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Athletics office aide from Iowa got a wake-up call approaching the Utah state line By
Jeff Burton In a black Ford Explorer with Iowa plates, Lis Erickson drove through Wyoming en route to her new home in Utah. It was a beautiful September day and she was cruising across the interstate. Erickson was excited, nervous and a little unsure of what she was getting herself in to. As Jimmy Buffett blared on the radio she pondered about the future. At a gas station in Wyoming she heard about Utah's strict liquor laws and she was stunned. "I almost turned back right there. I thought, 'What in the hell was this all about?' Was it true?'" Erickson asked herself. But something kept her moving and she thought she would at least give it a try for a while. Erickson, a 26-year-old Iowa native, had been warned by her boss about the culture difference between Utah and the rest of the world. She accepted the idea of an adjustment period and was excited for the opportunity for employment in the Athletic Media Relations Office at Utah State University as an assistant to the director. So what's it like living in Utah's predominantly Mormon culture for those with a different background or different religious beliefs? "It's an adjustment," Erikson said. "It's a big adjustment to this culture out here. For the most part it's just different and it takes getting used to and you have to find the people like you to hang out with." Erickson likes Utah, other than the cold. It gets cold in Iowa as well, but she is just tired of the snow and wants the warm weather to return. She says the people that she have been very nice just different in lifestyle than she is used to. "The people in Utah are unbelievably nice. I have had no problems with that at all. I have been very pleased with how nice the people are." Before moving to Utah she did not know much about the state or the Mormon people. "I was in Utah all of two days before moving here. I knew nothing about this place," Erickson said. "I didn't know what I was getting into." One thing Erickson has noticed is how many college-age people are married or looking to get married. "That is just weird to me. It doesn't happen like that back where I'm from and probably most places in the country. I have a lot of respect though for people who are a college student, working a job and on top of that married and if then have kids too. That's amazing to me! I can barely take care of myself and I'm 26 years old." One thing however that bothers her or she finds being different is when she is confronted or looked at differently because of things she does that may be considered "sins" by those in this culture. "If I go to Wal-Mart to buy a six-pack of beer people look at me like I'm a leper or a heathen or something." Jen Luman from Cincinnati, Ohio, has had issues with this as well. "I was at the store the other day and I was carrying my 20 pack of beer down the aisle and a mother with kids in her cart saw me. She turned around and went down another aisle because she did not want her kids to see me with the beer I guess," Luman said. "People out here are so nice!" Erickson again added. "Very trusting, very much like the small town Midwest that I'm used to. But at the same time people are pretty judgmental, especially if it is something they are not used to." Another hard thing for Erickson and Luman are the Logan bars. "We have three bars and the country club here," Luman said. "And they just don't compare to other bars I have been to." The beer is 3.2 percent alcohol where in the rest of the country it is 5.5 percent alcohol. Luman used to be a bartender and commented on how the atmosphere at the bars out here are much more calm and less of a party. Both Luman and Erickson don't like Utah's liquor laws. "As long as something is legal people should be allowed to do it," Erickson believes. "This is a good place to be and a great place to raise a family. The people have really good values. But as a young single person who is not Mormon it's a tough place to be," Erickson said. "I would enjoy it more out here if I spent more time in Salt Lake where there were more people like me. I hate to put it like that because really I haven't met people who aren't like me it's that I have met people with different lifestyles," Erickson said. "Here at the athletic department it is so diverse that it's not that big of a deal at work. And people of the LDS faith that do work here are very open-minded because they have been exposed to different cultures, religions, backgrounds and races." Erickson and Luman are just two of many who are adjusting to life and the culture in Utah. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, which recently conducted a survey about Utah's culture, three out of five Utahns see a social, political and cultural divide between members of LDS Church and those who are not members. Many LDS leaders have recently counseled their members about tolerance, acceptance and being good neighbors to those "not of their faith." The Tribune said many people fill there is an unspoken divide in Utah and some even hold the Tribune somewhat responsible. The Salt Lake paper competes against the church-owned Deseret News and is often criticized for being more liberal and at times Anti-Mormon.
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