John Saltas

1 week ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I am not one to go to a rally—or even a football game for that matter—just for the hell of it. And this past weekend, I didn't attend the "Fight Oligarchy" event at the University of Utah Huntsman Center. I did the math and figured I couldn't get there in time to get inside. With a couple of new joints south of my midsection, standing around is just not a pleasant option.

2 weeks ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

The first time I saw a mass protest was certainly during one of the many miners' strikes that occurred in Bingham Canyon when I was growing up. It seemed like the strikers always gathered near our home in Lead Mine, site of the precipitation plant ("P-Plant") that never shut down and where—due to the high profitability of the plant—non-striking "company men" kept it operating. That one of Bingham Canyon's most well-known taverns, the Moonlight Gardens, was also in Lead Mine was just a bonus.

1 month ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

I learned how to drive a car in Bingham Canyon, Utah. Bingham Canyon was the largest and longest canyon in the Oquirrh Mountains and was, at one time, home to more than 10,000 residents, who primarily earned their daily bread by working in the ever-expanding open pit copper mine. Mining operations long ago buried and/or dug away the city of Bingham (and all subsidiary towns like Copperfield, Highland Boy, Galena, Yampa, Frogtown, Carr Fork, Dinkeyville and all the rest).

2 months ago | cityweekly.net | John Saltas

In the mid-70s, I was a full-time student at the University of Utah, paying for schooling as a full-time blackjack dealer in Wendover, Nevada. I went to class Monday through Thursday, then drove to Wendover on Thursday afternoon to begin dealing shifts, putting in 40 hours in four days. I'd drive home late Sunday night, catch some sleep, then start over with the books Monday morning.

Dec 27, 2024 | alternet.org | John Saltas

As a lifelong sufferer of SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder—I've never fully enjoyed this time of year. SAD affects about 5% of all Americans, or about 10 million people like me who mal-adjust to there being less sunlight in the fall and winter months and who sleepily find themselves more sad, more tired, less motivated and less optimistic, all looped together by the belt that finds its way around our growing waistlines. It's depression.