https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren daily 0.75 2025-11-17 https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren/observations-from-a-morning-hike monthly 0.5 2025-11-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/e633063c-7ca0-4a86-b1c2-196c0a257bfa/Ista+Idge.jpeg Notes from Maren - Observations From a Morning Hike - The main appeal of this area are the hillsides flooded with the wildflowers that bloom in the springtime, engulfing the terrain in an ocean of fluorescent yellow. The scorching summer heat has since burnt those flowers to a crisp, but I’m not too upset. Without the flowers, most people aren’t as interested in coming by anymore—and I’m quite happy to trade the vibrant flora for a trail that is relatively unoccupied. The crowds will be back by next spring anyways. With hopes to have a relatively quiet hike, I embark on my journey, ready to follow the trail signs that seem to be missing the first letters of both words. Either that or they’ve renamed this trail Ista Idge. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/541ac7f9-19b9-453a-b25d-61b69f60fbb8/Panorama.jpeg Notes from Maren - Observations From a Morning Hike - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren/conquering-a-reading-slump monthly 0.5 2025-11-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/72bb893e-c1a3-412f-a0c3-f6abeb6616d6/Precarious+Pile.png Notes from Maren - Conquering a Reading Slump (Hopefully) - A pile such as this builds up occasionally, and they’re almost always a sign of one thing: I’m in a reading slump. A reader’s worst nightmare—but it happens to everyone at some point or another. Now, there are typically two things that I will do to get out of a reading slump: Re-read a book that I love Read a new book that absolutely hooks me Unfortunately, neither of those seemed to work this time around. I recently re-read Pierce Brown’s Red Rising in hopes that it would ignite a desire to read more science fiction and fantasy. While I enjoyed the book and had a fun time recollecting plot points as the story progressed, I reached the end of the book and felt no further away from the reading slump than where I began. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/8de4db51-0ef4-4899-95db-e2aaf6ef61b4/Endless+Cycle.png Notes from Maren - Conquering a Reading Slump (Hopefully) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/9e786965-529a-442e-b9c0-19e0f6d8853f/Current+Reads.png Notes from Maren - Conquering a Reading Slump (Hopefully) - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren/i-never-learned-how-to-bike-with-no-hands monthly 0.5 2025-11-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/dc5f00cc-8ea9-4c3d-ad05-8a8e2a271567/Childhood+Biking.png Notes from Maren - I Never Learned How to Bike With No Hands - I was delighted when we moved to Utah not long afterwards and I suddenly had an entire park that I could bike around. I studied the signs posted alongside the trails crisscrossing the park, and learned that one big loop around the park was half a mile. I remember feeling very proud of myself when one Saturday I went out and rode twenty loops just for the hell of it. Moving once again just two years later, I found myself in a small town that I could practically ride the whole length of on my bike. I felt a novel sense of freedom in my ability to pedal my way to the grocery store and spend my allowance on Pringles, Hershey’s drops, and the biggest bottle of Dr. Pepper that I could find. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/c31d8396-c980-404a-a68b-f2b9d4cdc7fe/Bike+Market.png Notes from Maren - I Never Learned How to Bike With No Hands - I was thrown in the deep end during my very first week of college. One of the staple activities of our orientation week (or Introweek, as we liked to call it) was the bike market, where all of the timid first year students gathered on the dusty cement football pitch and picked out our vehicles of choice. I quickly honed in on a bright red bicycle—vibrant enough to make it easy to find in a crowd, but beat up enough to dissuade most bike thieves. And from that moment onwards, the expectation was to bike, bike, bike. Through the rest of Introweek, we all biked together to the grocery store, we biked to a club, we biked into the city center during rush hour—it never seemed to stop. Before I even realized it, the fear started to melt away. Suddenly, the panic morphed into exhilaration, the stress into satisfaction. I felt like a kid again, biking to the grocery store with crumpled dollar bills jammed into my pockets. https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren/youre-watching-tv-wrong monthly 0.5 2025-11-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/efc3c9ef-b6a4-4958-aa6f-c12ec475ba54/Childhood+Games.png Notes from Maren - You’re Watching TV Wrong - For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved playing games. My childhood is freckled with memories of Enchanted Forest at the dinner table, Werewolves after school, Parcheesi on the living room carpet, and Cranium in my grandparents’ old house. And then, of course, the games went digital. I obsessively played Professor Layton and Super Mario Bros on my light pink DS, riding the thrill that came from staying up past my bedtime just to get to the next level. I snuck in Minecraft sessions between classes in middle school, and my siblings and I played on our Wii for years until it finally kicked the bucket a few summers ago. All of this goes to say: I love to play games. And recently, I’ve noticed that my love for games has transcended beyond the games that already exist. I’ve started to bring a competitive spirit into other areas: namely, watching television. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/1fcd63b5-4138-40a8-8947-af90416dd856/Jackie%2C+Shauna%2C+Travis.png Notes from Maren - You’re Watching TV Wrong - In came the drinking game. My friends graciously donated a large pad of paper upon which I scribbled the rules of the game, including gems like: Drink every time Travis is brooding and annoying Drink every time Adult Taissa is an awful wife and/or mother Drink every time there’s homoerotic tension between Jackie and Shauna https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/d4faedd0-5558-4231-ae82-06e1b5ff2925/Big+Brother+Moments.png Notes from Maren - You’re Watching TV Wrong - Suddenly, we all became a lot more invested in the show. Competitors that weren’t necessarily playing the social game of Big Brother all that well managed to be ideal picks for our own fantasy game. We booed as our players got evicted, celebrated as alliances blew up (+1 point), and cheered when even the most cringeworthy couples shared an on-screen kiss (+1 point). This year’s draft took things to a new level. We brainstormed in separate rooms and drew up our game plans. We rolled dice to establish the draft order. We played the iconic NBA draft sound before each pick. And one selection at a time we built our teams and got ready for the season ahead of us. https://www.marensmith.com/notes-from-maren/notes-on-collecting monthly 0.5 2025-08-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/64959b84-205a-491c-9264-249a1f82e310/Sketch.png Notes from Maren - “No, I Promise I Need This” A sketch of me that my grandpa did in summer 2021. This was during one of our many usual visits to my grandparents’ house each summer, where we all sit around and talk for hours. I love to lounge on their red leather couches with my feet propped up on the huge wooden chest in the middle of the room, where inside my grandma stores her many homemade quilts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/59677763-3984-4fa3-b9a4-c2e1ed1dd172/Beans.webp Notes from Maren - “No, I Promise I Need This” - My third grade science fair project, which I am certain my mom did far more work for than I did. The sketch of a pinto bean really ties the whole thing together, and solidifies that I did not inherent any of my grandpa’s artistic skills. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/552f5c45-73e5-4ebf-aecc-e5a269508329/3747f467-4420-4616-9807-598d78489693_4032x3024+Large.png Notes from Maren - “No, I Promise I Need This” - An endless amount of tickets! Included in this photo are tickets from Broadway shows and NWSL games—two events that are pretty representative of my lifelong interests, thus far. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/43b089bb-849e-4736-bbab-15fc182bfd41/3bfffa6c-5e64-4c7b-8c71-5fc9c55bbfe9_2164x1921.webp Notes from Maren - “No, I Promise I Need This” - My little red beret. Purchased in Paris when I was three years old, I’ve kept this beret for years (even though it no longer fits me) as a reminder of an amazing roadtrip with my parents. I truly think that trip around Europe is what kickstarted my endless love for travel and learning about history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/bae50796-905e-4fc2-9202-1b5b67fe8abc/ba458eff-8b8c-4bee-80b7-d6d58d542d17_1811x2572.webp Notes from Maren - “No, I Promise I Need This” - The postcard my mom gave me on her last day helping me move into college. At 18, I made the choice to move by myself to the Netherlands, and my mom was kind enough to come with me for a few days to help me get settled. On one of these days, I was busy doing orientation activities and she took a day trip to The Hague, where she got me this postcard and wrote a note on the back that I read again and again every time I got helplessly homesick that first semester. https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog daily 0.75 2026-03-02 https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog/utahs-queer-broadway-stars-of-the-19th-and-20th-centuries monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/8885857f-3a14-4c2a-84e5-5ac02c516873/647e711c-648f-449e-a167-736b87b008ba_250x387.webp Out + About - Utah’s Queer Broadway Stars of the 19th and 20th Centuries - Ada Dwyer Russell: Actress and Literary Muse Ada Dwyer Russell was born in Salt Lake City in 1863 to the Mormon family of James Dwyer and Sara Ann Hammer. She was introduced to the world of theater early in life: she attended many performances at the Salt Lake Theater throughout her childhood, and took the stage there for herself in 1882. Growing up, she eagerly took lessons from anyone who had something to teach her: “There was never a teacher of elocution, or any foreign language, that came to Utah in pioneer days, that my father did not have me take lessons from,” Ada wrote, reflecting on her training. By 1890, Ada made her way to New York City, joining the cast of “One Error”. Following this, she went on to perform in “Alone in London” (1891) , “Don Juan” (1891), “Husband and Wife” (1892), “The Children of the Ghetto” (1892), “In a Balcony” (1900), “A Gentleman of France” (1902), “The Dawn of To-morrow” (1909), “The Deep Purple” (1911), and “Blackbirds” (1912). Alongside these performances in New York, she also performed on stages throughout England and Australia. In 1883, Ada married actor Harold Russell, castmate in “One Error”, and the two had a child soon after. However, they separated shortly following the birth of their child. Until this point, Ada’s life followed a path that was very respectable and recognizable for her time. But everything changed in 1912 when she crossed paths with the writer Amy Lowell. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/8c566b00-e5af-40fe-ba7c-312e7f8cdca6/8ebf035b-e2cd-4cbc-82f4-6fdc1ccb459b_300x424.webp Out + About - Utah’s Queer Broadway Stars of the 19th and 20th Centuries - Maude Adams: From Salt Lake City to Neverland If Ada Dwyer Russell’s story is one of subtlety and literary devotion, Maude Adams’s is one of pure spectacle. Born in Salt Lake City in 1872, Adams made her first stage appearance at just two months old in “The Lost Baby” at the Salt Lake City Theater. She spent much of her early life traveling between California, New York, and Utah, where she acted in various stage productions, such as “Fritz, Our German Cousin", “A Celebrated Case”, and “Esmerelda”. She briefly returned to Utah for her studies, where she attended the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute, now known as Westminster University. While she made her New York City debut at the age of ten in “Esmerelda”, her notable entry to the Broadway scene was in the 1889 production, “A Midnight Bell.” Between these early performances and when she retired from acting in 1916, she performed in 25 different Broadway productions. Of these, her most notable performance was as the titular role of J. M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” in 1905. Originating this role on the Broadway stage, Maude stepped into the shoes of a character that has become the subject of much queer analysis and debate for years. https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog/drag-dampd-and-discovering-queer-joy-with-hardy-harr monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/1650b983-248d-44a7-9226-ba010becc08a/2d7e2231-681e-40ce-93f4-b28cd80f7e57_2250x2297.webp Out + About - Drag, D&D, and Discovering Queer Joy with Hardy Harr - Humble Beginnings at Club Try-Angles Club Try-Angles is home to Those Bitches, one of the longest running drag shows in the state of Utah—and the birthplace of Hardy Harr’s drag persona. The annual Those Bitches and Friends show welcomes new and visiting artists to take the stage, and it was at this show that Hardy Harr first performed. “I owe a lot to that group—they really gave me that first stage opportunity,” he reflects. “I felt so comfortable in that environment because you really don’t have to show up in any particular way. You can just show up and try something. That kind of venue is invaluable.” Hardy’s entrance into drag was marked not by polish but by pure, unfiltered curiosity and excitement. “The first time I did drag, I didn't have a wig on and the makeup that I did was fully from a YouTube tutorial from a drag king. Now I look back at pictures of that show and just think: well, we really figured some shit out, didn't we?” After that very first show at Club Try-Angles, Hardy found himself on a journey to find his signature style: a Borderlands and pop-art inspired aesthetic and a performance that unites humor, creativity, and queer joy all at once. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/e2aae25d-104f-4654-a510-4f804cb5b465/06f7ea17-e734-49d0-b933-2196133225ac_2979x1993.webp Out + About - Drag, D&D, and Discovering Queer Joy with Hardy Harr - The Dungeons & Drag Show After taking part in several performances, Hardy was presented with the opportunity to organize his own show. “I came from a theater background, so it wasn't too far flung an option for me to put on a show of my own,” he explains. “So for my birthday last year, I put on a D&D themed drag show.” Dungeons & Dragons, the iconic tabletop role-playing game developed in the 1970s, invites players to build characters and collaboratively imagine entire worlds. At its core, it’s a game about storytelling—collective, improvised, and deeply character-driven. With drag and D&D becoming notable parts of Hardy’s life over time, parallels naturally began to surface. “Honestly, the venn diagram between D&D and drag is more of a circle than most people realize. In both cases, you’re literally stepping into a different persona.” https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog/using-art-to-find-community-and-oneself-the-art-of-aspen-tracey monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/19d79001-97dc-462f-8766-4a00febb55d9/348ba1b1-5e3e-44bb-910f-cb1481015f06_1048x1456.webp Out + About - Using Art to Find Community and Oneself: The Art of Aspen Tracey - Building Community Through Art Finding themselves back in Salt Lake City, Aspen searched for a place to pursue their art—bringing them to the Guthrie Art Studios. Offering studio spaces to Salt Lake City’s artists, the Guthrie has served as home base for various Utah creatives since 1962. “A really important moment for me was when I did my first art show at the Guthrie,” Aspen reflects. “Going into the space, I was so nervous and so anxious because I had never done anything like that before. But I ended up meeting just so many people through that experience.” The Guthrie provided a space for Aspen to not only create meaningful art, but to share that art with an audience that genuinely connected with it. With people flooding into the space to engage with the art and artists, Aspen was able to make meaningful connections and build a community—one which opened many doors for her. ”I found a really awesome creative community, I found new roommates, and I found people who don’t limit me.” For Aspen, pursuing their art at the Guthrie was the key to finding a meaningful, like-minded community that not only inspired them to keep creating, but also showed them what it meant to belong. “I realized there that I was really good at making friends, and that I was actually very capable of being a part of something.” Over time, art became an integral portal to connection, to community, and to togetherness. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/20cdadbf-8946-4078-b46d-92c9a6d78308/5c859536-d1ca-4f87-8ab2-9215b548e63b_1048x1293.webp Out + About - Using Art to Find Community and Oneself: The Art of Aspen Tracey - Particularly when it comes to unpacking gender, creativity has been an essential tool in Aspen’s life. “It's definitely a hard thing to express to people, especially if you're somebody who's never experienced gender dysphoria or anything like that. But it's so powerful just knowing that I now have the language and the tools and the information around me to understand it all better.” As they navigate the nuances of gender, art provides a toolkit to unpack complicated feelings and ideas that arise. “I tell myself: it's okay that you have weird feelings,” Aspen says. “We're just gonna draw it out.” Importantly, Aspen highlights that it isn’t just visual art that gives them the tools of self-exploration. Rather, creativity in any and all forms function as tools of introspection and discovery, in Aspen’s eyes. In order to learn more about what these processes look like for different people, Aspen created a zine centered around a compelling question: what is creativity? https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog/the-slc-writers-group-at-under-the-umbrella-creating-connection-through-words monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/a359b25a-1f0b-44ee-8afa-09822bc5ef18/19484d45-0d1b-4870-8e32-db1f2a878304_1269x1243.webp Out + About - The SLC Writers Group at Under the Umbrella: Creating Connection Through Words At the corner of 5th West and 2nd South sits Under the Umbrella—a “queer little bookstore.” Since it opened in 2021, Under the Umbrella has welcomed countless people through its doors, where it offers a safe space for all of Utah’s LGBTQ+ community. Alongside highlighting stories from and about the queer community, the staff at Under the Umbrella is dedicated to hosting events that bring people together in as many ways as possible. From book clubs to tarot readings, speed dating to open mic nights—this charming little bookstore has the perfect event for anybody. “We provide the space for community building events, and seeing the community use our space as a hub for them is really wonderful,” explains Under the Umbrella owner Kaitlyn Mahoney (they/she). “Creating a safe, community space takes a lot of intention, and we try to make our events as interactive and fun and safe and queer as possible!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/8e477392-1799-4e59-b27b-7dfa0c6370e2/7aa3bcfc-7514-4aa3-bad8-e5a3d09570eb_1269x774.webp Out + About - The SLC Writers Group at Under the Umbrella: Creating Connection Through Words - The organizer of the group, Shauna Brock (she/they), explains the mission of the group as such: “The main objective right now is to create a safe space for writers to build community and share their work.” Importantly, queerness holds a central, but not defining, role within the group. “While we aren't queer-only,” Shauna explains, “we are primarily queer as a writers group, which means creating space to elevate our voices as queer writers in SLC and beyond.” https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about-blog/introducing-out-and-about monthly 0.5 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/e67d8264-2f1c-4b96-8889-850ebda5dcf5/Social+%2B+Article+Graphics_maren+portrait-07.jpg Out + About - Introducing Out + About We’re here to highlight the people who teach us to love, the activists who shape our future, the artists who turn strife into celebration, and the spaces that welcome us all. Most importantly, we’re celebrating the voices quiet and loud–the stories told a thousand times and the ones never before heard. If there’s anything out there helping our community connect, flourish, and grow, we’ll be out and about covering it. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/1772413333564-QTMHMZOB9659I76VNDL2/Social+%2B+Article+Graphics_maren+portrait-08.jpg Out + About - Introducing Out + About https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/1772413334565-MT07HUDOHUZ1OUJS1PY6/Social+%2B+Article+Graphics_maren+portrait-06.jpg Out + About - Introducing Out + About https://www.marensmith.com/home daily 1.0 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/0d6a93bc-f211-4a59-b97c-f27181206727/Untitled+design+%281%29.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/e3d65f30-b0d5-45e2-ae35-4d81fc48c4f2/Logotype+Dark+Purple.png https://www.marensmith.com/about-me daily 0.75 2026-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/e8caf71b-b872-4e7b-8a57-b58bd89331b1/IMG_8127.JPG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/a8faa237-aa0b-483a-8ced-5764efae23d6/COMING+SOON+%282%29.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/a1bc553a-d462-46fa-8bb9-ab9c2671c982/Untitled+design+%282%29.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/b3f5dc8e-ac9c-481f-a9cc-baa6718d590b/pngtree-stack-of-books-image-png-image_17810565.png https://www.marensmith.com/out-and-about daily 0.75 2026-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/682cefd249398e072e1fbca7/46b48792-b578-4703-be06-cb6aa6431991/11.1.2025+-+Teaser+Post-11.jpg