MY UTAH ACCENT
By Rosie Gochnour Serago
Photography: Rosie Gochnour Serago
For / Fur. Steal / Still. Mountain / Mou’un. I have an accent, honestly acquired, running as deep as my Pony Express-ridin’ familial roots. Linguists say it’s a little Northeastern, a little Southern — like early Mormon migration.
Along with inherited dogmas, I considered coaching my dialect away. Until another phonetically sloppy saint spoke with me about how Utah’s storied lands feel / fill to him. He called them “big medicine.” We spoke of preservation. Reverence. Shared reaching.
I now hear an accent shaped by ancestors, ripened with something to say. A common thread I try to stitch with discernment. My accent reminds me to consider what must be preserved. Orients how I advocate, how I care. Asks me to stay deliberate, connected — to know when to kneel / nill.
Rosie Gochnour Serago is a design and content strategist for the Utah Office of Tourism and the layout editor for Exponent II, an intersectional Mormon feminist magazine. A Utah native, she split the last decade smelling creosote in the Sonoran Desert, comparing lobster rolls across New England and savoring thunderstorms outside of southern Appalachia. Now back in Salt Lake City, she explores the desert expanse in between Real Salt Lake and Utah Jazz games.