’re in the same home together, 24/7. So it’s like, ‘Oh, we married, married.’
You have to realize with my husband and my career before COVID caused us to travel a lot. So Mike and I got extremely close during this pandemic cause this is the first time that not only have we’ve been together in the same house for this long since we’ve been together, like every day, you know what I’m saying. So if there was ever any doubt in my mind, if I ever had any question about marrying Mike Hill, the pandemic proved that we can weather the storm of anything that may come our way. I always joke about this. I always made it very clear when I met Mike Hill that I was thirsty. I was excited. I’ve always been excited to share my love for Mike with the world. I was always excited about him proposing, I was excited about getting married, I was playing about being married, I’m excited about it but I never said, I want him to go to prison with me. I never said that.
MN: You have experience in the stepmom department already, but what has blended family life been like during quarantine with your adult stepdaughters and of course, Noelle?
Cynthia: When you marry, you marry your man’s kids as well. Noelle and I have always been a package deal. That’s like one of my biggest deal-breakers. Obviously, if someone doesn’t want to be bothered with my kid or don’t want a woman with a kid, well a 21-year-old now, you know that wouldn’t work for me. So Mike and I were both a package deal so the blended family thing you know, it’s ideal to like try to make it work. Obviously, you know what you’re signing up for but it’s not always easy. We have girls that are like 21 and 18. These young adults. So they’re like they’re grown, but they’re not really grown, grown. They’re finding themselves. They’re trying to figure out who they are and it’s a lot. It’s all girls and I feel so bad for my husband He is inherited all of these women. It’s myself, Noelle, Kayla, Ashley and it’s us against him. That’s a lot of menstrual cycles every month.
I think everyone, blended family or not, even if they’re a regular family, anybody that is locked down with their families for three and four months at a time and you can’t go anywhere, you’re going to be tested. So, you know, we definitely tested. It was sort of fun and, you know, family dinners, we get to sit down at dinner together and we’re Tik Toking, but after a while, it was like, ‘Okay! Go to your space, I’m going to my space.’ We really started to be on top of each other but it’s all love and it’s all the same thing. that anyone else is going through. I feel like it definitely, at the end of the day, brought us closer together.
MN: I know that you previously spoke about potential cameos on the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” due to your bicoastal status.
Cynthia: You know, I love those ladies. I love Garcelle and Dorit, and Kyle, all of them. Lisa Rinna, I have great relationships with those ladies. We plan to keep Lake Bailey on the Hill, gotta include my husband on the name, but the reality is we still have a home in LA. Home home for me will always be Atlanta, but my husband and I need to eventually decide what will be the one place we settle. We may keep the two places for now and now that the world has switched up and we can work from home, there hasn’t been so much pressure to choose which house we’re going to be at most f the time. Right now, it’s been Atlanta, but we also still have some strong ties in LA.
MN: Would you ever fully transition as a full-time cast member of RHOBH if you decide to settle in Los Angeles full-time?
Cynthia: I would always leave the door open to fit whatever is happening in my life at that time. If I’m spending more time in LA, I would never be closed to it. I love Beverly Hills, I would have to work a little harder because those girls are rich, rich over there. I’m like, oh, wait a minute. Beverly Hills rich and Atlanta rich is two different kinds of rich, let’s be very clear about that. So mama gonna have to step it up if I go to Beverly Hills. But yeah, you know what like I said, I love both the franchises. For me, my heart will always be in Atlanta but I wouldn’t be closed to it if it was the right time and it was the right situation for me."
DALLAS

D'Andra Simmons Welcomed a New Family Member Over the Holidays (D'Andra Simmons Instagram/Bravo)

"D’Andra Simmons’ family has just gotten a little bigger. The Real Housewives of Dallas cast member recently showed off the best present she got this Christmas: a precious new puppy named Ruby.
On December 24, D’Andra took to Instagram to introduce her newest family member. “Christmas came early! Meet the newest addition to our family, Ruby Rose!” she wrote in the caption alongside several photos with the adorable dog.
She went on to conclude, “I couldn’t have asked for a better present than a new baby #brusselsgriffon doggie! She will be keeping me company as I heal from my ankle replacement and foot surgery. Ruby truly couldn’t have come at a better time in my life! “
D’Andra reiterated her gratitude for her growing family in a second post, sharing a beautiful photo with her loved ones and her beloved pets in front of the Christmas tree.
“This year I’m extra thankful for my family, friends, and the newest fur babies to join the Simmons-Lock household!” she captioned the picture, adding, “Also thank you to my #hotthubby jeremytlock for my beautiful chanelofficial bag! I guess I was a good girl after all.”
POTOMAC

‘RHOP’ star Karen Huger hopes Candiace will ‘grow’ from traumatic season (Page Six exclusive)

“Real Housewives of Potomac” star Karen Huger has done her best to remain neutral in current tensions between castmates Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard, as the pair have yet to move beyond their 2019 barn brawl.
While Dillard has found unwavering support in Gizelle Bryant, 50, Robyn Dixon, 41, and Wendy Osefo, 36, the reality star took issue with Huger’s refusal to fully back her up, chopping up the Grande Dame’s verbal support to nothing more than lip service.
“You can say whatever it is you need to say to smooth it over, but I’m looking at your actions,” Dillard, 34, told Page Six last week when asked about her current relationship with 57-year-old Huger.
“As they say, actions speak louder than words. Karen’s actions from the beginning of this toxic fight and afterwards has been very difficult to peg and trust. I don’t see how we come back from that place.”
Huger, however, is far more optimistic about the future of their relationship, as she continues to insist she equally supports both women. She also empathizes with Dillard’s current emotional state — and understands why the former beauty queen is still affected by the melee.
“Candiace is definitely still in an emotional place as she shares her sincere feelings, that is a tough place to be,” Huger told us. “Moving forward, learning and growing is a healthier option. I do pray she gets there.”
In the vein of “moving forward,” the beauty maven also discussed her developing relationship with cast newbie Osefo, with whom she had a rocky start this season. Still, she’s confident the professor and political commentator can hold her own with the ladies as long as she remains transparent.
“Wendy is an interesting and intelligent woman, our relationship is evolving and I look forward to see where it goes,” she told us. “As an OG, I have to say honestly each cast member, new or old, has it within themselves to last multiple seasons. It’s up to them how authentic they want to be. The viewers know a fake story and that’s not what any Housewife signs up for. I mean, they call it Real Housewives, right?”
Indeed, as Potomac proudly boasts that five of its seven “Housewives” are actually married, a high ratio in the world of Bravo television.
Divorcée Bryant was called to the carpet over her relationship with her ex-husband, Pastor Jamal Bryant, during part one of the reunion, and while Dillard called Samuels blasting the Bryants “a new low,” Huger had no problem with Samuels’ approach or her binder.
“Monique’s approach to calling out Gizelle is just fine with me,” she told us. “Both are strong women, Monique would make anyone accountable and call them out and in this case, that meant Gizelle was held to no different standard.”
NEW YORK

Leah McSweeney reveals she got breast implants (Page Six)

"Leah McSweeney gave herself “new and improved girls” for Christmas.
The “Real Housewives of New York” star, 38, revealed that she got breast implants and a lift over the holidays.
“As I lay here for days recovering from my Xmas boob lift and augmentation … all I can wonder is how the f the kardashians find the time to recover from all their work 😂,” the Married to the Mob founder wrote on Instagram. “The other thing is…I can’t wait to show off the new and improved girls.”
Plastic surgeon Daniel Maman performed the surgery.
Several “RHONY” stars sent McSweeney their well wishes via Instagram, with Sonja Morgan writing, “Awesome. 👏🏻 Go girl 💞,” and series newbie Eboni K. Williams commenting, “Rest up Babe!! We’re hitting the ground running in 2021 😘😘.”
“Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Margaret Josephs, meanwhile, said that she just got a breast lift too — and it changed her life.
“Congrats!!! I did just a lift and it’s life changing,” she wrote to McSweeney. “Can’t wait to see your gorgeous new melons 🙏💃🍈🍈💋👧🏼.”
The fashion designer’s latest surgery comes two months after revealing to fans that she got a nose job."

Housewife highlights/Daily shit talk - December 21st, 2020

SALT LAKE CITY

Lisa Barlow of ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ is a ‘Mormon 2.0’ (Scott D. Pierce for The Salt Lake Tribune)

"One of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” is proving to be a bit of an enigma to viewers who are familiar with Utah’s predominant religion. Lisa Barlow is a Latter-day Saint, but she owns liquor companies? And she drinks alcohol herself?
“I’m Jewish by heritage, and I’m active LDS,” Barlow said. “But I also practice it my own way.
“You can live it the way you want to, you just might not be able to go in the pretty building,” she said with a laugh. “The church is an open door. The temple — that’s a whole ‘nother thing.”
In other words, no, she doesn’t have a temple recommend, necessary to enter the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and participate in its highest ordinances. The card attests to the holder’s adherence to church principles and practices, and alcohol is forbidden by its health code, the Word of Wisdom.
Born and raised in New York with five siblings, Lisa converted to the LDS Church there. “I actually think I have a way better life because I became LDS in New York,” she said. She came west to attend Brigham Young University, and now in her 40s, she’s lived in Utah for more than 20 years.
She said her “untraditional” way to practice the faith is to be “authentic to yourself and take from the religion what resonates with you and what’s good for your family. Because maybe not everything is good for your family.”
Seth Marks, the husband of fellow Housewife Meredith Marks, “dubbed me Mormon 2.0, and it kind of stuck.”It’s similar to the approach to the faith that writer Jana Reiss saw as she wrote “The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church.” There’s a sizable minority, her researcher, Benjamin Knoll, observed, “who find value in the social aspect of the church but who don’t believe wholeheartedly in LDS Church teachings, don’t pay tithing, don’t hold a temple recommend, and who drink coffee and alcohol and take the counsel of church leaders with a grain of salt.”
If anybody has a problem with the way Lisa lives her life and her religion, she’s not letting it bother her. “I hope people see you can own an alcohol brand — you can own any business — and still practice a religion that you love, the way you need to and want to,” she said.
And she’s hoping to shatter some false stereotypes viewers may have about church members.
“I have a strong love of God and family. And that’s how most Christians are,” Lisa said. “So I think they’re going to say, ‘Oh, it’s not as different as I thought.’ I think some people have these odd misconceptions.”
Including, of course, that members still practice polygamy — which the church formally abandoned in 1890, although it lingered among members into the next century in practice. “My husband only has one wife and that’s me. And it’s always going to be just me,” she said with a laugh.
And she wants to make it clear that for her, following her faith (which opposes same-sex marriage) doesn’t stop her from being “super inclusive.”
“I definitely think I’m more progressive as an LDS person,” Lisa said. “... We’re very involved with Equality Utah and the LGBTQIA community.”
One of her grandfathers was gay, she noted.
“My grandfather died with a boyfriend. So I understand. I take the time to not judge anything and just understand,” she said. “One of my really good friends is gay and part of the LDS Church. And I think it’s important to know [the church is] inclusive.”
(Bravo) Jen Shah, Heather Gay, Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Meredith Marks and Whitney Rose pictured at Valter's Osteria in episode 5 of the first season of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”
The primary reason Lisa signed on to “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” she said, was that the producers wanted to cast women who operate their own successful companies. She owns and runs businesses with her husband, John — including Vida Tequila and LUXE Marketing.
“My whole goal in coming on the show was to show women that you don’t have to just play one role,” she said. “You don’t have to just be a mom, or just be a working mom. Go be adventurous. Try multiple things. If you fail, that’s fine, too. Stretch yourself. To me, it’s living life to the fullest.”
But filming the show on top of everything else going on in her life — particularly during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival — wasn’t easy, she added.
“There were tough times,” Lisa said. “I mean, I had to do over 40 [LUXE Marketing] events during Sundance while filming, raising two kids and running our other businesses. And it was a lot.”
She also “put a lot out there,” she said, during production on Season 1.
“At the end of the day, I just hope that it’s in some way inspiring for someone,” Lisa said. “I just hope that people feel like, ‘Hey, if Lisa can work, run multiple businesses and constantly be looking for a new adventure, maybe I can, too.’”
Lisa said she’s has “thick skin” and is not feeling stress about how she comes across in “RHOSLC,” and the negative feedback that comes her way.
“I think you definitely have to be resilient” to be on the show, she said. “I think one thing that I was born with was an innate confidence. So for me, if someone thinks I’m ugly, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m sorry you don’t find me attractive. But, OK. Move on.’”
So far in Season 1, both Heather Gay and Whitney Rose have both been irked at Lisa, leading to some relatively minor conflict. Lisa, however, has been on the sidelines trying to make peace during the big blowups — including multiple showdowns between Jen Shah and Mary Cosby.
“I am really good at conflict resolution,” she said. “I’m not comfortable with it, but I’m definitely not afraid of it.”
It’s a skill she’s learned from childhood on — from dealing with siblings to leading her businesses today.
“I’ve been doing deals since I was in my early 20s. I definitely feel like I have a backbone,” she said. “So if someone’s creating conflict with me, I’m definitely not shying away from it. I want to resolve it.”
Still, while dealing with the other women in “RHOSLC,” “there were days when I felt exhausted — two, in particular. I just felt drained,” Lisa said. “I was, like, ‘I’ve never been around this kind of crazy before.’”
It was very different than dealing with problems at work.
“I know how to handle those,” she said, “but when you’re dealing with so many emotions and so many different women all at once, that’s a whole different ball game. But I think we all made it through.
“It doesn’t mean everything had a happy ending, but there was definitely progress.”
Lisa is hoping viewers will get a better look at the work her family is doing to benefit Utah Foster Care in upcoming episodes of “RHOSLC.” With the help of their parents, her sons — Jack, 16, and Henry, 8 — launched Fresh Wolf, a line of grooming products for men. And for each item sold, they donate a product to a foster child.
It’s personal for the Barlow family.
“John was given up at birth, adopted, returned, then adopted into a family. And, in between that, spent a short time in foster care,” Lisa said. “Luckily, my husband had an amazing experience with being adopted by a beautiful family. But not everybody gets that.”
The Barlows hope to help “shine a light” on foster care parents.
“A lot of people think that people take in foster care kids for money,” Lisa said. “To board my dog is an average of $45 to $70 a day … and then when you look at foster kids, the parents get $15 a day per kid. They’re not in it for the money.
“I hope you get to see [Jack and Henry] and why they want to give back — what that means to them.”

Brooks Marks Opens Up About His Fashion Line and "Career-Changing" Debut (Bravo)

"Dropping sharp one-liners and serving looks, Brooks Marks certainly made a strong first impression when introduced to The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City viewers. But on the December 16 episode, Meredith Marks’ 21-year-old son proved that he's a force to be reckoned with in more ways than one when he unveiled his fashion line, Brooks Marks, at Park City Fashion Week.
Brooks chatted with Bravo Insider to dish on the “career-changing opportunity,” and the major moves he’s got planned for the future.
Given that his mom is a successful luxury jewelry designer who has created pieces for stars like Rihanna, Adriana Lima, and Chelsea Handler, it’s no surprise that Brooks first showed an interest in fashion at a very young age.
“I would cut up my clothes and sew them together, sometimes even glue them together before I knew how to sew, and I would force [my sister] Chloe to put them on,” Brooks explained.
He took his interest to the next level in 2018, when he first began working on his namesake brand. Intended to be a “universal brand for everyone” with “comfortability” as the main priority, Brooks notes, “My tracksuit isn’t just for one body. It’s genderless. It’s for everyone."
Throughout his entire journey, Meredith has been incredibly supportive of Brooks, and is always the first person he calls when he needs guidance, no matter the time of day.
“She knows the answers to everything,” said Brooks. As for her greatest piece of advice? “She told me if i was authentic and true to myself, that it would be successful.”
Brooks has also received a few tips from his “hands down” favorite designer and family friend, Christian Cowan. “There’s no one like him,” said Brooks. “I am so thankful that I got to have the conversations that I did with [him and his team]. They’ve just been so educational, and I’ve learned so much. It’s an absolute dream.”
The guidance Brooks has received has obviously led him in the right direction. Brooks dropped his first collection in 2019, and by the time of his second drop in November 2020, the tracksuits sold out in only four hours.
“It was totally unexpected,” said Brooks. “It really is the best feeling to see people in my set, and see them unboxing it, and the videos that they’re posting on their Instagram Stories and the posts that they do to their feed. It’s the most incredible feeling in the world, I can’t even verbalize it.”
If you missed out on Brooks’ last drop, his Park City Fashion Week Release is coming soon. “This was a major moment in my career, and I’m really glad that we pulled it off and that people enjoyed the line,” Brooks said of his first-ever show. “I’m forever grateful for this incredible, career-changing opportunity that I had, and I will never take it for granted.”
ATLANTA

'RHOA's Drew Sidora on Feuding With Kenya Moore and Airing Out Her Marriage Problems on TV (ET exclusive)

"Despite what some of her The Real Housewives of Atlanta co-stars might have to say (see: this interview with Kenya Moore), season 13's new peach holder Drew Sidora says she's not thirsty in the least. In fact, she claims she's beyond hydrated.
"I take care of myself," Drew tells ET over video chat from her Georgia home, responding to Kenya describing her as parched. "I'm a big girl, and it's a shot and I take it for what it is. Sometimes negativity comes in different forms and, right now, it's just coming from a fluffy face."
Drew and Kenya did not get off on the right foot (no pun intended, as Drew was recovering from surgery on her Achilles tendon when RHOA went into production), as seen in last Sunday's episode, where the pair met on camera. Kenya giggled as the show's new "friend of" LaToya Ali made jokes about Drew's wig looking like a cat (Kenya did also tell LaToya to stop making the comments) and joked about Cynthia Bailey, who introduced Drew to the group, finding friends "at the pound."
"I really felt something with Kenya," Drew recalls of the moment. "Like, I didn't know because it wasn't in my face, but I did feel the energy just -- I couldn't figure it out! So, after watching [the episode, it] explains a lot, you know what I mean? Why the relationship ended up -- or ends up -- where it is. Even with LaToya, they never said it to me. So, I just was like, wow. That's really shocking, a pet on my head? Is that what we’re talking about?"
"She was a cute little kitten and I felt good about it when I walked out the door," Drew adds of her wig, which she styled herself as she wasn't getting professional hair and makeup done due to the coronavirus pandemic. "I think all girls can relate to the struggle of COVID and us trying to keep our looks together."
It seems safe to say, Drew and Kenya's relationship will continue to be on shaky ground as season 13 unfolds. While she doesn't know for sure, Drew surmises that jealousy might play a factor in Kenya’s inability to form a friendship with the Step Up star.
"She just didn't take to me the way that I would've expected," Drew muses. "We’re both actresses, and we come up in this industry, so I was surprised by it, but -- definitely -- she didn't welcome me in the way that I thought."
"You know, you can’t get along with everybody and I’m learning that," she adds. "As much as it would have been awesome, because I really did look up to her when I was a little girl, it was awkward to me."
Drew confesses just doing reality TV was also awkward to start. While she's played herself on TV before, she's never just been herself on camera.
"I'm used to script," she notes. "I know what I said and [now I’m] like, OK, this scene here, I’m like, what all did they capture? It’s, like, long scenes at times … [and] that is a little worrisome. But, I feel really good about it because I'm being super open, super real and it’s a journey -- and everyone’s going to witness that. So, as scary as that is, I am truly here for it."
Drew claims Bravo pursued her for years to be on the show, starting back in 2015 when she was due to give birth to her now-5-year-old son Machai. She was going to fly out to Atlanta when she went into labor early, ending any talks. Then, last year, her co-star from the 2015 film Sister Code, then-Housewife Eva Marcille, brought her around the cast when they filmed at Cynthia Bailey's wine cellar opening/surprise engagement party.
"Then, they came back for season 13," she says. "I was like, OK. Like, God what are you trying to tell me? Obviously, this is it and it's meant to be, and I just felt like with everything that I had gone through -- 2020 has been a rough year, I’m sure for everybody, so it was just, like, I have a lot to share and I would never have the opportunity to share it just doing a film or TV. You would never see [me] dealing with so much of my life, so I just felt like it was the right time."
Drew started laying things out for the world to see in her debut episode, as she and her husband of six years, Ralph Pittman, got into a tense argument during their engagement dinner, with Drew pressing Ralph for details on why he disappeared for three days just before she started filming Housewives.
"It unraveled literally with the cameras and I definitely didn't plan that, nor did I want to," she admits. "I wish I could take it back. In that moment, I was super embarrassed, which is why you saw me walk off, because I was like, this is too much. I'm done."
"We’re dealing with our marriage now," she adds. "We’re in counseling and I’m super grateful for that."
While Ralph going MIA may have come off as a shock to the audience, Drew says it wasn’t totally unexpected. She calls her husband "a runner," and clarifies that he’s done this before -- just never for more than a day, which is why it turned into "red flag territory" on TV.
"I got my eyes open, you know?" she remarks. "I'm a woman and of course my mind is going to go to all those different places that our minds go to, which is why we’re in counseling and we're doing the work effectively and I think healthily now."
"Ultimately, we love each other," Drew declares. "We’re committed to our marriage, and as you'll see on this season, things do come out that help us to kind of better understand [each other]."
Drew says she continues to get answers "daily" to questions she has about her marriage, like when she accused Ralph of spying on her with a nanny cam while he was “missing.” It will all come to light as the season continues to air. Reality TV has a reputation for “ruining” marriages, but Drew says she’s not worried about that. Instead, she sees airing out her so-called dirty laundry for millions of people as added therapy for the couple.
"It's kind of like, when you've tried all different things -- like, we tried counseling, you know? I think what I learned is, we didn't stick to it," she says. "We tried arguing, we tried, ‘Well, let's separate…’ We tried all those different things and when you get to this point you're like, what else do we have to lose? This is something we haven't tried, which is putting it out there being able to see ourselves in a real, true light and also being committed to counseling."
Drew says she's most excited for the viewers to see more of her home life, getting to know her three kids -- Josiah, Machai and Aniya -- and her mom, Pastor Jeanette. There’s also a lot to come with the group. Fans will see Drew bond with her "ride or die" Porsha Williams, whose work to amplify the Black Lives Matter movement she praises and, of course, there’s "stripper-gate," the allegations surrounding cast members hooking up with a male stripper at Cynthia's bachelorette party.
"I was shocked to hear the aftermath, because I always thought what happened at a girls' bachelorette party stayed at a girls' bachelorette party," Drew says. "I was disappointed and I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what they are talking about. I was in my bed, asleep. So, I will be sitting there with my popcorn right along with y’all just watching it, because I have no idea."
"I don’t believe it to be true at all," she says of the rumors floating around.
Along with waiting for answers on stripper-gate, fans will be tuning in each week to see what exactly drives Drew to tell one of her castmates, "Don’t f**k with me! I’m from Chicago, b***h!" She more than hints she's lobs the phrase Kenya’s way.
"In that moment … I was triggered in a way that just sent me there," she teases. "It’s like, where I come from, it’s a line you don’t cross. I am super chill. I pretty much can’t get along with a lot of people. I just like to have fun, and there is a line, but when you cross that line -- and people from Chicago know we have boundaries, and I think with anyone you have to allow people to know how they are supposed to treat you -- and that is that respect line. And when it’s crossed, then all bets are off, and at that moment it’s, like, that’s what happened."
NEW JERSEY

Dolores Catania celebrates her daughter Gabby passing the Veterinary Licensing Examination, qualifying her to become a practicing veterinarian in the state of New Jersey (Dolores Catania Instagram/Bravo)

ATLANTA

Kenya Moore Pairs a Leopard Print Blazer with Thigh-High Boots (Kenya Moore Instagram/Bravo)

Housewife highlights/Daily shit talk - December 13th, 2020

ATLANTA

Kenya Moore on Her Separation, Embracing Those COVID Curves and 'RHOA's 'Stripper-gate' (ET exclusive)

"Kenya Moore doesn't want to be called a "pot-stirrer" anymore. She says she's just doing her job.
"This is what I don't like about my position on the show," the Real Housewives of Atlanta star confesses to ET over video chat from her home in Georgia. "If I'm an honest voice, and I call people out, then somehow I'm a villain. But if it were me and I got caught, shtupping the stripper, you know, that came to the bachelorette party, I would have been dragged from here to California, you know what I mean?"
Kenya is referencing some much-hyped drama set to play out on season 13 of the Bravo hit. Cynthia Bailey's bachelorette getaway reportedly devolved into a sex party, with cast mates allegedly hooking up with a stripper the women hired to entertain the bride-to-be. Most of the cast (and even the stripper) has denied anything salacious went down, but Kenya declares, "I heard a lot -- and other people heard a lot, very specific things. Very specific things and very specific voices."
"I don't think that it's fair that people will call that pot-stirring," she says, referencing her asking questions about what she thinks she heard. "We are a cast, and we are in a cast house, and if something happens like that in a cast house while you are working, then it should be discussed. You can't do that at McDonald's! You can't go in the bathroom at McDonald's and have sex with someone and think it's OK because hey, you know, you were in the closet. No. You’re at work."
Kenya calls this fresh batch of RHOA episodes "juicy" in every sense of the word, joking that her co-stars brought major "WAP" energy to the show this year. It’s a year full of change for the cast, between navigating the coronavirus pandemic and the call for racial justice, to the exits of cast members NeNe Leakes and Eva Marcille. The change in dynamics brought some unexpected friendships Kenya's way, including with one-time foe, Marlo Hampton.
"I think that I am always -- and have always -- been a very forgiving person," Kenya says of reconciling with Marlo, "but you have to work to get that forgiveness, meaning apologize and then, changed behavior. That's all I've ever really asked of someone who is sincere, and we had a moment where we had a very sincere and honest conversation after, obviously, dueling it out all [last] season and, you know, I have to say, it's very -- It's one of the highlights of the entire season."
Fans shouldn’t hold their breath for similar growth between Kenya and Porsha Williams, though. The on-and-off frenemies are very much off in season 13, and Kenya says the ball is in Porsha's court.
"For three years, I considered her friend," Kenya notes. "I was very supportive. I remember going to her baby shower, reaching out to her -- even when she had her spin-off, I was tweeting about it. I was sharing her joy with her and I actually had love for her. So, for her to turn on me when NeNe came back -- I think the fans and everyone saw that."
"[The] things that she's doing to me, especially this season, is just, it's just really disgusting," she adds. "When people don't want to be friends with you because they feel threatened, or they feel a certain way that they don't want you to be bigger than them… I think that is really what comes into play, and that's a page out of NeNe's book, honestly -- and she's been taking a lot of pages out of Nene's book lately, and not in a good way."
"The attitude, the showing up three hours late to the set, the demanding of certain things happen [and] footage being taken out because she doesn't like the way that she looks," Kenya rattles off, "you know, that's kind of NeNe behavior. So, unfortunately, yeah, we have a little NeNe, Jr. on our set."
RHOA also welcomes two new cast members on Sunday’s episode, peach-holder Drew Sidora and "friend of" LaToya Ali.
"LaToya is amazing," Kenya gushes. "She's refreshing. She's a little spitfire. She’s sexy. She's just energetic. She has a unique energy, and I absolutely adore what she brings to the show. We also had another friend of the show, Falynn [Guobadia], who is an absolutely stunning, fabulous wife. Very wealthy. Her husband adores her. I really hope to see more of her. If not this season, next season for sure she should be holding a peach."
Kenya skirts around saying anything about Drew, which suggests she doesn't exactly get along with the actress-turned-reality star. What Kenya will offer is that Drew reminds her of season 8 Housewife Kim Fields, the former child actress who only lasted one season on the show.
"I loved Kim Fields -- even though I didn't treat her like I loved her -- I loved her as the icon that she is, but on the show, being the actress, I believe that it just wasn't genuine," she shares. "Like, she wasn't telling her authentic story, and … I kind of get the same vibe from Drew."
Kenya qualifies that statement by saying that Drew is "a little more thirsty than Kim."
"Kim wasn't thirsty," she continues. "You know, Drew is just parched, honey. She is doing everything she can."
On the flipside of the group dynamics is Kenya’s home life, which was already complicated before the added pressures of lockdown came into play. She and her husband of three years, Marc Daly, separated in late 2019, the aftermath of which plays out in season 13.
"It's not going to be easy for me," she admits of watching the downfall of her marriage play out on TV. "It’s never easy for me when you are vulnerable and you put yourself out there. But I'm not only putting myself out there, I’m putting my husband, my daughter and my family, because all of those emotions and instances are sort of intertwined."
"It's difficult, because they often don't know what I've said, or they often don't know how I really feel," she adds. "Having this platform allows me to sort of get therapy in a way, because I'm talking through things that I may not necessarily want to talk about or don't talk about."
Kenya and Marc's relationship is complicated at this time, to say the least. He’s spent most of quaran-times in New York, while she’s been living in Atlanta with the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Brooklyn. The three recently came together for Brooklyn's birthday, Kenya sharing happy family photos on Instagram.
"We're still separated, and I have gone through the gamut of emotions from being happy, and happy to move on and to see what my life is going to be like in the next chapter, and then I go from that to being kind of sad," she confesses. "Looking at Brooklyn, looking and gazing into her father's eyes and seeing the love and knowing what an amazing family we had -- and could we still have it. So, for me, the best way to describe it is that I feel turmoil a lot through the season, because I'm being pulled in different directions and just until recently things really shifted, as you saw from the birthday party."
Kenya won’t call that shift good or bad, just different.
"I say shifted in a different way, because I don't know where my heart really is right now," she admits. "For me, that's not like me. I'm a girl who always knows what I want and to be placed in a position where it's, like, you had moved on and to now think that maybe, am I doing the right thing? Should I allow this person to have another chance? Not just for the sake of a child, because I don't think you should stay together for the sake of a child, but … the sanctity of marriage is important to me, and those vows are important to me."
On *RHOA'*s season premiere last week, co-stars Cynthia Bailey and Kandi Burruss questioned why Kenya would want to stay with a man who seemingly doesn’t make her happy. Since then, though, she says she’s seen some growth from Marc.
"I didn't feel like he was fighting for me, and I had been resolved to just say, you know what? I'm not going to make myself miserable if someone doesn't want me, because I am the prize and if they don't recognize that, it's just time for me to move on and maybe on to something new, different or even better," she says.
Last season, the women observed that Kenya had an alter-ego when around Marc, "Ken," a more reserved and soft-spoken individual who was submissive to her husband. Today, Kenya says Ken no longer exists.
"I am in a very different place in my life," she promises. "I will not bow down to a man. I will not beg for love and attention and those things kind of come from, as I've learned through the season and we reveal, things that happened to me when I was a child, in my childhood and what I needed and what I didn't get and how that manifests itself in my relationships. So, it's a really interesting journey if you follow along."
Kenya describes the last year as a self-love journey. In September, she revealed her exact weight to her Instagram followers, 183 pounds, a number 30 pounds higher than what she's used to seeing on the scale.
"We all have been through it," Kenya says of quarantine stress. "It doesn't mean that I don't feel that I am incapable of being the bright spirit that I am in the beautiful person I am on the inside, but we all have our ideal weight and we say, ‘Oh my gosh! 10 pounds?!’ Then 20, then 25, then 30 and you're like, you feel a mess. I literally am 30 pounds heavier than three weeks after I had my child. That is a lot of weight. So, I think sharing can help people. That's just what I think. It's nothing to be ashamed of, because you can lose it, you know? And I think by sharing it just helps people that might be in the same situation as you."
The Kenya Moore Hair Care founder is also gearing up for a big birthday in January: she’ll turn 50. It’s a number she’s half-embracing, half-dreading.
"Once you confirm that, then I think that it's a possibility that Hollywood might go, you know what? She can't play the hot girl anymore. She can't play this part anymore," she says. "So, that would be my only real concern."
"Where I am spiritually, emotionally, I am loving turning that number next year," she adds. "I feel like I can conquer the world -- there is nothing that I cannot do -- and if that means turning 50 … then, please, can I turn 50 tomorrow?"

Drew Sidora Shares a Peek at Her Home's Festive Decor (Drew Sidora Instagram/Bravo)
Preview of tonight's Atlanta episode (Queens of Bravo Twitter)

NEW JERSEY

Jacqueline Laurita Shades Melissa Gorga, Doesn’t Get Her “Purpose On The Show,” Shares Where She Stands With Teresa Giudice And If She’d Ever Make A Return (Bravo After Thoughts/Reality Blurb)

“Last season I watched the first three episodes and then the reunions because I feel like I don’t have time to watch TV,” Jacqueline told the Bravo After Thoughts account regarding her current relationship with the franchise. “But the reunions kind of tell me the whole story from the whole season. So I try to catch the reunions, that’s the best part.”
The former reality star noted that she’s a fan of Jackie Goldschneider since she’s “very smart and intelligent,” and she appreciates Dolores Catania. She also stated that she finds newbies Jennifer Aydin and Margaret Josephs “funny” and good at holding their own, but she has differing opinions on the others.
Although she noted that she and foil Teresa Giudice definitely don’t talk, she admitted that the RHONJ OG is “always good TV.” However, Jacqueline is confused about why Melissa Gorga is still on air full-time.
“I don’t really know Melissa’s purpose on the show,” Jacqueline said. “I mean she looks good.”
The mother-of-three said that she noticed how the women are “aware of the cameras” these days and know “what kind of drama to bring,” so they often seem to be “just playing to the cameras.”
“I just wish people would be more themselves and say what they’re really thinking and feeling,” she shared. “I feel like everyone is not really being honest and true to themselves. That’s kind of the vibe I’m getting […] I think if everyone just kept it real, then it would be, like, an even better show, you know?”
Jacqueline has since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada with her family, but fans still wonder if she could ever make a possible return to New Jersey and the RHONJ.
“No, I think I love it here and I think that I’m over that show,” she stated. “It just became so toxic and stressful all the time and I just think that [in] this stage in my life … I was ready to pass the torch to someone else and move on.”

Jackie Goldschneider Shares a Family Photo for Hanukkah (Jackie Goldschneider Instagram/Bravo)
Jennifer Aydin Reveals She's Renovating Her Kitchen and "Living in the Basement" (Jennifer Aydin Instagram/Bravo)

SYDNEY

Melissa Tkautz opens up about E Street and her first real love (The Daily Telegraph)

ORANGE COUNTY

Tamra Judge Reveals Eddie Judge Underwent Surgery After Injury After Falling Off His Bike (Tamra Judge Instagram/Bravo)
Emily Simpson Reveals the Medical Reason for Her Fingerless Gloves on RHOC (Emily Simpson Instagram/Bravo)

"Why were you wearing on your hands?" the follower an Instagram follower asked, prompting Emily's to reply. "Arthritis gloves. They're really sexy," she quipped. Emily has shared her struggles with arthritis throughout the years, including its effects on her body image and ability to stay healthy.
"My arthritis was bothering me so much and I was in so much pain," Emily explained in an Instagram post last April. "I became depressed and stopped moving at all. However, the extra weight has exasperated my arthritis making it worst," she continued. Her battle with arthritis was, she believes, also exacerbated by her previous cosmetic procedures."

Braunwyn shares photos of her family's Chanukah celebration (Braunwyn Windham-Burke Instagram/Bravo)

BEVERLY HILLS

Erika Girardi Shares a Photo of Her Dog Tiago and a photo of herself drinking champagne (Erika Girardi Instagram/Bravo)
An Erika S11 confessional look (realhousewivesfranchise Instagram)

CHESHIRE

Dawn Ward posts a farewell after it's announced she's leaving Cheshire (Dawn Ward Instagram/realhousewivesfranchise Instagram)

POTOMAC

Throwback: Ashley performing Coffee and Love (Queens of Bravo Twitter)

SALT LAKE CITY

Heather, Lisa and Meredith Spill Their Thoughts on Their Costars (US Weekly exclusive)

"When Heather Gay, Lisa Barlow and Meredith Marks recently joined Us Weekly virtually to discuss the Bravo hit, they played a game of “Housewife Confessions.” The trio spilled their thoughts on their fellow Salt Lake City Housewives, including who is the best — and the worst — dressed.
“Well, best is easy. I would definitely say Mary [Cosby] is the most fashionable,” Meredith said, adding that she put Whitney Rose in the worst dressed slot because she “cares the least” and is “just not that into fashion.”
Though Lisa didn’t have an answer for who was the worst dressed castmate, the self-dubbed “Sundance Queen” believes she is the best of the bunch. “I like my style the most. I don’t ever want to change it, so I definitely like my style the most,” the businesswoman, 45, explained. “I don’t know if everyone would say I’m the best dressed, but I liked the way I dress the most.”
Like Meredith, Heather agreed that Mary is among the best-dressed cast members. While she additionally raved about Lisa and Jen Shah’s style, she labeled herself as the worst dressed.
“I’m going to say I’m worst dressed and Jen and Mary are best dressed. Jen, Lisa and Mary. Like, Lisa really is so fashionable,” she said. “She’s got [a] great eye, great style. Jen is over the top, so it’s just visual — and same with Mary. Mary can pile on more Chanel in the city than you can even fathom.”
In addition to dishing on their costars’ style, they spilled on which Salt Lake City Housewife is the life of the party. The trio largely swayed toward Jen, who notably threw a lavish birthday bash at her home for Meredith during the series premiere.
“She just brings it. Everything is over the top and random,” Meredith said of Jen, 47. “You can’t go skiing without her having a bag of props. She shows up at my office and all of a sudden, I have new decor. I just think Jen’s a lot of fun.”
The ladies also weighed in on which of their costars is the best Mormon. While Heather joked that they’re “all the worst Mormons,” she named Lisa as the best “because she defends it vehemently.” Lisa, for her part, agreed that she is better than her fellow costars even though she’s “Mormon 2.0.”

Salt Lake Shadows

Salt Lake Shadows
Found this old story on my computer hard drive when doing some cleanup. I wrote it for a contest on dumpshock.com back in 2008. It is set in the late 2060’s and mostly pulls from 3rd edition with an eye on 4th along with some supplements from 2nd. Made some edits that I hope bring it up to my current standard of quality. Hope you enjoy it.
---
As I jumped the handrail of the second story balcony at BYU and aimed for the snow drift below, my thoughts flashed back to earlier. Who would have thought this would go downhill so fast. If I live through this, I’m going to kill that Johnson. It wasn’t the first time I had that thought it, nor would it be the last.
Perhaps an introduction is in order. The name’s Slicer, and I cut through code faster than anybody I know. Yeah, it’s a cheesy name; I know. I picked it when I was twelve, and when was the last time a twelve year old had good sense? Anyway it stuck, and since my rep is tied to my name, I guard it. After all, if you don’t have a rep, what do you have? Where was I? Oh yeah, that run. Well maybe I better start at the beginning.
I never even cracked my eyes open. The AR display linked directly to my brain told me that it was 1758. I couldn’t remember the last time I had woken up before the alarm and wondered why. In my neighborhood not knowing what’s going on around you is a fast way to die. I kept the ole meat eyes closed and listened for all I was worth. Coffee maker, check. Loose siding slapping against the house, check. Some member of the Layton Lions roaring through on his nightly patrol, check. Fluffy, pacing around the house, nope. Shit. That meant someone was inside. Fluffy, my cat, only comes out when I’m alone. I had to decide how I was going to get up without letting whoever, or whatever, it was know I was awake. I rolled over and pretended to still be sleeping. You’d be surprised how many girls expect a man to fall asleep when his head hits the pillow, so I have this down to a science. I opened a menu in my PAN and accessed the cameras hidden around the house.
It was Trigger, sitting there in my living room drinking my beer. For at least the hundredth time, I thought to myself, Damn it, Trigger! How hard is it to knock on my front door? I got up and walked into the living room wearing nothing but my birthday suit.
“Girl! I could have killed you.” Both of us knew I was only playing when I yelled at her.

She laughed and replied, “I doubt it, sleeping beauty. But, you are more than welcome to try – I haven’t had a good workout in a couple of days. Get dressed! We have a job interview today.”
If it had been anyone else, I would have asked if they meant an honest job – working the settlement ponds at the Great Salt Lake, or working for Saeder-Krupp at the Mines. With her, I just knew: she was talking about shadow work. I didn’t mind, in fact I liked it. When you don’t have a SIN and your provisional residency share of PCC stock expired a few years back, you take what you can get. In this town those opportunities were few and far between. Most runners think of the Salt Lake Metroplex as an LZ or pit spot when things were hot. Very few lived there. Trigger and I were two of those that lived in the area. Believe me when I tell you that we did the best we could to keep our heads down and our asses out of trouble. At the same time, we had to keep our faces out there enough to keep getting the work. That could be hard at times given the control the Church has over the ‘plex and its general distaste for crime in any form.
For those of you from somewhere else, please let me enlighten you. I am referring to the Mormon Church… well, more precisely, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But since everyone calls them the Mormons, it’s just easier to refer to them that way. They control the Salt Lake Metroplex. The PCC just kinda left them in charge when they took over a few years back. Supposedly the PCC is in control, but really the Church is still running things. I guess that the PCC looked at the job they were doing and decided that a bigger slice of tax revenue was better than the headache of trying to manage the city.
I walked into the kitchenette and grabbed some soy toast and squirted it with blue from the auto-faucet. I cursed when the green didn’t come out, too. Just another thing to have to worry about today, I thought to myself. I stuffed the toast in my mouth and slammed back the coffee. Trigger just watched like I was a lab rat. We thought of each other as friends with benefits; however, first and foremost, we were professionals. There were no secrets between us. I headed back to my room for some clothes and absent mindedly asked if the dress was casual. Trigger nodded and I grabbed the most comfortable thing I could find. I slipped a throwing knife into each boot, as well as a one-shot ceramic pistol in my waistband. Less than five minutes after Trigger’s presence had kicked off the alarm bells in my head, we were off.
I jumped on the back of her bike just the bike I'd heard when I work up pulled up. It was Sancho, the local collection officer for the Layton Lions. I’d love to say that I was rough and tumble enough not to need protection, but the truth is never that pretty. I lived on the east side of Layton next to the mountains. Layton is an old suburb of Salt Lake and in a part of the metroplex that no one, other than the Mormon missionaries, seems to care about. However, being so close the mountains means that the animals do care and sometimes decide to come down and visit. Not all of them are normal or friendly. The Lions try to thin out the worst of them and function a lot like a government, or at least as much of one as we needed in that section of town. After I paid for the month, we hit the gas and popped up on the old interstate a few minutes later. Trigger just had to stop for a passing herd of mule deer grazing in what used to be a park. She pulled over, hopped off the bike and starting shooting selfies. I nodded and said, “Yeah, that scans, you’re as stubborn as a mule. Just didn’t know you were related to ‘em.” She smacked me in the arm and we were off again.
The open road let us breathe a bit and chat via AR. Trigger pointed the bike south, toward Salt Lake and let the auto-pilot do the rest. As the interstate bent to the east, I looked for the Wasatch Mountains in front of us, but only saw the blank expression of the winter haze that seemed to loom over the valley every year. There was no need to look west toward the Oquirrh Mountains. Even when the winter haze wasn’t present, the haze from Saeder-Krupp’s mining operation hid them.
Trigger swerved between two cars on the interstate and I came back to the business at hand. I was always glad to have her with me on any run. She could do a lot of things – most involved people dying or wishing they were dead. One that didn’t leave blood everywhere, normally at least, was driving. She was a different person on her bike – almost happy, definitely crazy. I settled back on the bike and let my mind wander over her for a minute. Despite being a muscular ork, she still radiated the light quality of an elf. Her tan skin and long black hair seemed ill suited to her chosen profession; however, I knew that there was more to her story than she ever told me. Perhaps, one day, I’d find out what it was.
As we began to pass better parts of town I went through the mental part of the meet. It would be held in Southern Exposure, a strip bar with a long history. That meant the Johnson liked entertainment. Hopefully, I thought to myself, he likes liberal amounts of the strong homemade stuff that Lucy cooks up in the back. That’ll help with negotiations. Looking back, I should have drunk liberal amounts of that stuff myself.
I mentally reviewed the reps of those Trigger had told me were coming. Mouse, a jack of all trades, would serve as our front man. His specialty was getting into and out of places with information that no one else could get. I had worked with him in the past and knew he could be trusted, which meant a lot to me. Trigger was both muscle and wheels. Fat Tony, an ork gunslinger, would be the heavy artillery on this outing. I bit the inside of my lip. Tony was a mystery as he had no real rep to speak of. I wished for the hundredth time that we could scare up a mage or shaman to go with us; however, it just wasn’t meant to be. The mana in and around the ‘plex is 'bent'. Well, that’s what Mikey told me once. He said, “It’s 'bent' toward the Mormons and their beliefs. Magic, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t work in the ‘plex unless you’re a Mormon with Church permission, performing magic on behalf of the Church.” To me, that sounded like getting your ass handed to you by a sculpted system. That’s no fun for anyone.
I’m a different kind of magician – I focus on the Matrix with its ebb and flow. Now, I’d heard rumors of those that breathe the Matrix like I can only dream; however, I’d never met one of those technological mages and I wasn’t too sure I believed in them. Little of that mattered as we hurtled through the never-dark toward Southern Exposure.
Trigger executed a maneuver that surely would have attracted the notice of Salt Lake Metro Security (SLMS) - aka 'Slims' - if it weren’t rush hour. She pulled off the interstate and headed to the strip club parking lot. The gravel lot had gotten bigger over the years but, no thought had ever been given to paving it. We headed in and tipped the bouncer who tipped his hat when he recognized us. The club was running full tilt as usual. The amateur talent was against the southern wall and from the sounds of it was getting all the encouragement or criticism they would ever need. The bar was starting to fill up, but Lucy, the manager, grabbed a couple of beers and motioned us toward the back. Mouse was already there nursing a watered down drink. The skinny elf doesn’t like to drink too much before negotiations and Lucy knew it. He didn’t look like much but he could shoot straight and was good for the odd situation. The negotiation end never went as well as when Mouse was handling it. Trigger sat down beside him and whispered something in his ear. He glanced up at me, laughed and went back to his drink. Fat Tony still wasn’t there. I was wondering to myself, Where the hell is he? The J will be here in a minute. Not two minutes later, an ork walks in with an attitude to match the figurative hell I had conjured up for runners who make me look bad.
“Damn traffic!” was the only thing he said.
Shortly thereafter, the J came in. He was dressed in a three piece suit with a small black name tag on his suit reading 'Elder Johnson'. He sat down and said, “Sorry I’m late. I hope that you don’t mind if some friends join me.” His friends were two joygirls from somewhere. I risked a glance at Mouse, who motioned to his comm.
The message came through in a hurry: "I know this guy looks like a joke. But let’s hear him out first. This wouldn’t be the first J who thinks that it’s funny trying to pass himself off as an ‘Elder.’ If the cred is good, I don’t care what he plays for dress-up."
The three of us sat back as the newly dubbed 'Elder Johnson' began to speak. “I have a job for you. It should be a simple job so I expect that the four of you can handle it without any problems…"
He went on for a bit and explained that we were going to hit a research lab at BYU. The target had to be hit in the next forty-eight hours before it was to be moved. He then gave us some time to think it over while he talked with his entourage. He signaled Lucy that he would need the private room off to the side once we were done. The four of us sat in a small huddle off to one side of the back room and discussed the offer in a private AR chat room I conjured up from nowhere.
Fat Tony was the first to speak, "The job seems straightforward enough. We break into a lab at this “BYU” and steal S-K’s prototype drill. Not too hard. Like he said, a smash and grab operation. I have nothing better on my calendar this week. I say go for it."
His Southern accent explained why he didn’t have a rep in the area. The discussion went on for a while with both Mouse and Trigger in favor of it. I was the lone holdout; mostly because the J actually had the nerve to call it a smash and grab. For some people, I guess that the amount of cred he put on the table would have erased their doubts; it just made me paranoid.
Despite that, I caved to my friends and nodded that we should take the job anyway. You could blame pride or stupidity, but, if I’m honest, it was hunger. Not the kind of hunger that some get for glory. It was the honest, I-need-to-eat hunger. After all, the green in my auto-faucet wasn’t going fill itself.
I swallowed my dignity and said, “Yeah, let’s go.”
'Elder Johnson' gave us the details for the exchange and we headed out.
The next afternoon, we got back together near a park in the downtown of old Salt Lake and then headed to Provo. Technically outside the ‘plex, Provo has Swiss cheese-like holes. In those holes you find BYU – Brigham Young University, if you care. Owned by the Mormons and run as a college, BYU pumps out armies of Mormons headed off to Church or Corporate jobs everywhere in the world. We were tasked with breaking into a research office in the Eyring Science Center. I was able to determine that about half of the projects in the building were for Saeder-Krupp, and the other half were divided among several of the other Majors. We had decided to wait until the middle of the night, when most students were home, before heading in. The cleaning van I had appropriated from Sally’s Cleaning was cramped with all of us and our gear; however, it offered us some cover both during the last pale rays of daylight as well as when we drove on to campus.
My biggest concern was that the Slims provided security for BYU. Please understand, this is not your normal, run-of-the-mill police force. These guys do not play nice. Sure, they look all cute and cuddly with their stun batons and soft soled shoes; however when they feel threatened, they open the trunk of the squad car and bad things happen. Drones get launched and heavy weapons come out. The rumors from back then that they were field testing Ares police gear turned out to be true. Unlike the Star or Knight Errant, Slims are all Mormons who think of the metroplex as their own country, PCC be damned. They defend it like that too. Cross these guys and they hunt you. Kill one of them and you might was well grab an anchor and jump in the Great Salt Lake. I have never known anyone to live who killed a Slim, and you don’t want to know what the SWAT division looks like. Anyway, I was thinking about all this when Trigger snapped her fingers and brought me back to reality.
The Science Center was quiet. The security guard smiled and buzzed us in, not bothering to look us over very carefully. I remember thinking, This is too easy. We grabbed the service elevator and headed up to the floor we wanted – just below our target and under remodeling. I knocked out the security cameras on the floor, erased the last week’s footage, and logged three work orders and two complaints with the maintenance department. We changed into our gear quickly and without talking. I was glad to see that Fat Tony had some discipline. Mouse had decided to wear a generic looking corporate suit and had dressed us in generic corporate security gear. If anyone other than Mouse had told me what he was planning, I would not have believed it was possible. However, Mouse had this way of convincing people on the street to hand over their drink and comm without complaint. Sure they eventually noticed; however, he was gone in the two or three minutes it took them to register what had happened. He was going to pull the same thing in the lab that night, or so he said. We took the elevator to our target floor and were greeted with a mini-gun when we stepped out. Mouse launched into his routine, screaming in German about lax discipline and why the gun wasn’t manned. The bewildered guards were about to spool the damn thing up when Mouse relaxed and started in on them in English.
“Where the hell is the commander here?” he asked. The poor slot looked like he was about to piss himself and buzzed us in while he called his commander. Trigger took the opportunity to walk over to him and ask about the mini-gun. Happy to be able to answer a question and not have Mouse’s overbearing presence focused on him, he started talking which meant that Trigger was able to tag him with a knockout patch. While he excused himself to get some water and no doubt try to wake himself up, I hacked the system and shutdown the alarms and outside connections.
The supervisor came up to us and wanted to know what we thought were doing on his turf. Mouse laid into him, with a smattering of German thrown in for good measure. The poor guy smiled at us. I thought Fat Tony had lost his mind when he unloaded on the guy; however, the secondary explosion from the grenade his buddy was carrying told me that Fat Tony had made the right call.
We were now in a fight against the clock. As far as I knew, we may have even lost it if this was a setup. Fat Tony had insisted on bringing his arsenal and now I was glad for it, even if large amounts of lead weren’t my personal style. We fought through to the next room in a running gun fight until we reached the area we wanted. I hunkered down and tried to open the connection again.
I yelled, “Damn it! This was a setup!” Everything I had done was gone. It was obvious I had hacked a shell system. We headed for an interior wall our research had told us was hollow and led to a service shaft that the cleaning droids used to access the various labs that didn’t allow outside companies to enter. Fat Tony rolled a grenade to the wall while Trigger covered us. Mouse just looked lost – he was definitely out of his element. Nevertheless, he was plugging away with his pistol like his life depended on it; truthfully, it did.
The grenade went off and opened up our way out. Mouse clamped the climbing lines to the structure while Trigger and Fat Tony laid down some mini-mines of his own invention. We zipped down and were almost to the second floor when our lines were cut. I fell the last few feet and twisted my ankle. We headed for the balcony just outside the second story atrium doors. Of course the Slims would be waiting! Why wouldn’t they be?
As I jumped the handrail of the second story balcony at BYU and aimed for the snow drift below, I found myself thinking about choices. Who would have thought this would go downhill so fast? If I live through this, I’m going to kill that Johnson. It wouldn’t be the first time I had that thought, nor would it be the last.
I somehow managed to make the landing despite the ankle. Fat Tony was squaring up for a shot at the Slims.
“No!” I yelled, “Unless you want to sign your own death warrant.” He fired anyway. I ran as best I could for the van. So did Mouse and Trigger. We had run the shadows long enough to know not to shoot a Slim. We heard Fat Tony go down to what sounded like a Vindicator mini-gun. As we rounded the corner Trigger went down to a stunner round.
“Go!” she yelled. “I’ll be fine.” I didn’t like leaving anyone behind; however, I trusted Trigger’s gut and I ran. No, I’m not proud of it, but I’m alive to tell you this story. I jacked three cars and sent them out in different directions. Mouse and I piled into the van and laid low while the autopilot took us off into the distance.
* * *
It was a tense three days while the Slims tore up the ‘plex from one side to the other looking us. With no sign of Trigger, Mouse and I cautiously went back to work. Poor guy had another run go south on him about three months later. He quit the scene and moved to Seattle. I haven’t heard from him since. Hope he’s OK.
After too many weeks looking over my shoulder, I found the 'Elder Johnson' that had set us up. He was swilling booze in Southern Exposure and looked like he was getting ready to screw over another team. I hacked the samurai’s comm – why can’t they learn to get their hacker buddies to close the holes? Anyway, I hacked his comm and set myself up to read and send messages on their private chat. I sent the hacker a message about the double cross. Smooth as silk she started tracing me. She was good, but not as good as me. I routed her to some poor slob who thought she wanted to dance.
She shrugged and asked the J, “So, what happened to the team that did the BYU run for you? By the way, Slicer says hi.”
The white-faced look was all the team needed. They stood up and walked. She dropped a note in the hacked chat: “Hope you screw this guy. We owe you one.”
I responded, “Help me burn him and we’ll call it even.”
Four months later, ‘Elder Johnson’ was SINless in Seattle and on the run from the Yaks, the Triads, AND the Mob. After that, seeing those black name tags warmed my heart, just a little.
But none of that made me forget about Trigger. The Slims had her on the inside. Somehow, she stayed true to her word and never rolled on me. The longer I went without hearing from her, the more worried I got. Every time I saw a Slim, I would wince at the thought of being left in their tender mercies. Everywhere I looked, I hit brick walls. Eventually, my questions must have roused too much attention.
First, one of my backup identities went belly up. Then, the money attached to another identity was seized for back taxes. Like I said, the Slims don’t play nice. I could read the writing on the wall so I paid Sancho the monthly protection money and told him, “You haven’t seen me. I haven’t paid and you don’t know where I am. Here is a new identity for your girl. She has apparently inherited some money from a long lost relative. The SIN is good for at least a couple of months, more if she doesn’t use it for much more than paying rent and collecting her inheritance.” Sancho nodded. That meant I had a couple of days to get out. I got my stuff and was gone in less than 12 hours. Well before my house was consumed in the fire – the Lion’s calling card for those that didn’t pay. Sancho lit it himself.
I found my way to Denver and hooked up with a new team. Even made a few international runs when the money was good. Matter of fact, the last time I was in London, I ran into Trigger. However, it was hard to tell it was her since she was in a dress that actually covered her body rather than showing it off. She recognized me and, for the first time in two years, I heard my given name – yeah, you didn’t think I as going to tell you what it is, did you? Anyway, she and another woman, an elf, walked across the street. Trigger introduced me as a friend from Salt Lake to her companion. The elf just smiled and looked nervous. Trigger chatted with me for maybe a minute or so before asking me, in all seriousness, if I wanted to read a copy of the “Book of Mormon”. Now I know what happens to runners unfortunate enough to be caught by Slims.
So, omae, when you jump the border, keep that in mind.

is everyone mormon in salt lake city video

5. If youre not Mormon, you might be happiest living in Salt Lake County. Avoid Utah County if you are not Mormon. Nice places to live in Salt Lake County are Sandy, South Jordan, some parts of Murray, and the Salt Lake County side of Draper. Tooele has a large military presence, so its an okay place for non-mormons to live also. Mormon Tabernacle Choir: Misperceptions were all mine. - See 1,582 traveler reviews, 239 candid photos, and great deals for Salt Lake City, UT, at Tripadvisor. Salt Lake City was founded and settled by Mormon pioneers, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints global headquarters is in the heart—literally—of downtown. Roughly 60 percent of Utahns are LDS, though that number is slightly lower in Salt Lake. The Church influences much of the political and social fabric of the city. 7. The Mormon Influencer Backlash To "The Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City" Is A Fascinating Peek At A Side Of Them We Rarely See. In this week's newsletter: Influencers in Utah rant and argue about whether the Bravo hit is a "real" representation of their religion, and a nudge to everyone else to once again raise alarm bells about the ongoing pandemic. A few blocks from the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, a huge grain elevator rises 178 feet into the sky. It is a towering tribute to an ideology that economists and Mormon church members credit ... OQ: What percentage of Salt Lake City's population is Mormon? According to Wikipedia: “The LDS Church has the highest number of adherents in Utah (at 1,493,612 members), followed by the Catholic Church with 97,085 members reported and the Southern... Perlich called Salt Lake County the state’s “economic heart,” which attracts people, and that leads to ethnic enclaves seen in west Salt Lake City, Kearns and West Valley City. When the Mormon Pioneers arrived in Salt Lake City, they surveyed the entire city on top of what is now called Ensign Peak. Right in the heart of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, residents can hike the steep but short hike to the top and have incredible views of the city and the Great Salt Lake. Not everyone is Utah is Mormon. I'm going to visit my grandparents for Christmas in SLC and they are not Mormon. I think around 60% of the state is. Yes there are Urban areas, the largest being the metro Salt Lake City area with around 1.5 million people. There is also the cities of Provo and Orem. The Sundance Film Festival is held in Park ...

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The Salt Lake City Utah Temple LDS-Mormon Temple HD - YouTube

Craig Considine filmed this compilation of Muslims and Mormons in Salt Lake City, Utahhttp://www.journeyintoamerica.wordpress.com/Produced by Akbar AhmedFIlm... Répétition du "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" au Conference Center de Salt Lake City Im Salt-Lake-Tempel Bezirk steht der bekannteste und größte Tempel der Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage (auch „Mormonen“ genannt). Er ist im... Hey guys! It's Cody, today we are talking about 5 pro's and 5 con's of living in Salt Lake City, and what you can expect! There is a bonus tip at the end of ... so many lies for a place of worship, of course , that would depend on who/what you were worshipping :)mudinvestigation18 @gmail.com Pioneers of the Realm jac... In this video we will explore the possible ancient origins of Salt Lake City and surrounding towns in Utah. The Mormon story may be a sloppy story for one of... Salt Lake City: A Downtown Story The Salt Lake City LDS Mormon Temple. Video and Photos taken General Conference weekend. October 3, 2010 Denise Vespoli introduces the Mormon Temple and the holy block.

Salt Lake City offers glimpse of socialism, Mormon-style ...

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The Salt Lake City Utah Temple LDS-Mormon Temple HD - YouTube