Winds of Change: Stories, Service, and the Seeds of Hope

In Bookshops and Bonedust, by Travis Baldree, Viv burns hot. The first real sign of life she sees is at the end of of a strip of shops. You didn’t need more than your nose to figure what the shop was about.

At night it is all too easy for Viv to picture a man in gray right outside her door. Lying on a straw-tick mattress, she resolves to follow Highlark’s instructions.

After Pitt’s unexpected appearance, Viv thinks she is done with surprises. The shiver of being pursued is novel. Maylee hollers to Brand that she’ll have the beef, to which Brand acknowledges with a raised arm. She adds that she’d like something to drink as well. Viv tells Maylee that she doesn’t think she’s ever seen her in the Perch.

Later, Fern notices that Viv is not using a staff. Viv replies that she brought lunch. The rattkin asks skeptically, “Isn’t it sort of early?” It takes a moment for Viv to process that she’s talking about her leg and not lunch.

Coming acrossed a closed sign on the door at Thistleburr, she knocks and calls out for Fern. The door opens inward, and Fern ushers her in with and impatient paw.

A volume’s spine creaks in a crisp and deeply satisfying way when Viv opens the volume to inspect the fresh print. She observes how clean the letters are. Fern tells her that the gnomish printers are new.

After going on a hunt for spinebacks, the mules are doing what they can. Odds are that the driver would probably head in the opposite direction if he knew what may be waiting for them ahead. Viv can jog faster than the rate the plodding beasts are moving.

Saturday was Armed Forces Day. I attended the proclamation by the West Valley City Mayor announcing the event and honoring everyone who has served in the armed forces—past, present, and future.

Armed Forces Day was established in 1949 to honor Americans serving in the five branches of the United States military — the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard — and is observed annually on the third Saturday in May. The brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces serve with honor, dedication, and courage, both at home and abroad, to protect the freedoms and security of our nation. Utah is home to approximately 140,000 veterans who have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, contributing significantly to our communities and state.

Utah hosts several key military installations, including Hill Air Force Base, Tooele Army Depot, and Dugway Proving Ground. These military installations collectively bolster Utah’s economy by supporting tens of thousands of jobs, fostering innovation, and enhancing national security, while strengthening partnerships between military, government, and private sectors. The impact of Utah’s veterans extends far beyond their military service, as they continue to lead in business, education, healthcare, public service, and community development, enriching our state with their values, skills, and leadership.

The City of West Valley recognized the significance of Armed Forces Day as an opportunity for all citizens to express appreciation to those who have served and those who continue to serve in uniform.

During public comments, I expressed my appreciation and thanks as a US Navy veteran. I mentioned that my father served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, and that I had uncles and grand-uncles that served in the Army and the Navy. My father served at a time when people would spit on service members and call them baby killers, even though most were just doing their job and were nowhere near the atrocity that occured. As my father once told me, every generation must fight to protect our rights.

I asked the Mayor and City Council to consider the active and reserve members who are being drummed out because of their diversity or because of their real or perceived gender identity. I also asked them to consider employees of the veteran's administration who are losing their jobs as well.

According to an article by KUER, Mayor Erin Mendehall made national news when Salt Lake City officially adopted the LGBTQ+ pride, trans, and Juneteenth flags. The city’s sego lily was added to each city version of the flag. According to the curator of the Natural History Museum, every direction from Salt Lake is a sego lily habitat.

The Sego Lily, which grows in harsh dry conditions and with a bulb only about half the size of a golf ball, is believed to have its name derived from the Shoshone for “edible bulb.” It was also declared by Brigham Young that the Sego Lily as a heaven-sent food. The women’s movement of the 19th century secured the flower as Utah’s flower.

Not only was the representation of women at stake, Utah was seeking statehood for the seventh time, and needed proof of the populations’ “Americanness.” For a show of Unity at the Chicago World Fair in 1893, Utah women voted hands down for the Sego Lily to represent them. More than a century later, despite its history, the Sego Lily had fallen out of fashion until Salt Lake City was looking for design in 1920, when they settled on a simple design featuring the lily set against a horizontal field each of blue and white.

I love what Mayor Erin Mendenhall has to say about the new flags as a response to the new Utah law that restricts what flags can be flown in government buildings, “In a time when so much uncertainty, so much fear threatens to divide us, our city symbols must leave no doubt that we are a united city and a united people.”

In The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride, Paper is a laundress who holds court in the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store every Saturday. She announces that Big Soap knocked out Fatty’s gold tooth. Soap and Fatty often walk home together. Rusty receives this news with disbelief.

Dodo is rolled to the end corner of a long room tightly packed with beds and left. He sobs for a moment before sleeping. Monkey Pants is the first thing he sees when he wakes up.

At South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, we had our first ever wind communion. We were reminded of how the wind is used to power sailing vessels, and how even pirates practiced respect, fairness, and democracy. The wind can also be used to power toys like pinwheels that have no purpose other than to put a smile on our face. Wind turbines harness renewable energy. The wind also represents to some degree freedom, and brings change with it.

We were encouraged to notice one another and the change we all bring individually. Left unspoken was how we can harness the winds of change to help bring us back on course. Sailboats have complex systems of booms, jibs, sails, and rudders that a team of sailors uses to power and guide the vessel. While the course is not always perfect, the expert sailor knows how to tack against the wind, using the wind to zig zag against the course. When times are good, we say we have tailwinds at our back, and when times are hard, we face headwinds.

Change can come like a gentle breeze, or it can come in like a storm, like the wind storms that we encountered in West Valley City last week, that in addition to blowing things around and down, the toxic dust of arsenic and gallenium from the Great Salt Lake that is desperately low—a portent of what is to come if we don't demonstate good stewardship in restoring our lake levels. Once again I heard how important a role trees play in the ecosphere, in the way they produce the oxygen that cools the atmosphere so the evaporative effect is lowered. Any long term protection of the lake is going to require more trees than we currently have.

I am also struck by the fact that we had so many people who chose not to vote. Their distrust of the system is contributing to distrustful elements taking advantage of the system. If we truly believe in democracy, we must have those heart to heart conversations with people who have chosen not to exercise that right and responsibility. We need to listen, understand, and address the complaints while also helping to correct any misinformation they may have picked up. We have to listen closely and attentively if we are to have any hope going forward.

In a world shaped by stories—whether found in the pages of Bookshops and Bonedust or The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store—we find reflections of our own resilience, our struggles, and our capacity for change. Viv’s journey through pain, recovery, and unexpected camaraderie mirrors the quiet bravery of those navigating unfamiliar paths—be it in fantasy realms or our own communities. From the solemn observance of Armed Forces Day to the vibrant symbols of inclusion like Salt Lake City’s new flags, we are reminded that service and identity are not mutually exclusive. Honoring veterans means not just recognizing their past sacrifices, but also advocating for their present dignity—especially for those marginalized by systems that should protect them.

The Sego Lily—Utah’s symbol of survival, unity, and hope—emerges as a powerful metaphor. Just as it once stood as proof of Utah's "Americanness" and women's representation, today it blooms anew as a quiet act of resistance and solidarity in the face of divisive legislation.

At South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, a wind communion captures the spirit of our time. The wind—like change—is unpredictable but potent. It powers ships, spins toys, and stirs up dust that reminds us of our fragile environment. In this wind lies a call to action: to be mindful stewards of our planet, to plant trees, to vote, and to listen—truly listen—to those who have lost faith in the democratic process.

We must become expert sailors in turbulent times, knowing when to tack against the wind and when to let it carry us forward. Whether faced with storm or breeze, we are each responsible for the direction we steer our shared future.