Inside Voices: The perspectives you read most in 2024

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

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

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

1. LDS women should join me in skipping church on Sunday | Kierstyn Kremer Howes

2. If Ryan Smith can’t afford his own entertainment district, I have no choice but to assume he is poor | Brian Higgins

3. ‘Heretic’ brings back scary, suffocating memories of my LDS mission | Beth Adams

4. After three decades of being a Utah Jazz fan, I can’t do it anymore | Bryan Griffith

5. Christ put his trust in women, why won’t more LDS men? | Rosemary Card

6. Glen Canyon Dam has created a world of mud | David Marston

7. The Utah Jazz need to stop giving Karl Malone a platform | Ben Dowsett

8. For millennial women like me, LDS garments carry a complicated symbolism | Annie Mangelson

9. Natalie Cline bullied our child, and she should be impeached | Al and Rachel van der Beek

10. Weber State is embracing change in our approach to serving students. As its leader, I welcome scrutiny. | Brad Mortensen

11. I grew up in Park City, and I don’t recognize the place it’s become | Fletcher Keyes

12. Utah, it’s OK to go outside without winning | Brian Higgins

13. As a parent, I hated sending my kids to school so early. As a sleep researcher, I know how damaging it is. | Wendy Troxel

14. It’s time to step away | Paul Huntsman

15. I’ll be at my LDS church this weekend, pushing for change | Amy Watkins Jensen

16. Why Utah teachers say they’re leaving the profession | Tribune Readers

17. After six weeks on SLC public transit, I can’t give up my car quite yet | Elise Armand

18. I’m a Latter-day Saint and a horror expert. Here’s what ‘Heretic’ gets right — and where it went wrong. | Michaelbrent Collings

19. I’m in Oslo. But I see a big case of Stockholm syndrome in Salt Lake City. | George Pyle

20. As a former Republican senator in Utah, I’m embarrassed | Stuart C. Reid

21. Ogden has a rare piece of history. It shouldn’t sit around and gather dust. | Dana Parker

22. My LDS family adopted an American Indian child in the 1970s. It was wrong, and the church should apologize. | Thomas DeVere Wolsey

23. The University of Utah can’t ignore us — its staff and faculty — forever | Kristina Lynae

24. It’s time for Utah chefs to get off their gas | Victoria N. Stafford and Edwin R. Stafford

25. Liquor store refrigerators boldly usher Salt Lake beer-lovers into the mid-20th century | Brian Higgins

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

Utah Voices

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

Health insurance

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

Housing

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

Education

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

Diversity, equity and inclusion

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

Transgender rights

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

Share Your Perspective

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

From Bagley’s Desk

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