I moved to Utah two years ago, to seek that
better quality of life for myself and my
children. I left a teaching job that was a
daily chore of wrestling with gang members
and finding knives. I was so looking forward
to peaceful days of skiing, camping and
other mountain activities. I figured once I
got a teaching job all would fall into
place. How wrong I was. Coming from
Chicago I grew up just accepting people of
all walks of life, including their
religions. It amazes me how Utah
discriminates in their hiring practices if
you are not Mormon. A very closed minded
state for hosting the 2002 Olympics very
soon. Believe it or not, I actually
interviewed in one district where the
principal actually said..."we are 99.8%
white, middle class Mormons." And his point
was? I have had everything asked of me that
was as close to being illegal as possible
concerning what my beliefs are. So anyone
moving here to teach and your beliefs are
not the majority religion here in Utah, hope
you like to camp and ski a lot!

k.downs, kdowns@deervalley.com,
5/19/00

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