...with our first effort at Utah Pagan Journalism. The Pagan Newswire Collective is a national endeavor spearheaded by Jason Pitzl-Waters, author of the renowned Pagan blog The Wild Hunt.
The core concept of the PNC is to create a professional-level journalism resource, by, for, and about Pagans. We have bureaus in Florida, Sacramento, the Heartland, Washington D.C. and several other states, with more to come. The idea is that there will be news stories, editorials, and feature stories about news of import to Pagans, things happening to Pagans in a given locale that might be of significance to Pagans in other places.
So, then, what of Salt Lake City? St. George? Ogden? the eastern Utah area? the West Desert? what could possibly be happening in Utah that might interest Pagans in other places?
Well, there ARE some people that believe that the very existence of Pagans in Utah is newsworthy. But even beyond that, there is news here. Here are some things our PNC Utah bureau will be covering in the coming weeks:
1) Utah's first Pagan Community Center, Crone's Hollow, will open in Salt Lake City in March. The idea of a single venue for rituals, classes, socializing, combined with a Pagan shop and apothecary, is one that has been pursued in the SLC Pagan community for over 20 years. This is definitely news.
2) This Autumn, Salt Lake City will hold its tenth Pagan Pride Day. Having an event like this in a public location for ten years in a state like Utah is definitely newsworthy.
3) Last year, the University of Utah, Westminster College, and Salt Lake Community College either revived or newly started Pagan Student groups. More to come....
4) The Salt Lake City Esotericism and Free Thought Seminar is an ongoing series of lectures currently being held at the Salt Lake City Library. It is facilitated by a member of Salt Lake City's OTO....more to come, again.
5) Utah's Interfaith Roundtable and the Utah Pride Interfaith Coalition both have members who are Pagan Clergy. We'll be talking to them and discussing interfaith dialogue and how it works with people who don't even believe in the same Deities.
This is just a sampling. There is a LOT more going on that we haven't mentioned, in the Salt Lake Valley and throughout the state. Keep your eye on this spot, and let us know if you have something you think we might like to cover. Because if it's Utah, and it's Pagan, and it's news....we would!
